RadioShack 20-163 - Manual

Installing Your Scanner You can mount your triple trunking scanner in your vehicle or use it as a base station. Setting Up a Mobile Base You can place your scanner on a desk, shelf, or table to use it as a base station. Because the speaker is on the bottom of the scanner, you can use the mounting br...

3. Remove the paper backing from each washer and stick one inside of each bracket’s ear, aligning the washer’s hole with the bracket’s hole. 4. Attach the mounting bracket to your vehicle’s surface using the supplied screws and lockwashers. Dashboard Installation If you are unsure how to install you...

To remove your scanner from the DIN sleeve, insert the two keys straight into the scanner’s front panel and pull the scanner out. Connecting the Antenna To connect an external antenna, always follow the installation instructions supplied with the antenna. Use 50-ohm, RG-58, or RG-8, coaxial cable. I...

10 Powering Your Scanner You can power your scanner from a wall outlet, or from your vehicle’s battery. You must use a power source that supplies 12V DC and delivers at least 600 mA. Its center tip must be set to positive and its plug must fit the scanner’s DC 13.8V jack. The supplied AC adapter and...

1 To set the keytone: 1 . Turn on the scanner. “Multi-system Trunking Scanner” appears. 2 . While “Multi-system Trunking Scanner” appears, press 1 to turn on the keytone or 2 to turn it off. To change the backlight mode: Repeatedly press DIM to adjust display backlight brightness from Dark, Light of...

1 With the attenuator on, the scanner might not receive weak signals. You can reduce interference using two attenuator modes: • Global – (Default) The attenuator setting is applied to all channels, bands, or groups. • Normal – Lets you set the attenuator in each channel, band, or group. You cannot s...

1 FM – Frequency Modulation, used for most public safety transmissions, broadcast, business, and amateur radio transmissions. CT – FM transmissions with Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System (CTCSS) DC – FM transmissions with Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) MO – Motorola Trunking System ED – EDACS Trunki...

1 6. If necessary, press MODE to change the receiving mode. 7. Press ENT . If the frequency is already stored in the bank, “Dupl.Freq. ChXXX” appears. To copy the duplicate frequency anyway, press ENT or press CL to cancel. If you made a mistake in Step 5, “Invalid Freq.” briefly appears and the sca...

1 Deleting Saved Frequencies To delete a saved frequency: 1. Press MAN . 2. Use the number keys to enter the frequency’s channel number.3. Press MAN . 4. Press PROG . M changes to P. 5. Press FUNC . 6. Press CL . “0.0000” appears. To delete all saved frequencies in a bank: 1. Press PROG . M changes ...

1 5. Press FUNC , then MODE . 6. Use the  or  to select the desired CTCSS or DCS code. You can enter the code manually. The scanner automatically fills in the code. See Appendix B for a list of codes. 7. Press ENT . To save a CTCSS or DCS code: Press ENT while the code appears. Scanner Cloning You...

1 Searching You can search for transmissions using the preprogrammed search bank, which is divided into eight search bands. Seek Search When Seek Search is active, the scanner stops on active frequencies for five seconds and then resumes searching automatically. To activate Seek Search: 1. Press FUN...

1 Zeromatic While searching, the scanner stops if a transmission triggers the squelch setting. A narrow-band FM transmission can have a deviation of +/- 5 KHz, and the actual total bandwidth, including the tails of the sidebands, can be even greater. However, search intervals smaller than that can s...

6. Press SRCH to start searching. 7. Adjust the Squelch. After the set delay, the scanner starts searching. When the scanner finds an active frequency, it stops searching. Signal Stalker II Signal Stalker II provides a powerful tool to rapidly detect, monitor and save frequencies of nearby or high-p...

Special Signal Stalker Special Signal Stalker II divides the frequency range by 1 MHz segments. If you lock out 5 frequencies within 1 MHz segment, the scanner will skip that segment in subsequent sweeps. To use Special Signal Stalker II: 1. Press FUNC . 2. Use  or  to select “Sp. Stalker” appears...

To review and unlock frequencies: 1. Press SRCH to enter search mode. 2. Press FUNC then L/OUT . The first locked-out frequency and lockout list appear. If the search bank has no locked-out frequencies, “No Lockout” appears. 3. Press  or  to review the list. The current position and the total lock...

Scanning Scanning sequentially checks all saved channels for activity. You must save frequencies into channels to scan. The scanner does not scan empty channels or unsaved frequencies. You can increase the scanning speed by locking out channels with continuous transmissions, such as a weather channe...

To review all locked out channels: 1. Press MAN . 2. Repeatedly pressing FUNC and then L/OUT to view each locked- out channel. 3. To unlock a channel, press L/OUT . “LO” changes to “lo.” 4. When you finish reviewing locked-out channels, press MAN . You can manually select any channel in a bank, even...

To modify the Priority channel: 1. Press PROG . 2. Press PRI . 3. Use the number keys to enter the frequency.4. Press ENT . If the frequency is incorrect, “Invalid Freq” appears briefly. Weather Alerts The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has allocated channels for use by the National Oceanic...

SAME Standby Mode SAME alerts include FIPS codes to identify areas, established by the US Census bureau. You can set your scanner to alert for all areas or limit weather alerts to up to 10 specific areas by FIPS code. The National Weather Service maintains a current list of FIPS codes at www.nws.noa...

0 Skywarn Skywarn is an organized group of trained weather observers. Using Skywarn, you can hear trained observers in your area call in official reports to a control station that relays those reports to NOAA and other emergency agencies. Before using this feature, save local Skywarn frequencies for...

1 tune direction, press  or  . When the scanner finds an active frequency, it stops. 4. Press PSE to monitor the frequency. The transmission signal level is indicated by the 5 dots. To set a default tuning frequency: 1 . Press MAN . 2. (Optional) Use the number keys to enter the frequency number. ...

3. Repeatedly press MODE to select a trunking mode (Motorola, EDACS, or LTR). 4. Press PROG . Trunking Modes In Closed mode, the scanner stops only on transmissions with saved and unlocked Talk Group IDs. This lets you focus a scan on the frequencies you have identified, ignoring other transmissions...

Fleet Maps For Motorola Type I and hybrid systems, you must program a fleet map before saving Talk Group IDs. To program a fleet map: 1. Press PROG then TRUNK . 2. Press FUNC , then press  or  to select the bank. 3. If necessary, repeatedly press MODE to select “Motorola.” 4. Press FUNC , then pre...

For Motorola Type II, enter 15. 6. Press ENT . The next block appears. 7. Repeat steps 5-6 for each block. If you make a mistake, press CL and enter the correct size code. Base and Offset Frequencies To receive Motorola VHF and UHF system transmissions, you must program applicable base and offset fr...

7. While the S in Step blinks, repeatedly press  or  to select the step number: 5.0, 6.25, 10.0, 12.5, 15.0, 18.75, 20.0, 25.0, 30.0, 31.25, 35.0, 37.5, 40.0, 43.75, or 50.0 kHz, then press ENT . 8 . Press PROG . UHF-Hi (806-960 MHz) To program 800 MHz Motorola trunking: 1. Press PROG then TRUNK t...

LTR Trunking Setup LTR systems, assign each frequency a Home Repeater (HR) number, and are frequently programmed with unique ID codes for each radio. LTR Talk Group IDs are organized in a specific order, and to scan, you must program the frequencies in HR order. LTR systems are used primarily by bus...

To search for Talk Group IDs: 1. Set the bank to Open mode.2. Press SCAN . The scanner scans through all unlocked channels in the active banks. 3. When the scanner stops on a transmission, press TRUNK . The scanner displays the ID location: Sub-bank. ID Location 0-4 00-29 Example: 2-01 If the ID has...

6 . Use the number and decimal point keys to enter the Talk Group ID: For ED Talk Group IDs, you can enter either a decimal or AFS code. The default setting is decimal ID entry. To use the AFS code, press FUNC then 2 , “AFS Format” appears for about 2 seconds. You can then enter the AFS code. If you...

5. To clear the Talk Group IDs, Press 1 . To cancel the deletion, press any key except 1 . Saving Trunking Channels Trunking channels are defined using the same procedure for non-trunking channels. In each bank, you can mix channel modes, including conventional, but you can scan only one trunking mo...

0 For Motorola channels, your scanner displays the Talk Group ID memory location, received frequency, voice channel (VC), and the Motorola ID number. Your scanner automatically mutes the audio while it decodes control channel data. However, we recommend you turn SQ clockwise and leave it set to a po...

1 Locking Out Talk Group IDs You can only lock out Talk Group IDs when the scanner is in the Closed mode. To lock out Talk Group IDs: 1. Press PROG then TRUNK . 2. Press FUNC ,  or  to move to the desired bank. 3. Press  or  to select the ID. 4. Press L/OUT to lock out the ID. “lo” changes to “L...

To turn off a sub-bank while scanning: 1. When the scanner stops on a transmission, press FUNC . 2. Press TRUNK . The display indicates which sub-bank is turned on or off. The active sub-bank number appears. 3. Press FUNC and the number of the sub-bank you desire to turn on or off. For example to tu...

Text Tags While scanning, if the scanner stops on a channel with a saved text tag, the text appears on the display. Otherwise, the Talk Group ID appears on the display. You can define text tags to identify channels, Talk Group IDs, banks or FIPS Codes. To define a Text Tag: 1. To define a text tag f...

To enter a number, press 1 , then press the number key. To enter lowercase character or second-set character for the 0 key, press the number key and then press FUNC . 7 . If you make a mistake, press  or  to move to the character you want to change. 8. Press ENT to save the text. To display the Ta...

Troubleshooting I ssue S olution The scanner does not function. Cause: The AC or DC adaptor might not be connected. If using a DC adaptor, the DC adaptor socket might be dirty. Make sure the adaptor’s barrel plug is fully inserted into the PWR jack. The center tip of the adaptor’s barrel plug must b...

I ssue S olution Error message appears when trying to upload or download from a computer. Cause: Your computer is using Windows XP and does not have the necessary USB cable driver. Download and install the “Windows XP Driver to resolve PC connection error” file from your scanner’s Product Support pa...

Initializing the Scanner If the scanner’s display locks up or does not work properly after you connect a power source or install batteries, you might need to initialize it. Caution: This procedure clears the scanner’s memory. Initialize the scanner only after trying all other methods to correct issu...

Scanning Legally Your scanner covers frequencies used by many different groups including police and fire departments, ambulance services, government agencies, private companies, amateur radio services, military operations, pager services, and wireline (telephone and telegraph) service providers. It ...

FCC Notice This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a scanning receiver, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can r...

0 Talk Group ID – A simultaneous trunking transmission that identifies 2-way radio users. This allows trunking systems to allocate a few frequencies to multiple 2-way radio users. Sub-bank – Each bank has an associated Talk Group ID sub-bank. In Closed mode, the scanner only stops if a transmission ...

Group Frequency (MHz) Step (kHz) 0 28.0000-29.7000 5 1 50.0000-54.0000 5 2 144.0000-148.0000 5 3 222.0000-224.9950 5 4 420.0000-450.0000 5 5 902.000-927.9875 12.5 6 1240.0000-1300.0000 6.25 Search bank: SR6 Railroad Receive mode: FM, CT, or DC Frequency (MHz) Step (kHz) 159.810-161.5650 7.5 Search b...

DCS Codes: 006 050 125 174 255 343 445 526 703 007 051 131 205 261 346 446 532 712 015 053 132 212 263 351 452 546 723 017 054 134 214 265 356 454 565 731 021 065 141 223 266 364 455 606 732 023 071 143 225 271 365 462 612 734 025 072 145 226 274 371 464 624 743 026 073 152 243 306 411 465 627 754 0...

PubSafety Band Freq. (MHz) Step (kHz) Freq. (MHz) Step (kHz) Group 0 Group 2 33.420-33.980 10 453.0375-453.9625 6.25 37.020-37.420 10 458.0375-458.9625 6.25 39.020-39.980 10 460.0125-460.6375 6.25 42.020-42.940 10 462.5500-462.7250 6.25 44.620-45.860 10 465.0125-465.6375 6.25 45.880 467.5625-467.712...

Appendix E: Talk Group Format Motorola For Motorola Type I , enter the block number, fleet number and subfleet number. Fleet No. Subfleet No. XXX XX Example: XXX-XX Motorola Type II talk group IDs are 4- or 5-digit numbers, divisible by 16. EDACS Enter either a four-digit decimal number from 0001 to...

Appendix F: Specifications Frequency Coverage: 25.000-26.960 MHz .................................................... (in 10 kHz steps/AM) 26.965-27.405 MHz .................................................... (in 10 kHz steps/AM) 27.410-29.505 MHz ......................................................

ADDENDUM Cat. No. 20-163 / 20-164 Preprogrammed Frequencies Your scanner has 155 preprogrammed frequencies in the ROM. You can load them into Channels 000 to 154. 1. Turn off the scanner and then turn it on again.2. When Multi-system Trunking Scanner appears, press PGM (or PROG ). 3. Press 1 . CH Ba...

©2007. RadioShack Corporation. All rights reserved. RadioShack and RadioShack.com are trademarks used by RadioShack Corporation. 20-163 Printed in China GE-07D-3260 10A07 Motorola, Smartnet, ASTRO and Privacy Plus are registered trademarks of Motorola Inc.EDACS is a registered trademark of M/A-COM I...