RadioShack PRO-2050 - Manual

6 CONTENTS Preparation ........................................................................................................... 8 Connecting an Antenna ................................................................................... 8 Connecting the Supplied Antenna ..............................

8 PREPARATION This scanner is designed primarily foruse in the home as a base station.You can place it on a desk, shelf, ortable. Your scanner’s front feet fold up ordown. Adjust them to give you thebest view of the display. Your scanner’s display is protectedduring shipment by a piece of bluefilm. ...

9 • The antenna should be as high as possible on the vehicle or building. • The antenna and its cable should be as far as possible from sourcesof electrical noise (appliances,other radios, etc.). • The antenna should be vertical for the best performance. To connect an optional base-station ormobile ...

11 Note: Connecting an external speakerdisconnects the scanner’s internalspeaker. CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/HEADPHONES For private listening, you can connectan earphone or headphones with a 1 / 8 - inch plug (such as Cat. No. 33-175 or20-210) to the jack on the front of the scanner. This automatically ...

12 UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER Once you understand a few simple terms we use in this manual and familiarizeyourself with your scanner’s features, you can put the scanner to work for you. Yousimply determine the type of communications you want to receive, then set thescanner to scan them. A frequency ...

14 HOLD/ s Holds on the current ID in the trunk tracking mode; sets the search direction and holds the frequencysearch. DATA Turns the data signal skip feature on or off or checks the current trunking bank in the trunk tracking mode. A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has indicators that show the sca...

17 OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH 1. Turn SQUELCH and VOLUME fully counterclockwise. 2. Turn VOLUME back clockwise until you hear a hissing sound. 3. Turn SQUELCH clockwise, then leave it set to a point just after thehissing sound stops. Notes: • If the scanner will not scan, t...

18 3. Press E to store the frequency into the channel. Notes: • If you made a mistake in Step 2, Error appears and the scanner beeps when you press E . Simply start again from Step 2. • Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency tothe nearest valid frequency. Forexample, if you enter a ...

19 To select another service bank, re-peatedly press SVC until the scanner displays the name of the bank youwant to use. Notes: • To skip data signals (such as modem signals), press DATA . See “Skipping Data Signals” onPage 23. • Because frequencies are not always assigned to the same ser-vices ever...

21 SPECIAL FEATURES DELAY Many agencies use a two-way radiosystem that might have a period of 2or more seconds between a query anda reply. To keep from missing a reply,you can program a 2-second delayinto any channel or frequency. Thescanner continues to monitor the fre-quency for 2 seconds after th...

22 LOCKING OUT CHANNELS AND FREQUENCIES You can scan existing channels orsearch frequencies faster by lockingout channels or frequencies that havea continuous transmission, such as aweather channel. Note: If you just want to skip over alengthy transmission (such as a mo-dem signal), see “Skipping Da...

23 TURNING THE KEY TONE ON AND OFF To turn the key tone off, turn off thescanner. Then, while holding down L/O/SKIP , turn on the scanner. OF bEEP appears. To turn the key tone back on, repeatthe above procedure. oN bEEP ap- pears. CHANGING SEARCH SPEEDS The PRO-2050 has two searchspeeds for a limit...

24 PRIORITY The priority feature lets you scanthrough channels and still not miss im-portant or interesting calls on specificchannels. You can program onestored channel in each bank as a pri-ority channel (for up to a total of 10stored channels). As the scannerscans the bank, if the priority feature...

25 TYPES OF TRUNKING SYSTEMS Your trunk tracking scanner can moni-tor two basic types of systems — Type I and Type II . Instead of selecting a specific frequency to transmit on, atrunked system chooses one of sever-al frequencies in a 2-way radio user’stalk group when that user pressesPTT (push to t...

26 SETTING THE SCANNER TO THE TRUNK TRACKING MODE Press TRUNK to switch between the scanner’s conventional and trunktracking modes. SETTING SQUELCH FOR THE TRUNK TRACKING MODE Your scanner’s squelch setting is au-tomatically adjusted in the trunkingmode, which means you do not needto manually adjust...

27 2. Select the bank you want to store the trunked system’s frequenciesin by pressing a number key. Thescanner automatically selects thefirst channel in the bank. 3. Use the number keys to enter the trunked system’s frequencies,then press E . 4. Note: If you entered an invalid fre- quency in Step 3...

28 Note: To see the bank currently inuse for about 5 seconds, press DATA while in the trunk tracking mode. 3. To return to conventional scan- ning, press TRUNK again. Hint: While scanning, you will notknow exactly whom the IDs are as-signed to until you listen awhile or untilyou locate ID lists in f...

29 To lock out an ID, press L/O when the ID appears. The ID is locked out, and the next ac-tive ID appears. Unlocking a Single ID 1. Hold down L/O until you hear two short beeps. 2. Repeatedly press t or s to select the ID you want to unlock. 3. Press L/O . The ID is unlocked and the nextlocked ID a...

30 Monitoring IDs You can use your scanner’s display tomonitor the frequencies in a trunkedsystem for activity. You cannot hearconversations in this mode, but this isan excellent way to determine whichtalk groups are the most active. To setthe scanner to monitor IDs, hold down SEARCH until the scann...

31 SCAN LISTS When you program trunked frequen-cies into a bank (see “ProgrammingTrunked Frequencies” on Page 26),your scanner sets up 5 scan lists intowhich you can store your favorite IDs.Each list can contain up to 10 IDs, soyou can store a total of 50 IDs for eachtrunk tracking bank (500 IDs if ...

32 Storing IDs into Scan Lists While Searching Follow these steps to select a scan listlocation and store an ID during asearch. 1. When your scanner stops on an ID you want to store, press PRI- ORITY . The currently selected scan list memory location flashes. 2. Press E to store the ID in the select...

33 To remove a scan list from activescanning, use the number keys to en-ter the scan list’s number. The scanlist indicator turns off, and the IDs inthat list are not scanned. Note: You cannot remove all the scanlists. One scan list must always be ac-tive. To restore a scan list to active scan-ning, ...

34 S2 16 8 64 1 S3 8 8 128 1 Each ID in the block is unique. Theleft-most digit is the block number inthe ID. The next two digits identifywhich fleet is active, and the last dig-it(s) (after the hyphen) identifies thesubfleet. The size codes selected by a Type Isystem designer depend on the spe-cifi...

36 Block SizeCode Block SizeCode Selecting a Preset Fleet Map 1. Press SCAN , then hold down TRUNK until the scanner beeps twice. BANK , TRUNK and the bank numbers flash. 2. Select the bank where you want to store the preset fleet map bypressing a number key. 3. Press DATA . 4. Repeatedly press s or...

37 5. Repeatedly press s or t until USr appears. 6. Press DATA . 7. Repeatedly press s or t to select the size code for the first block,then press E . The next available block appears. 8. Repeat Step 7 until you have selected a size code for eachblock you want to work with. 9. Press SEARCH . The sca...

38 Reception of the frequencies coveredby your scanner is mainly “line-of-sight.” That means you usually cannothear stations that are beyond the hori-zon. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Frequencies Canadian Weather Frequencies Note: These three frequencies are notpre-programmed in the weather...

39 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS Typical Band Usage VHF Band Low Range 29.00–50.00 MHz 6-Meter Amateur 50.00–54.00 MHz Aircraft 108.00–136.00 MHz U.S. Government 137.00–144.00 MHz 2-Meter Amateur 144.00–148.00 MHz High Range 148.00–174.00 MHz UHF Band U.S. Government 406.00–420.00 MHz 70-cm Amateur 420....

40 Primary Usage As a general rule, most of the radio ac-tivity is concentrated on the followingfrequencies: VHF Band UHF Band Note: Remote control stations and mo-bile units operate at 5 MHz higher thantheir associated base stations and re-lay repeater units. BAND ALLOCATION To help decide which fr...

45 FREQUENCY CONVERSION The tuning location of a station can be expressed in frequency (kHz or MHz) or inwavelength (meters). The following information can help you make the necessaryconversions. 1 MHz (million) = 1,000 kHz (thousand) To convert MHz to kHz, multiply the number of megahertz by 1,000:...

46 TROUBLESHOOTING If your scanner is not working as it should, these suggestions might help you elimi-nate the problem. If the scanner still does not operate properly, take it to your localRadioShack store for assistance. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY Scanner is on but will not scan. SQUELCH is not...

48 PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY Missing replies to con-versations. (continued) The selected fleet map is incorrect. Try another preset fleet map or program your own fleet map (see “Scanning Type I and Hybrid Trunked Systems” on Page 33). Not all of the trunk’s fre-quencies have been entered. Enter ...

49 RESETTING THE SCANNER You might need to reset the scanner if any of the following occur: • The scanner ’s display locks up. • The scanner does not work properly after you connect power. • The scanner is dropped or subjected to a physical or electrical shock. Caution: This procedure clears all the...

50 CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your RadioShack PRO-2050 VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Channel TrunkTrackerHome Scanner is an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The followingsuggestions will help you care for your scanner so you can enjoy it for years. Keep the scanner dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry i...

51 SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage: 10 Meter Amateur Radio ............................. 29.000–29.6950 MHz (in 5 kHz steps)VHF Lo ...................................................... 29.7000–49.9950 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 6 Meter Amateur Radio ............................. 50.0000–54.0000 MHz (in...