Radio Shack PRO-29 manual

Ca t. N o . 2 0-509 OWNER’S M ANUAL PRO-29 6 0-Cha nn el Dir ect Entry P rogr ammab le Scan ner Please rea d b efore using th is equip ment. ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ ∼ 20-5 09 .f m Pag e 1 Wed ne s day , Au gus t 4, 199 9 1:5 8 P M[...]

2  19 95 Ta ndy Co rpor atio n. A ll Ri ghts Re serve d. Radio Sha ck is a reg istere d tra dema rk us ed by Tandy Co rpora tion. FEA TURES Your new Radi o Shack PRO-2 9 6 0-Cha nnel Direct Entry Progr amma- ble Scann er lets you in on all th e action! This scanne r gives you di rect access t o 30 ,000 exc it ing f requenc ie s that i nclude pol[...]

3 Your scanne r can recei ve al l of these bands: • 29–29.7 MH z (10 -Met er Amate ur Radio) • 29.7–50 MH z (VHF Lo) • 50–54 MHz (6 -Met er Amat eur Radi o) • 108–136. 975 MHz (Ai rcraf t) • 137–144 MHz (Gover nment ) • 144–148 MHz ( 2-Met er Amat eur Ra dio) • 148–174 MHz ( VHF Hi ) • 406–420 MHz (Gover nment ) • [...]

4 FCC NOTICE Your sc anner might caus e TV or r adio in terfe ren ce even when it is op- erat ing pro perl y. To det ermine whe the r you r scanner is causi ng t he in- ter ference , turn off your scann er. If the inte rfere nce goes away, your scanne r is cau si ng the inter f eren ce. Try the foll owi ng meth ods to el imi- nate t he inter ferenc[...]

5 CONTEN TS Pr ep ara tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Po we r S our ces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Us ing In tern al B atter ie s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Im po rtan t Info rm ati on Abo ut th e Ex te [...]

6 PR EP A R A TI ON POWER SOURCES You ca n power your sca nner f rom any of t hree sources : • Int er na l bat te ries • Standa rd AC power ( using an option al AC adapt er ) • V ehic le bat tery po wer (u sing a n optiona l DC a dapter) USING INTERNAL BA TTERIES You can power you r s canner with fo ur AA batter ies. For t he longest op- erat[...]

7 3. In stall t wo batte ries in t he compartment and two i n the cov er as indic at ed by the pol ar ity symbo ls (+ and –) mark ed ins i d e. Caution: Use only fr esh, AA alkali ne, nic kel-cadmium, or gene ral purpose bat t e r i es of the requir ed siz e. Never mi x f r esh and old batter i es or diff ere nt types of batt er i e s. 4. Repl ac[...]

8 The CH ARGE j ack suppli es power to opera te the scanner and also charg es the int ernal bat t eries. Use the CHA RGE jac k only when you in- stal l recha r geabl e nickel - cadmium batteri es. War ning: Neve r us e the CHARGE j ack wit h non- rechar geable b atter ie s. If you try to recha rge non -r echargeable batteri es , the y b ecome ver y[...]

9 USING VEHICLE BA TTER Y POWER You can p ower th e sc anner fro m your vehicl e’s batt er y powe r, if the ve- hicl e has a 12-volt , negative gr ound electrical system. To do so, you need a Radio Shack DC Univ er sal Adapter , Cat . No. 2 70-1560. Cautions : • Y ou must u se a DC adapter that s upplies ( regulat ed) 9-volt power and de live r[...]

10 • If t he scanne r does not operat e properly when you use a DC adapt er , unpl ug the adapter f r om the cig arette-l ight er s ocket and clea n the soc ket t o remov e ashes and other debris. CHARGING NICKEL-CADMIUM BA TTERIES The scanne r has a buil t-in charging circui t that lets you rec harge nic kel- cadm ium batt eries while t hey are [...]

11 CONNECTING THE ANTE NNA Follo w t hes e steps to at t a ch the sup plied fl exible antenna to t he connec- tor on the top of you r scan ner. 1. Ali gn the s l ots around t he antenna’ s connec tor wit h t he tab s on the jack. 2. Pres s the antenn a down over the j ack and rot ate the ant enna’s base cloc kwise until it lock s int o place. C[...]

12 CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/ HEADPHONES For pr i v ate listeni ng, you can pl ug an ear phone or mono headphones (suc h as Ra dio Shack Cat . No. 33 -175 or 20-210) in to the jac k on top of your s canner. This au tomatical l y di sconnec ts the internal speaker. Listeni ng Safely To pro tect your hearing, f ol low these guidelin es when you use an e[...]

13 T raffic S af ety Do not wea r an earphon e or hea dphones whil e you driv e a vehicl e or ride a bicycl e. Thi s can c reate a t raffic hazard and is illega l in som e ar- eas. Even though some earph ones and headph ones are desig ned to let you hear s ome outside sounds when you l ist en at normal levels, they st ill present a tra ffic ha zard[...]

14 UNDERST AND ING YOUR SCANNE R A LOOK A T THE KEYP AD Your scan ner’s keys migh t seem confusing at first, but this inf orma tion shoul d help yo u under st and each key ’s f unction. SCAN — s cans thro ugh the p rogrammed channels. MANUAL — stops scanni ng and l ets you direc t ly enter a channel num- ber. LOCK OUT /S/S — lets you loc [...]

15 Number Keys — each key has a single- digit l abe l, an d keys 1-6 have a range of numbers print ed above them . The si ngle digi ts ref er to t he number of a channel or fr equency enter ed. The numb er range (21-30, for example) sh ow the channels t hat make up a mem ory ban k. In ad di- tion, the keypad has di fferent funct ions in manual m [...]

16 MAN — appears whe n you m anually select a cha nnel. PGM — ap pears whil e you progra m fr equencies i nto the sc anner’s ch an- nels . PRI — appears whe n you select t he prior ity feature . L/O — a ppears when yo u manual ly s el ect a l ocked- out c hanne l, or dur- ing a sear ch hold when the fre quenc y is st or ed in search skip [...]

17 BANKS AND MEMORIES Your scann er ca n store up t o 66 freq uencies . You stor e each frequenc y in ei t her a memor y call ed a channel, or a tempor ary memory called a monitor . Thi s sca nner ha s 60 c hannels and s ix moni tor mem or ies. CHANNEL-STORAGE BA NKS To make it e asier to i dentif y and select t he channe l s you want to l isten to[...]

18 OPER A TI O N TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND S ETTING SQUELCH 1. Mak e sure that SQUELCH is turned f ul ly co untercloc kwise before you t urn on the scanner . 2. T urn VOLUME cloc kwise until you hear a hiss ing s ound. 3. T urn SQUELCH clockwis e, just unti l the hi ssi ng sound stop s. Note: If y ou want to li sten t o a weak or di stant st ation[...]

19 3. Use t he number keys and CLEAR/. to ent er the fre quency (i nclud- ing t he decimal point) you want t o store. 4. Pres s WX /E to stor e th e fre quenc y . Notes: • If yo u made a mist ake in Step 3, Error appears on t he displa y and the scanner soun ds thr ee beeps. Si m ply start ag ai n f r om Step 3. • Y ou r scanner automat icall y[...]

20 Limi t Se arc h A limi t sear ch lets you search f or a ctive frequenc ies bet ween uppe r and lower limits that you set. -L- appears on t he di splay d uring a l i mi t searc h. 1. Press PROGRAM , then LIMIT . Lo appears on the dis pla y . 2. Enter the l ower l imi t of the f requency range you want to sea rch. 3. Press WX /E , t hen LI MIT . H[...]

21 Direct Searc h When you li sten to a channel , y ou can s earc h up or down from the cur- rentl y disp layed freq uency. -d- appear s on the display du ring a dir ect search. 1. Pres s MANUAL , the channel number , then MANUAL to se lec t a fr e- quency sto red in a c hanne l. 2. Pres s t or s to sear ch up or down from the sel ected frequen cy [...]

22 LISTENING TO MONITOR MEMORIES Onc e you have st or ed frequ encies i nto moni tor m emories using a di rect or li mit sear ch, you can li sten to t he monitor mem o ries by pr essing MAN- UAL , MO NITOR , and t hen t he num ber f or the m onit or memor y you w ant to l is ten to. MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM A MONITOR MEMOR Y TO A CHANNEL Foll ow the[...]

23 MANUALL Y SELECTING A CHANNEL You can conti nuou sly monit or a speci fic chan nel wit hout scanni ng. Thi s is usefu l if you hear an eme rgency br oadcast on a channel and do not want to mi ss any detai l s — even th ough there m ight be per iod s of si- lence — or if you want to monit or a spec if ic c hanne l. Follo w these st eps to man[...]

24 SPEC IAL FEA TURES USING THE KEYLOCK Onc e you progr am your s canner, you can p rotect it from accide ntal pr o- gram ch anges by t urning on the keylock feature. In t hi s mode, the only contr ols that ope rat e ar e SCAN , MANUAL , KEYL OCK/ , VOLUME , and SQUEL CH . No te: The keyl ock does not prevent the scanne r from scanni ng chan- nels [...]

25 TURNING CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS ON AND OFF You can t urn ea ch channe l-stora ge bank o n and off. When you turn off a bank, t he scanner does not scan any of the 10 chann els in that bank. While scann ing, press the num ber key corr esponding to th e bank you want to t urn on or off . If the memor y bank indi cator i s on, the bank i s turned on [...]

26 To cl ear all t he ski p frequenci es at once, while in t he search m od e, press and h ol d LOCKOU T/S/S unti l t he scann er beeps twice. Notes: • If you program m ore th an 30 skip f requencies , each ne w fre- quency repl aces on es you stored e arlier , st ar t ing f rom the first stor ed f r eque ncy . • Y ou can selec t the ski pped f[...]

27 USING THE DISPLA Y BACKLIGHT You can t urn on the disp lay’s backl ight f or easy vie wing in the dar k. Press KEYL OCK/ to tur n on the di splay l i ght fo r 15 seconds. To turn off the ligh t bef or e 15 seconds elapses, press KEYLOCK/ agai n. Note: Do not hold down KEYLOCK/ or it wil l loc k up the keypad . If th i s happens , pres s and ho[...]

28 A GENERAL GUIDE T O SCANNING Recept ion of the f req uencies cov ered b y y our sc anner is mainl y “ line -of- sigh t.” T hat m eans you u sual ly ca nnot hear st atio ns that are bey ond t he hori zon. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Fr equencies * Not pr eprogram med in t his scanne r, but y ou can man ually pr ogr a m them. Ham Rad[...]

29 Birdie Fr e quencies Every s canne r ha s bir die f req uencies . B irdi es are si gnals c reated in side the scann er’s recei ver. Th ese operatin g f requen cies mig ht int erfere wit h broadcas ts on the same freque ncies. If you program one of t hese fre- quencie s, you hear only n oise on that fr equency. If the i nterfer ence i s not sev[...]

30 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS T ypical Band Usage HF Band (3.00 –30. 0 MHz) 10- Me ter Am at eur 29. 00–2 9 .70 M Hz Hi gh Ra nge 29. 70–2 9 .90 M Hz VHF Band (30.0 0–300.0 MHz) Low Ra ng e 30. 00– 50.00 MH z 6-Me ter Am ateur 50. 00– 54.00 MH z Air craft 108 .00 –136. 9 7 MHz U. S. G o ver nme nt 13 7.00– 14 4 .00 M Hz 2-Me ter Am a[...]

31 Pr imary U sage As a general rule, most of the radio ac tivity i s concen trated on t he fol- lowing fre quencies: VHF Band UHF Band Note: Remot e cont r ol st ations and mobi le units ope r at e at 5 MHz higher than t heir as sociated base st ati ons and re lay repea ter u nits. Specifi ed In tervals Frequenc ies in differen t bands are acces s[...]

32 BAND ALLOCA T ION To hel p de cide whi ch fr equen cy range s t o scan, use the fol lowi ng li sting of t he typical servi ces that us e t h e f r equencies y our scanner r eceives. These f requenc ies ar e subject t o c hange, and m ight vary from a rea to area. For a m ore com plet e list ing, r efer t o th e “Polic e Call Radio Guide incl u[...]

33 US XX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Go vernm ent Class ifie d UT IL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Powe r & W a ter Utiliti es WTH R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wea ther [...]

34 150. 995– 151. 130 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R OA D 151. 145– 151. 475 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . POL 151. 490– 151. 955 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IN D, BU S 151. 9[...]

35 U. S . G o v ernme nt Ban d (406 –450 MH z) 406 .125 –419 .975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVT , US XX 70- cm Amat eur Ban d (420 –450 MHz ) 420 .000 –450 .000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H AM Low Ban d (4 50–4 70 M Hz) 450 .050 ?[...]

36 A VOIDING IMA GE FREQUENCIES You m ight d i s c ove r on e of your r egular st ation s on another frequency that is not l isted. It m ight be what is known as an image f requency. For exam ple, y ou might fi nd a servi ce that re gularl y uses a f requency of 453.0 75 also o n 474.6 75. To see if it is an image , do a litt l e m ath. Note the ne[...]

37 TR OUBLESHOOTING If you have probl ems, he re ar e some s uggestions which mi ght help. If non e of the se su ggesti ons h elp, take your scan ner to y our lo cal Radi o Shack s tore for a ssistance . RESETTING THE SCANN ER If th e scanner’ s displa y locks up or does not w ork pro perly af ter y ou con- nect a power sou rce, you might hav e t[...]

38 CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your Radio Shack PRO -29 60-Channel Di rect Ent ry Pr ogr a m mable Scanner is an example of super ior design and cr aftsmanshi p. The fol- lowi ng suggesti ons will he lp you care for the PRO -29 s o you can enjoy it for yea rs. Keep the sc anner dry. I f i t g et s wet, wi p e it dr y imm edi ately. Liqui ds ca n contai n [...]

39 SPECIFIC A TI ONS Frequenc y Cover age: VHF Lo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29–54 MHz (i n 5.0 kHz st eps) Aircr aft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108–136.975 MH z ( in 12.5 kHz st eps) VHF Hi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137– 174 MHz (i n 5.0 kHz steps) UHF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406–5 [...]

RADIO SHACK A Division of Tandy Corporat ion Fort W orth, Te x as 76102 8A5 P rinted i n the Ph ilippi nes RADIO SHACK LIMITED WARRANTY This produc t is warrante d aga inst defect s for 1 y ear from d ate of purchase from Ra di o Shac k company -owned stor es and autho rized Radi o Shack franc hisees and de alers . Within thi s per iod, we wi ll re[...]