Radio Shack PRO-2050 manual

Owner’s Manual Cat. No . 20-430 PRO- 2050 VHF/UHF/ Air/8 00MHz 300-Ch annel T runkTr ack er Home S canner Ple ase read bef ore us ing this eq uipment . 20-4 30 .f m Pag e 1 Wed ne s day , Au gus t 4, 199 9 1: 2 9 PM[...]

2 FEA TURES Your new Rad ioShack PR O-2050 VHF/UHF/A ir/ 800MHz 300 -Channel TrunkTracker Home Scann er is one of a new generat ion of scanne rs de- signed to track Motorola  Ty pe I, Type II (such as Smartnet  and P r iva- cy Plus  ), and hybrid analog trunking systems, which are extensi vely used in man y 800 MHz co mmunica tion sys- tem[...]

3 Scan Delay — delays scan ning for about 2 seconds before mov ing to an- other channel in convent ional mode, so you can hear mo re replies that are made on the same channel. In trunk tracking mo de, it delays f or about 5 seconds before mov ing to another ID. Loc k-Ou t Func t ion — lets you set your scanne r to s kip ov er specified channels[...]

4 Your PRO- 2050 scanne r can receive all of these bands: Note: See “S p ecifications” on Page 51 for more information about the scan- ner’s frequency steps. FCC NO TICE Your scanne r might c ause T V or radi o interference even when it is op erating properly. To det ermine if yo ur scan ner is causing the interference, turn off your scanner.[...]

5 SCANNING L EGALL Y Scanning is a fun and interesting hob- by. Y ou can hear police and f ire de- partments, am bulance s ervices, government ag encies, private compa- nies, amat eur radio services , aircraft, and mi litary operation s. It is legal to listen to almos t every transmission your scanner can rec eive. However, there are some electroni[...]

6 CONTENTS Prep arat ion .... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..... .... ... .... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..... .... ... . 8 Connecting an Ante nna ...................... ............................................. ................ 8 Connecting the Sup plied Antenna . ..........................................[...]

7 T runk T rac king . ... .. .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .... ... .... ..... ... .... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ... 26 T ypes o f T runki ng Sy stems ... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... ..... .. ..... .... ... ..... .... ... .... . 26 Setting t he Scann er to t he Trunk T racking Mode .....................[...]

8 PREPARA TION This scanner is designed prim arily for use in the home as a base st ation. You can place it on a desk, s helf, or tab l e. Your scann er’s fr ont feet fold u p or down. Adjust the m to give you the best view of the display. Your scanne r’s displ ay is protected during shipment by a piece of blue fi lm . P eel of f th is fi lm be[...]

9 • T he ant enna shou ld be as high as possible on the v ehicle or b uilding. • T he ante nna and its cabl e should be as far as pos sible from sourc es of electrical noise (appl iances, other radios , etc.). • T he anten na should be vert ical for the be st performance. To connec t an optional base-station or mobile ant enna, first remove t[...]

10 Cautions: • The supplied AC adapt er supplies 12 vo lt s DC power and delivers 500 millia mps. Its center tip is set to positive, and its plug properly fits the scanner ’s DC 12V jack. Using an adapte r that does not meet these spec ifications could damage t he scanner or the adapter . • Be sure to connect the AC adapter to the scanner bef[...]

11 Note: Connecting an external speaker disconnects the scanner’s int ernal speaker. CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/ HEADPHONES For private listening, you can c onnect an earphone or hea dphones wit h a 1 / 8 - inch plug (such as Cat. No. 33-175 or 20-210) to the jack on the front of the scanner. This auto matically dis- connects the internal speak er. L[...]

12 UNDERSTANDING Y OUR S CANNER Once you understand a few s imple terms we use in thi s manual and familiarize yourself with your scanner’s features, you can p ut the sc anner to work for you. You simply det ermine the ty pe of comm unications you want to receive, then s et the scanner to sca n them. A frequenc y is the tunin g location of a stat[...]

13 SCAN Scans through the stored channels. MANUAL Stops scanni ng and let s you d irectl y e nter a channe l number o r frequenc y. TRUNK Switches between conven tional a nd trunk t r acki ng modes. SVC ( ser vi ce ) Selects a service bank. PRIORITY/SPEED S ets and turns on and off the prio rity feature; turns the HyperSearch mode on and off. Numbe[...]

14 HOLD/ s Holds on the c u r ren t I D in t he trunk tracking mode; sets the search di rection and ho lds the fre quency search. DA T A Turns the data signal skip featu r e on or off or checks the current trunking bank in t h e trunk tracking mode. A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The di splay has indicators t hat sho w the scanner’s current opera ti ng st[...]

15 Show s whic h cont rol/voi ce ch annel s are cu rrent ly (channel activity indicator) active. Appears wh en a priority channel is s elected. SCAN Ap pears wh en you s can c hannels. MANU AL Appears when y ou set the scanne r to it s manua l mode. PRI Ap pears wh en the priori ty feature is turned on. HOLD Ap pears whe n the scanner i s in the ho[...]

16 UNDERSTANDING BANKS Ch annel S torage B anks To make it easier to identify and s elect the chan nels yo u want t o listen t o, channels are divided into 10 banks of 30 cha nnels each. Use each channel- storage bank t o group frequ encies, such as those used by the police de- partment, f ire department, ambulan ce services, or aircraft (see “Gu[...]

17 OPE RATION T URNING O N THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH 1. T urn SQUELCH and VOLUM E fu lly counterclock wise. 2. T urn VOLUME back cl o ckwi se u nti l you h ear a hi ssing soun d. 3. T urn SQUELCH clockw ise, then leave it s et t o a p oint j ust after the hissing sound stops. Notes: • If the sc anner will not scan, tu r n SQUELCH further cl[...]

18 3. Press E to store the frequency into the chan nel. Notes: • If you made a mistak e in Step 2, Error appears and the scanner beeps whe n y ou press E . Simply start again from Step 2. • Y our s canner automatically rounds the entered frequency to the neare st val id fr equen cy . F or example, if you enter a fr e- quency of 151. 473, your s[...]

19 To select another service bank , re- peatedly press SVC until the s canner displays the nam e of the bank you want to use. Notes: • T o s kip data signals (s uch as modem sig nals) , pres s DA T A . See “Skipping Dat a Signals ” on Page 23. • Bec ause frequencies are not always assign ed to the sam e ser- vices every where, you m ight he[...]

20 quency into the channe l. The scanner st ores the frequency . • s or t to stop searchi ng s o you can listen to the transm ission. HOLD ap pears. T o release hol d and continue searching , pr ess SEARCH . Notes: • T o s tep through the frequenc ies while HOLD appears, pres s s or t. • If you tune t o a search sk ip fre- quency , L/ O appea[...]

21 SPEC IAL FE ATURES DELAY Many agen cies use a two-way radio system t hat might have a period of 2 or more seconds between a que ry and a reply. T o keep from m issing a reply, you can program a 2-second del ay into a ny channe l or frequenc y. The scanner cont inues to monitor t he fre- quency for 2 s econds after the trans- mission stops before[...]

22 LOCKING OUT CHANNELS AND FREQUENCIES You can scan ex isting cha nnels or search frequ encies faster by locking out channels or freq uencies that have a continuou s transmission, such as a weather cha nnel. Note: If you ju st want to skip over a lengthy transmiss ion ( such as a mo- dem sig nal), see “Skipping Dat a Sig- nals” on Page 23. Loc[...]

23 T URNING THE KEY T ONE ON AND OFF To tu rn the ke y to n e of f , tur n of f th e scanner. Then, whi le holding down L/O/SKIP , turn on the scanner. OF bEEP ap pears. To turn the key tone back on, repeat the above procedure. oN bEEP ap- pears. CHANGING SEARCH SPEEDS The PRO -2050 has two search speeds for a limit search. To switch between th e n[...]

24 PRIORI TY The priority feature lets you scan through chann els and still not miss im - portant or interesting calls on specific channels. Y ou can program one stored channel in ea ch bank as a pri- ority channel (for up to a tota l of 10 stored channels) . As the scanner scans the bank, if the priority feature is turned on, the scanner checks th[...]

25 T YPES OF T R UNKING SYS TEMS Your trunk trac king scanner c an m oni - to r two bas ic types of systems — Type I and Ty pe II . Instead of selecting a specific frequ ency to transm it on, a trunked syst em choos es one of sev er- al frequencies in a 2-way radio user’s talk group when that user presses PTT (push t o talk). Th us, t runki ng [...]

26 SETTING THE SCANNER TO THE T RUNK T RACKING MODE Pr ess TRUNK to s witch between the scanner’s conv entional and tru nk tracking m odes. SETTING SQUELCH FOR THE T RUNK T RACKING MO DE Your scanne r’s squel ch set ting is a u- tomatically adjusted in t he trunking mode, which mean s you do not need to manually adjust squ elch while tr acking [...]

27 2. Select the bank you want t o store the trunke d system’s frequenci es in by pressing a number key . The scanner automatically selects the first cha nnel in the bank. 3. Use the num ber keys to ent er th e trunked syst em’s f requenc ies, t h en pr es s E . 4. Note: If you e ntered an inval id fre- quency in Step 3, the scanner beeps, t he[...]

28 Note: T o s ee the bank current ly in use for about 5 seconds, press DA T A while in the trunk tracking mode. 3. T o return to convent ional scan- ning, press TRUNK aga in. Hint: While s cannin g, you will not know exactly whom the IDs are as- signed to until you lis ten awhile or until you locate ID lists in frequency guid es or on inte r net s[...]

29 To lock out an ID, pres s L/O when the ID appears. The ID is locked out, and the n ext ac- tive ID a ppears. Unlock ing a Sing le ID 1. Hold down L/O until you hea r two short beeps. 2. Repeatedly press t o r s to select t h e I D y o u w a nt t o unl o ck . 3. Press L/O . The ID is unlocked an d the next locked ID appears. 4. Press SEARCH to co[...]

30 Moni t o ri ng I Ds You can use your s canne r’s displ ay to monitor the frequenci es in a trunked system f or ac tivity. You can not he ar conversations in t h is mode , but this is an excellent way to determ ine which talk group s are the most ac tive. To set the scanner t o m oni tor IDs, hol d down SEARCH unt il the scanner bee ps twi ce .[...]

31 SCAN LISTS When y ou program trunk ed freque n- cies into a bank (see “Programming Trunked Frequenc ies” on P age 26), your scanner se ts up 5 scan lists into which y ou can s t ore y our favorite IDs. Each list c an contain up to 10 IDs, so you can store a total of 50 I Ds for ea ch trunk tracking bank (500 I Ds if you use all banks as trun[...]

32 Sto ring I D s int o Scan Li sts Wh ile Sear chi ng Follow these s teps to s elect a scan list location and store an ID during a search. 1. When yo ur scanner sto ps on an ID you want to store, press PRI- ORITY . The c urrently selected scan list m emory location flashes . 2. Press E to s t or e th e ID i n t he sele cted sca n li st memor y loc[...]

33 To remove a scan list from active scanning, u se the n umber k eys to e n- ter the s can list’s number. The scan list indicator turns off, and the IDs in that list are not scanned. Note: You cannot rem ove a ll the scan li sts . One s can list m ust always b e ac- ti ve . To restore a scan list to active scan- ning, use the number k eys to ent[...]

34 S2 16 8 64 1 S3 8 8 12 8 1 Each I D in the b lock is uniqu e. The left-most digit is the block numb er in the ID. Th e next two digits ident ify which fleet is acti ve, and the last dig- it(s) (af ter the hyphen) identifies the subfleet. The size codes selected by a Type I system des igner depend on the spe- cific needs of the s ystem ’s users[...]

35 Block Size Co de Block Size Code 0S 4 0S 1 2 1S 4 1 — 2S 4 2S 4 3S 4 3S 4 4S 4 4S 4 5S 4 5S 4 6S 1 2 6S 4 7 — 7S 4 E1P5 E1P6 Block S ize Code Blo ck Size Code 0S 4 0S 3 1S 4 1S 1 0 2S 1 2 2S 4 3 — 3S 4 4 S 4 4 S12 5S 4 5 — 6S 4 6S 1 2 7S 4 7 — E1P7 E1P8 Block S ize Code Blo ck Size Code 0S 1 0 0S 1 1S 1 0 1S 1 2S 1 1 2S 2 3S 4 3S 2 4S [...]

36 Block Si ze Code Bloc k Si ze Code Selec tin g a Pr eset Fleet M ap 1. Press SCAN , then hold down TRUNK unt il the scanner bee ps twi ce . BANK , TRUN K and the bank numbers flash. 2. Select the bank w here you wan t to store the preset fleet map by pressing a numb er key . 3. Press DA T A . 4. Repeated ly press s or t to select E1 (T ype I and[...]

37 5. Repeated ly press s or t until USr appears. 6. Press DA T A . 7. Repeatedly press s or t to select the size code for the fi rst block, then press E . T he next av ailable block appears. 8. Repeat Step 7 until you ha ve selected a size co de for each block you wan t to work wit h. 9. Press SEAR CH . The sc ann er ex its the trunking prog rammi[...]

38 Reception of the frequencies covered by your scanner is m ainl y “line-of- sight.” That means you usually cannot hear stations that are bey ond the ho ri- zon. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES Nati onal W eather Freq uen cies Can ad ian W eathe r Freq uencies Note: Thes e three frequencies a re not pre-programm ed in the we ather ser- vice b ank bu t ca[...]

39 GUID E TO THE ACTION BANDS T ypica l Band Usag e VH F Ba nd Low Ran ge 29.00 –50.00 MHz 6-Meter A mateur 50.00 –54.00 MHz Aircraft 108.00– 136.00 MHz U.S. Governm ent 137.00– 144. 00 MHz 2-Met er Amat eur 144.00– 148.00 MH z High R ange 148.00– 174.00 MH z UHF Band U.S. Governm ent 406.00– 420. 00 MHz 70-cm Amateur 420.00– 450. 0[...]

40 Pri mary Usa ge As a general rule, most of t he radio ac- tivity is concen trated on the following frequencies: VHF B and UHF Band Note: Rem ote control stations and mo- bile units operat e at 5 MHz higher than their associated b ase st ations and re- lay repeater units. BAND ALL OCATION To help decide wh ich f requ ency rang- es to scan, use th[...]

41 FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Department HA M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Am ate ur (Ha m) Ra dio GOVT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

42 35.02 0–35.980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BUS, PUB, IND, TELM 36.00 0–36.230 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVT , MIL 36.23 0–36. 990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

43 157.5 30–157 .725 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IND, T AXI 157 .74 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BUS 157.7 70–158.100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

44 FM-TV Audio Broadcast, UHF Wide Band (470–512 MHz) (Channels 14 through 69 in 6 MHz steps) 475.7 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Channel 14 481.7 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C[...]

45 FREQUENCY CON V ERSION The tuning location of a station can be e xpressed in frequency (kHz or M Hz) or in wavelength (meters). The foll owing information can help you make the necessary conversions. 1 MHz (m illi on) = 1,000 kHz (thousand ) To convert MHz to kHz, multiply the number of megahert z by 1,000: 9.62 (MHz) ¥ 1000 = 9620 k Hz To conv[...]

46 T ROUBLES HOOTING If your scanner i s not work ing a s it sho uld, th ese s uggest ions m ight he lp you e limi- nate the proble m. I f the sc anne r still does not ope rate properly, take i t to your lo cal RadioShack store for assistance. PR OBLEM POSSIBLE CAU SE REMEDY Scanner is on but will not sca n . SQUELCH is not correctly adjusted. Ad j[...]

47 Scanner wi ll not trac k a tr unked syst em. (continued) The data frequency is miss in g. Find the data f requency (see “ Programmi ng T runked F requencies” on Pa ge 2 6 ). PR OBLEM POSSIBLE CAU SE REMEDY The s ystem you are try- ing to tr ack is a T ype I system, and the scanner is se t to scan T ype II sys- tem s . Set the scanner to rece[...]

48 PR OBLEM POSSIBLE CAU SE REMEDY Missing replies to con- ve rs at io n s. (continued) The selected fleet m ap is incorre ct. T ry another preset fleet map or program you r own fleet map (see “Scann ing T ype I and Hybrid T runked Syste ms” on Page 33 ). Not all of the trunk’s fre- quencies have been entered. Enter all of the trunk’s frequ[...]

49 RESETTI NG T HE SCANNER You might need to reset the scanner if any of the following occur: • The scanner ’s di splay lo cks up. • The scanner does not work properly after y ou connec t power . • The scanner is dro pped or sub jected t o a ph ysical or electrical shock. Cautio n: This proced ure clears all the information you h ave progra[...]

50 CARE AND MA INTENANCE Your RadioShack P RO-205 0 VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Ch annel Trunk Tracker Home Sca nner is an example of superio r design and craf tsmanship. The fo ll owing suggest ions will help you care for your scanne r so you can enjoy it for years. Keep the sc anner dry. If it gets w et, wipe it dry imme diately. Liquids can contain m[...]

51 SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage : 10 M eter Am ateur Rad io . ... ....... ....... ....... .... 29.000–29 .6950 MHz (in 5 kHz st eps) VHF Lo ...................................................... 29.7000–49 .9950 M Hz ( in 5 k Hz steps ) 6 Met er Amat eur Radio ... ... ......... .............. 50.0000–54 .0000 MH z ( in 5 k Hz steps ) Air[...]

52 Audio Power 1.1 W Maximum Power Re quirements: AC Adapt er 12 Volts DC DC Adapter 12 V olts DC (such as Cat. No. 270-1533) Dimensions 2 3 / 4 × 8 1 / 16 × 7 11 / 16 In ch es (HWD) (7 0 × 205 × 195 mm ) Weight 26.5 oz. (750 g) Specifications are typical; individual units might vary . Specifications a r e subject to c h ange and improv ement w[...]

53 20-4 30.f m Pag e 53 Wedne sday, A ugu s t 4, 19 99 1:29 P M[...]

54 20-4 30.f m Pag e 54 Wedne sday, A ugu s t 4, 19 99 1:29 P M[...]

55 20-4 30.f m Pag e 55 Wedne sday, A ugu s t 4, 19 99 1:29 P M[...]

Ra di oS ha ck A Di visi on of T and y Corp orati on Fort Worth, T exas 76102 UBZZ01273Z Z 10A7 Printed in the Phili ppi nes Limited One- Y ear W arranty This pro duct is warrante d by RadioS hack aga inst manu facturing def ects in mater ial and work manship under nor- mal use for one (1) year fro m the date of purcha se from RadioSha ck company -[...]