Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. Lowering the squelch enables transmissions to be picked up at a much higher sensitivity, in other terms farther distances. So if you turn it halfway down, you won't get the constant static that comes when you turn it down to minimum. Obviously with the squelch down you will get a constant static. With that, you'll loose your ability to scan and also it WILL get annoying. But give it a try, you just might be able to pick up those ZNY sectors.