RadioShack PRO-63 - Manuals

6 SCANNING LEGALLY Your scanner covers frequencies used by many different groupsincluding police and fire departments, ambulance services, gov-ernment agencies, private companies, amateur radio services,military operations, pager services, and wireline (telephone andtelegraph) service providers. It ...

7 CONTENTS PREPARATION ........................................................................ 9 Connecting the Flexible Antenna........................................9Installing Batteries ............................................................. 9 Important Information About the PWR and CHG J...

9 PREPARATION CONNECTING THE FLEXIBLE ANTENNA 1. Hold the antenna so it stands straight up. 2. Slip the slots in the antenna’s connector over the tabs on the ANT jack on top of the scanner. 3. Press down and turn the antenna’s base clockwise until it locks into place. Note: Instead of the supplied f...

11 • Never mix rechargeable and non-rechargeable batteries, or rechargeable batteries of different capacities. 5. Insert six batteries in the battery holder as indicated by the polarity symbols (+ and – ) marked on the battery holder and inside the battery compartment. 6. Replace the battery holder ...

12 Important Information About the PWR and CHG Jacks There are two external jacks on the left side of the scanner — PWR and CHG . It is important that you understand the purpose of each jack before you connect any adapter to the scanner. The PWR jack powers the scanner and disconnects the internal b...

13 Warning: Do not connect either adapter to the scanner’s CHG jack if you installed non-rechargeable batteries (standard, extra-life, oralkaline). Non-rechargeable batteries become hot and can ex-plode if you try to recharge them. It takes about 10 to 18 hours to recharge batteries that are fullydi...

14 3. After 2 seconds, release BAND/• and 0 . USING THE BELT CLIP You can use the belt clip attached to the back of the scanner forhands-free carrying when you are on the go. Simply slide the beltclip over your belt or waistband. 20-561.fm Page 14 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 3:48 PM

15 UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER A LOOK AT THE KEYPAD A quick look at the scanner’s keys will help you understand thescanner’s functions. Number Keys — each key has a single digit on it and a range ofnumbers printed above it. The single digits refer to the number ofa channel or a frequency. The range o...

16 WX — scans through the 10 preprogrammed weather channels. LIGHT — a quick press turns on the display’s backlight for 5 sec-onds, or turns off the backlight if it is on. SEARCH / — starts searching for active frequencies so you can find ones you want to store, or selects the search directionwhen y...

18 BANDS AND BANKS SEARCH BANDS Your scanner can tune over 24,000 different frequencies. Each ofthese frequencies is contained within a group of frequenciescalled a band. The scanner uses permanent memory locationscalled search bands (0-9) to group these bands. You can searchthese bands to quickly f...

19 Notes: • The frequencies in the scanner’s search bands are preset.You cannot change them. • “Band Allocation” on Page 42 lists frequency ranges and thebroadcasters you are likely to hear on those frequencies. • Although the scanner displays 108-137 when you select search band 2, it receives frequ...

20 BASIC OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH Note: Make sure the scanner’s antenna is connected before youturn it on. 1. Turn SQUELCH MIN/MAX fully counterclockwise. 2. Turn VOLUME OFF/MAX clockwise until it clicks and you hear a hissing sound. 3. Turn SQUELCH MIN/MAX clockwise, the...

22 Limit Search If you do not know a frequency to store, you can select a searchband containing a preprogrammed frequency range and searchthat range for active frequencies. Then you can store frequenciesyou find there into channels. SRCH appears on the display during a search. 1. Press BAND/• . 2. W...

23 When the scanner stops on an active frequency, press ENTER to store it in the flashing channel or press and hold or for about a second to continue the search. Notes: • To search the frequency band upward or downward step bystep (5, 12.5, or 25 kHz), quickly press and release or . or disappears fr...

24 Hint: If you are storing a frequency used by a specific broad-caster (such as a racing team), you can remember whereyou stored the frequency by storing it in the same channelnumber as the team’s car number. Note: If you enter an invalid channel number, the scannerbeeps three times and Error flash...

25 • If you tried to store a frequency in a locked channel, thescanner beeps once and L (next to the channel number) and LOC flash on the display, then the frequency flashes. To store the frequency, either unlock the channel (see “UsingChannel Lock” on Page 30) and repeat Steps 1-4, or repeatSteps 2...

26 Notes: • You can manually select any channel in a bank, even if thebank is turned off. • You cannot turn off all banks. There must be at least oneactive bank. • You cannot turn on a bank where all the channels in the bankare skipped (see “Skipping Channels” on Page 28). Scanning a Channel-Storage...

27 Follow these steps to manually select a channel. 1. Press MANUAL . MAN appears on the display. 2. Enter the channel number. 3. Press MANUAL . 4. To select another channel within the bank, repeatedly press to select higher channels or to select lower channels. Or, if your scanner is scanning and s...

28 ADVANCED OPERATION DELAY Many agencies use a two-way radio system that might have apause of several seconds between a query and a reply. Yourscanner’s delay feature lets it wait for 2 seconds after each trans-mission on a channel or frequency while scanning or searching. To program a 2-second del...

29 To remove the skip from a channel, manually select the channel,then press SKIP . SKIP disappears from the display. Notes: • The scanner automatically skips empty channels. • You cannot remove the skip from an empty channel. PRIORITY You can scan through channels and still not miss an important or...

31 USING THE ATTENUATOR To reduce interference or noise caused by strong signals, you canreduce the scanner’s sensitivity to these signals. Press ATT until ATT appears on the display to reduce the scanner’s sensitivity. Note: If you turn on this feature, the scanner might not receiveweak signals. To...

32 3. After a second, release 2 and ENTER . USING THE KEYLOCK Once you program your scanner, you can protect it from acciden-tal program changes by turning on the keylock feature. When thekeypad is locked, the only controls that operate are LIGHT , VOL- UME OFF/MAX , and SQUELCH MIN/MAX . (However, ...

33 OPTIONS CONNECTING OPTIONAL POWER SOURCES Using AC Power To operate the scanner from AC power, you need an AC adaptersuch as Radio Shack Cat. No. 273-1665. Cautions: • To prevent electric shock, the plug’s blades are polarizedand fit only one way. If the plug does not fit easily, turn it overand ...

34 Note: If you installed rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries inthe scanner, you can connect the AC adapter to the CHG jack. Simply remove the rubber cap from the CHG jack, connect the ACadapter’s barrel plug to the jack, then plug the adapter’s powermodule into a standard AC outlet. This powers t...

37 Warning: Use extreme caution when you install or remove an out-door antenna. If the antenna starts to fall, let it go! It could contactoverhead power lines. If the antenna touches a power line, contactwith the antenna, mast, cable, or guy wires can cause electrocu-tion and death. Call the power c...

38 • Do not listen at extremely high volume levels. Extendedhigh-volume listening can lead to permanent hearing loss. • Once you set the volume, do not increase it. Over time, yourears adapt to the volume level, so a volume level that doesnot cause discomfort might still damage your hearing. Traffic...

39 A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING Reception of the frequencies covered by your scanner is mainly“line-of-sight.” This means you cannot usually hear stations thatare beyond the horizon. UNITED STATES BROADCAST BAND In the United States, there are several broadcast bands. The stan-dard AM and FM bands ar...

41 PRIMARY USAGE As a general rule, most radio activity is concentrated on the follow-ing frequencies: VHF Band UHF Band Note: Remote control stations and mobile units operate at 5 MHzhigher than their associated base stations and relay repeaterunits. Broadcast Type Search Band Frequency Range (MHz)...

42 SPECIFIED INTERVALS All the frequencies in the scanner’s search bands are accessibleonly at specific intervals. For example: Note: Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequencydown to the closest valid frequency. For example, if you try to en-ter a frequency of 151.473, your scanner acc...

47 Note: Some cities use the 470-512 MHz band for land/mobile ser-vices. HAM RADIO FREQUENCIES Ham radio operators often broadcast emergency informationwhen other means of communications break down. The following chart shows the voice frequencies you can monitor. NATIONAL WEATHER FREQUENCIES All of ...

48 BIRDIE FREQUENCIES Birdies are frequencies your scanner uses when it operates.These operating frequencies might interfere with broadcasts onthe same frequencies. If you program one of these frequencies,you might hear only noise on that frequency. If the interference is not severe, you might be ab...

49 FREQUENCY CONVERSION The tuning location of a station can be expressed in frequency(kHz or MHz) or in wavelength (meters). The following informationcan help you make the necessary conversions. 1 MHz (million)=1,000 kHz (thousand) To convert MHz to kHz, multiply by 1,000. 30.62 MHz x 1000=30620 kH...

50 TROUBLESHOOTING If your scanner is not working as it should, these suggestionsmight help you eliminate the problem. If the scanner still does notoperate normally, take it to your local Radio Shack store for assis-tance. Problem Suggestion Scanner is on but will not scan. • If SQUELCH MIN/MAX is a...

52 CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your Radio Shack PRO-63 100-Channel Portable Event Scanneris an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The followingsuggestions will help you care for your scanner so you can enjoyit for years. Keep the scanner dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry im-mediately. Liquids can...

53 SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage VHF Lo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29.7–50 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) Amateur Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29–29.7 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 50–54 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 144–148 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 420–450 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) Amateur Radio/Government ....

55 NOTES U.S. PATENT NOS. 3,794,9253,801,9143,961,2613,962,6444,027,2514,092,5944,123,7154,245,348 20-561.fm Page 55 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 3:48 PM

RADIO SHACK A Division of Tandy Corporation Fort Worth, Texas 76102 GE-95D-1500 11A5 Printed in Hong Kong RADIO SHACK LIMITED WARRANTY This product is warranted against defects for 1 year from date ofpurchase from Radio Shack company-owned stores and autho-rized Radio Shack franchisees and dealers. ...