Radio Shack PRO-72 manual

OWNER’S MANUAL PRO-72 50-C han ne l Po rtab le Scan ner Pl ea se r ead b efo re us in g t his eq ui pme nt. Ca t. No . 2 0-5 66 20- 56 6. fm P age 1 T h urs da y, Au gu st 5 , 19 99 8: 0 4 AM[...]

2 FEA TURES Your new Rad ioShack P RO-72 5 0-Channel Por table Scanner gives you direct acce ss t o over 32 ,000 e xciting freque ncies, i ncludi ng p olice and fire depart m ents , ambu- lance ser vices, and ama teur radio ser vices. You can se- lect up t o 50 channels to scan , and you can change your select ion at any time. The secret to your sc[...]

3 Channel Loc kout — k eeps c hannels you sele ct from be- ing scann ed. Memory Backup — keeps the ch annel f requenc ies store d in mem ory for abo ut 1 hour duri ng a power loss. Two-Second Sca n Delay — delay s scanni ng for 2 s ec- onds be fore mov ing t o anoth er chan nel, so you can hear more replie s. Key Lock — l ets you lock t he [...]

4 Your PRO-72 scanner can rece ive al l of thes e frequ en- cies: • 29–54 MHz ( 10-Meter Ama teur Radio, VHF Lo, 6- Meter Amateu r Radio) • 137–174 M Hz (Aircraf t/Air Sh ows, Govern m e nt, 2- Meter Amateu r Radi o, VHF Hi) • 380–512 M Hz (Mi litary Aircraf t, UHF Lo , 70-Ce ntime- ter Amateu r Radi o, UHF “T” Band, Gove rnment) ?[...]

5 FCC NOTICE Your s canner might c ause TV or ra dio int erfer ence even when it is o perating properl y. To det ermine wh ether y our scanner is cau sing the inte rfere nce, tur n off your scanner. If t he int erference g oes aw ay, your sca nner is causing the int er ferenc e. Tr y to el iminate the i nterfer ence by: • Moving your scanner away[...]

6 SCANNING LEGALL Y Your scan ner cover s fre quencies used by many differ ent groups i nclud ing poli ce and fir e depart ments, ambulance servi ces, governm ent agencies, private compan ies, ama- teur ra dio service s, mili tary ope rations, pager service s, and wirel ine (tel ephone and telegr aph) ser vice provi ders. It is legal to lis ten to [...]

7 CONTEN TS Pr ep a r a tio n .... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 9 Po w e r S our ce s .... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 9 Us ing Ba tt erie s .... ... .. ... .... ... .. ... ..... .. ... .... ... .. ... . 9 Using Sta ndar d AC Power ...... .. .. ...[...]

8 Sp e c ia l F e at u re s .... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... 36 De la y .... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... 36 Lockin g Out a Channel ..... ..... ....... ..... ..... ..... ....... . 36 Us ing t he Dis p lay Ba c klig ht .... .... ... .. ..... ... .[...]

9 PREP ARATI ON POWER SOURCES You can power your scann er from any of four sourc es: • Inter nal ba tteries (not suppl ied) with the pr ovided batte ry holder • A recharg eable scann er battery pac k (not suppli ed) • Standar d AC powe r (us ing an op tional AC ad apter) • V ehicle battery power (using an opt ional DC cigarette- ligh ter ad[...]

10 You can also use six r echargeab le nickel-cad m ium batter- ies (s uch as Cat . No. 23-125) to power the scan ner. To charge or rechar ge nickel- cadmium bat terie s, however, you mus t remove them from the scann er and use an ex- ternal char ger (suc h as Ca t. No. 23-1 34). Note: If you are usi ng a rechargeabl e scanner bat tery pack, y ou m[...]

11 3. If y ou are i nstall ing indi vidual batteri es, ins ert si x AA batte ries in the bat tery holder as indi cated by the polar ity sym bols (+ and –) marked on the bat tery holder . 4. Slide the ba ttery ho lder o r batter y pack into the com- partmen t as shown. Caution : The bat tery holder or batt ery pack fits o nly one way insi de the b[...]

12 Using Standard AC Power To power t he scanner from AC powe r, you n eed an AC adapter (Cat . No. 273-16 65). Cautions : • Y ou must use an AC adap ter tha t supplies 9 volts and deliv ers at least 2 00 mi lliamps. Its center tip m ust be set to neg ative , and its barr el pl ug m ust c orrectl y fit the sca nner ’ s PWR/DC 9V jack. The recom[...]

13 Us ing Vehicle B atte r y Po w e r To power the s canner from y our vehi cl e’s cigar ett e- light er socket , you need a DC adapt er ( Cat. No. 270 -1560). Caution s: • Y ou must use a DC adapt er t hat sup plies 9 volts and deli vers at l east 200 milliamps . Its center tip must be set to ne gative, and i ts plug mus t correctly f it the s[...]

14 Notes: • Mobile use of this scanner is unlawf ul or r equir es a permit in some are as. Che ck the laws in y our area. • If th e scanner do es not operat e proper ly when you connect a DC adapter , unplug the adapt er from the cigar ette-li ghter soc ket and clean t he sock et to remove a shes and other debr is. Cha r g ing a R e char g e ab[...]

15 Im po r ta nt ! At t he end of a recharge able batter y pack’s usefu l life, it m ust b e recyc led or disposed of pro perly. Cont act your local , coun ty, or state h azardou s waste manage ment authorities f or informat ion on recycling or dispos al program s in yo ur area. Som e options that mi ght be av ailable are: mun icipa l curb-s ide [...]

16 Connecting an Opti onal Antenna The ANT jac k on the top of the scan ner make s it easy to use the sca nner wit h a var iety of ant ennas. I nstead of the suppli ed ant enna, yo u can atta ch a differ ent one, s uch as an externa l mobile ant enna or outdoor base sta t ion ant en- na. Your l ocal RadioShac k store sel ls a varie ty of anten- nas[...]

17 Listening Safely To protec t your hear ing, f ollow th ese guidel ines when you use an earpho ne o r headp hones: • Do not list en at extremely hig h vo lume levels. Extende d high-vo lume liste ning can lead to perma- nent hear ing loss. • Set t he vol ume to the l owest set ting before yo u begin lis tening. After you b egin li steni ng, a[...]

18 CONNECTING AN EXTE NSION SPEAKER In a noisy area , an extension speak er ( Ca t. No. 21-54 9) or an ampli fied s peaker (C at. No. 21- 541) migh t provide more comfor table l is tening. Plug t he speaker cable’ s 1 / 8 -inch pl ug in to your scanner ’s jack. USING THE BELT CLIP You can use the belt clip for hands- f ree car rying when you ar[...]

19 YOUR S CANNER Once you u ndersta nd a f ew sim ple ter ms we use in this manual and famil iarize yo urself with your s canner’s f ea- tures , you ca n put the sca nner to work for you . You si mply deter mine the communi cations you want to receive, then set the sc anner t o sca n thos e fre quencies . A fre quency i s the tunin g l ocati on o[...]

20 A LOOK AT THE KEYPA D Your s canne r’s keys might s eem conf usi ng at fi rst, bu t th is infor mation should help you under stand eac h key’s func- tion. WX — sc ans through the pr eprogr ammed weather ch an- nels. BAND — s elects a prepr ogramme d search b and. SC AN — scans th rough the pr ogr ammed channel s. MANUAL — st ops scan[...]

21 — lo cks/unlock s the ke ypad to preve nt accident al en- trie s . LIG HT — turns on/ off t he dis play’ s b ackl ight . Number Keys — use t hes e keys to enter the numbers for a chan nel or fr equency. MON/ 0 — ent er s a zero or ac cesses the mon itor memor y. DL Y/ • (del ay/dec imal p oin t) — p rog rams a 2-s econd de lay for [...]

22 A LOOK AT THE DISPLA Y The displ ay has indicator s that show the scan ner’s curr ent operat ion . MAN — appears when you manua ll y sel ect a channe l. SCAN — appears when you scan chann els. WX — appears when you scan or m anually search t he pre- progra mmed weather channe ls. MON — appears when you lis te n to the moni t or memory.[...]

23 — appears when you loc k the key pad. ch — appears afte r the digit s (1–5 0) that show which channel the sca nner is tu ned to. –d — appears duri ng a dir ect f requenc y sear ch. 000.0000 — t he dig its on t he ri ght of t he disp lay sh ow which fr eque ncy the scann er is tuned to. Error — appears when yo u mak e an entr y err [...]

24 UNDERST ANDING BA NDS/MONITOR MEMORY Search Bands Your sca nner can tune ov er 32, 000 diff erent f requenc ies. Many of these f requenci es ar e g rou ped within perman ent memory locat ions cal l ed search band s. Note: The ac t ual se arch range of Ban d 9 is 8 06 – 8 24 MHz, 849 – 869 MHz, and 894 – 960 MHz. The scanner does not tune a[...]

25 You ca n s ea rch t he se bands to qu ickl y f i nd act i ve f re quen- cie s you m ight want to st ore i nto t he sca nner’ s cha nnels . For exa mpl e, i f you wa nted to s ea rch f o r tr an smiss ions b e- tween amat eur radi o op erat ors, you cou ld sear c h only the searc h bands whe re you ar e most l ikely t o hear t he tran s- missi [...]

26 OPE RATION T URN ING ON THE SCAN NER/ SETTING VOLUME AND SQUELCH Note : M ake su re the scanner ’s ant enna i s connect ed be- fore you t urn it on. 1. Tur n SQ UEL CH ful ly c ounterclo ckwise. 2. Tur n VOLUM E cloc kwise un til i t click s and you hear a hissi ng sound. 3. Tur n SQUE LCH clo ckwise unt il the h issing s ound stops. Notes: ?[...]

27 • If you have not stored fr equencie s into any chann els (see “Stor ing Ac tive Fr equenci es” on Page 27), the scanner does not s can. STORING ACTIVE FREQUE NCIES You can m anually store fr equencies yo u already k now into the s canner’ s channe ls. You c an a lso stor e fre quencies you fo und usin g band sea rch di rectly i nto c ha[...]

28 2. Use the number key s to enter the cha nnel number where you wa nt to st ore the f requency , th en press PGM again. Or , repeat edly p ress PGM until the desir ed channel number appears. 3. Use the number keys and DL Y/ • to ent er the fre- quency ( incl uding the de cimal p oint) you want to store int o that c hannel. 4. Press E to stor e [...]

29 Band Se ar ch If you do not kn ow of a freq uency to st or e, you can sea rch your sc anner’s preprog rammed searc h bands (see “Searc h Bands” on Page 24) for activ e frequenci es, then store any that you find int o your sc anner’ s channe ls. Foll ow t hese st eps to s earch f or and store act ive f req uen- cies usi ng ban d search. 1[...]

30 Notes: • T o reverse t he search dir ectio n at any time, ho ld down f or about 1 second . • T o search the b and upward or downward in sm all incre ments (i n steps of 5 or 12.5 kHz, d epending on the band) , repea tedly press and relea se or . • T o select a di f fer ent band aft er the sc anner begins searchi ng the cur rent band, simpl[...]

31 Direct Searc h You can s earch up or down from t he curr ently di splayed frequ ency and st ore th e frequency i nto t he monit or mem- ory. 1. Pre ss MANUAL or PGM , the n use the numbe r keys and DL Y/ • to enter the f requency whe re you want to start the se arc h. Note: T o start fro m a frequen cy alread y stored in one of your scanner’[...]

32 MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM THE MONITOR MEMOR Y T O A CHANNEL 1. Press MANUAL , ent er the cha nnel numbe r where you want t o stor e the freq uency , then pr ess PG M . PGM , the f requ ency num ber or 000.0000 , and the select ed channel numb er appe ar . 2. Press MON . MON and the fr equency a ppear and the channel numb er flas hes. 3. Press E . [...]

33 SCANNING THE CHANNELS To begin scannin g channel s or to sta rt scan ning again a f- ter moni toring a speci fic channel , press SCAN . SCAN and appear , and the sca nner begi ns to ra pidly scan u pward until it find s an a ctive frequency . If t he scan ner fi nds an active f requenc y, it stop s and di s- plays that channe l and freq uency nu[...]

34 LISTENING TO THE MONITOR MEMORY To li sten to the f requenc y stor ed in the mon itor m emory, pre ss MANUAL the n MON . MAN , MON , and the frequency stored in the moni tor m emory a ppear. CLEARING A CHANNEL 1. Press MANUAL . 2. Use the number key s to enter the cha nnel number contai ning the freq uency y ou wa nt to de lete, then pre ss PGM [...]

35 LISTENING TO A WEATHER BAND The FCC (Feder al Communic ations Commissi on) has al- locat ed channels for use by the Nationa l Oceanic and At- mosph eric Admini stratio n (NOAA). Regul atory agenc ies in ot her cou ntries ha ve als o all ocat ed channe ls fo r us e by thei r weather repor ting author ities. Your loca l weather repor ting author i[...]

36 SPECIAL FEA TURES DELAY Many agencies use a two-way rad io syst em th at might have a pause of several seconds between a query and a reply . To avo id missing a reply, you can program a 2-secon d delay into any of yo ur scan ner’s channel s. Then, when th e scanner s tops on the cha nnel, DEL AY appears a nd the scan ner continu es to monitor [...]

37 To remove the loc kout from a channel, m anually s elect the channel then press L-OUT until L/O disappear s. Notes: • Y ou can sti l l manuall y sel ect loc ked-out channe ls. • Y our scan ner automatica lly locks out empty chan- nels. USING THE DISPLAY BACK LIGHT You can turn on t he di splay’ s backli ght for easy viewi ng in dimly -lit [...]

38 TURNING THE KEY TON E ON AND OFF Each ti me you press any of th e scanner’ s keys ( except and LI GHT ), t he sca nner s ounds a tone. Follo w these steps to tur n the scanne r’s key tone of f or back on . 1. If t he scanne r is on, turn VOLUM E countercl ockwise un ti l i t cl ic ks t o tur n it o ff. 2. While you ho ld down the 2 an d E k [...]

39 A GE NER AL G UIDE TO SCAN NI NG Recepti on of t he frequenci es cover ed by your scanner is mainly “line -of-sig ht.” That means you usual l y cannot hear stat ions that are bey ond the horizon . GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES US Weathe r Frequencies Other W eather Frequenc ie s Ham Radio Frequen cies Ham radio opera tors often tr ansmit emer gency i[...]

40 Birdie Fr equencies Eve ry sc an ne r h as bi r die fre q uenc i es. Bi rdi es ar e si g- nal s cr eat ed ins ide th e scanner’s r eceiver . Thes e ope rat- ing f requenci es migh t inter fere with broadca sts on the same frequ encies. If you progra m one of these f requen- cies, you he ar onl y n oise on that frequ ency . If t he int erfer- e[...]

41 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS United Sta tes Broadcast Ba nds In the Uni ted Sta tes, t her e ar e se ve ral b roa dca st b ands. The sta nd ard A M an d F M b and s are pr obabl y t he m o st w ell know n. Th ere are a lso f our tele visi on a ud io b roa dc ast ban ds — the lower three t ransmit on t he VHF ban d and the four t h tra nsmits on t[...]

42 Pr imar y U sage As a gener al rule, most of the radio activi ty is con centrated on the fol lowing frequenci es: VHF Band UHF Band Not e: Remote control st a tions and mo bile units opera t e at 5 MH z higher t han the ir associ ated bas e stat ions and relay repea ter u nits. Ac tivitie s Fre quenc ies Gove rnment, Polic e, and Fire 1 5 3 . 7 [...]

43 SPECIFIED INTERV ALS Frequenc ie s in dif feren t ban ds are acce ssi ble onl y at spe- cifi c i ntervals . For example : BAND ALLOCA TION To hel p decide which fr equency r anges t o scan, use the foll owing li sting of t he typi cal services that use t he fre- quenci es your s canner r eceives. Th ese fre quencies are subjec t to change, and m[...]

44 OIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Oil /Pe troleu m In du stry POL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pol ice D epartm ent PU B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pu blic Servi ces ( Publi c Saf ety , L ocal G ove rnment, Fo restry C ons erva tion) PS B . [...]

45 U.S. Government Band 137 .000– 144 .000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . G OV T , MIL 2-Meter Amate ur Band 144 .000– 148 .000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HA M VH F Hi gh B and 148 .050– 150 .345 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CAP , M AR, MIL 150 .775– 150 .790[...]

46 170 .425 –170 .4 50 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BIFC 170 .475 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PUB 170 .487 5–17 3. 175 . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVT , PUB, Wir ele ss Mikes 173 .225 –173 .5 375 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MO V , NE WS, U TIL, M IL 17[...]

47 Publi c S afety Band — Loc ally Ass igned 866 .0125 –86 8.987 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PSB 33-Centi meter Amateur Ban d 902 .0000 –92 8.000 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . HA M Pr ivat e Tr u nked 935 .0125 –93 9.987 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

48 TR OUBLESHOOT ING If yo ur scanne r is not working as it shou ld, t hese sugge s- tions might help you el i minate t he pr oblem. I f the scan ner stil l does no t oper ate pr operly, take i t to you r loc al Ra- dioShack stor e for assi stance . Problem Possibl e Causes Remed ies The scanner does no t work a t al l. The AC or DC adapter is not [...]

49 Problem Possibl e Causes Reme dies Scanner i s on but does not scan. SQUELCH is not corr ectl y adj ust- ed. Adjust SQUEL CH clockwi se ( see “Turni ng O n the Scanner/ Setting Volume a nd Squelch” on Page 26). In the sc an mode, the scanner locks on freq uen- cies that have an uncle ar tran smissi on. Progr ammed fre- quenci es ar e the sam[...]

50 RESETTING/INITIALIZIN G THE SCANNER If t he sca nner’s displ ay lock s up or doe s not work proper ly after you c onnec t a po wer source, you m ight need to reset or init ia lize it. Importan t: If you have pr oblems, first try to reset the scanner . If that does not work, yo u can initi alize t he scan- ner; however, init ializi ng cl ears a[...]

51 Initi alizing the S canner Importa nt: Thi s proce dure cl ears all frequen cies you store d in t he scanner’s m emory and ini tiali zes the sca nner to i ts defaul t set tings. I nitial ize the scan ner only whe n you are sure the scan ner is not worki ng pro perly. 1. Tu rn off the scanner , then turn i t on agai n. 2. While h olding down CL[...]

52 CARE AND MAINTENANC E Your Rad ioS hack PRO-72 50-Chann el Portab le Scanner is an exampl e of super ior design and cr aftsmanship . The foll owing suggest ions wi ll help y ou care f or your scan ner so you can enjoy it fo r ye ars. Keep the scanner dry . If it gets wet, wipe it dr y immediat ely. Liq uids mig ht conta in mineral s that can co [...]

53 Modify ing or t ampering with the scanner ’s i nternal compo- nents ca n cause a malfu nctio n a nd might inval idate your scanner ’s warrant y and vo id your FCC aut horizat i on to op- erate it. If you r scanner i s not per formi ng as it sh ould, take it to yo ur l ocal Ra dioShack stor e for a ssist ance. 20-5 66 .f m Page 53 Thursda y, [...]

54 SPECIFIC ATIONS Frequenc y Cover age: Ham ..... ...... ..... ..... ....... .. 29 –30 MHz ( 5.0 k Hz step s) VHF Lo ...... ..... ..... ..... .... 30 –50 MHz ( 5.0 k Hz step s) Ham ..... ...... ..... ..... ....... .. 50 –54 MHz ( 5.0 k Hz step s) Gover nment ..... ..... .... 137– 144 MHz (5.0 k Hz s teps) Ham ..... ...... ..... ..... .....[...]

55 Squelch Sensi tivity : Thresho ld . ... . ..... ...... . ..... ..... ...... . .... Less t han 1.0 µ V Tigh t .. .. ..... .. ... ..... .. .. ... ..... .. ... .. ..... .. ... . (S+ N) /N 2 5 dB Antenna I mpedance ....... ..... ..... . ...... ..... . ..... ..... . 50 Ohms Audio Outp ut Power (10% THD) ...... ... 200 mW Nominal Bu il t-in S pe ake [...]

RadioShack A Divisi on of T andy Corpora ti on Fo rt Wo rth, T exas 76102 GE- 97- D-24 29 4A7 Pr int ed in H ong Ko ng Lim it ed One-Y e ar W arr anty Thi s product is warrant ed b y Rad ioShack a g ains t manufa cturi n g defects i n mater ial and wor kmans hip under nor mal use fo r one (1) y ear from the dat e of purc hase from Radi oSha ck comp[...]