RadioShack PRO-29 - Manual

6 PREPARATION POWER SOURCES You can power your scanner from any of three sources: • Internal batteries • Standard AC power (using an optional AC adapter) • Vehicle battery power (using an optional DC adapter) USING INTERNAL BATTERIES You can power your scanner with four AA batteries. For the longest...

8 The CHARGE jack supplies power to operate the scanner and also charges the internal batteries. Use the CHARGE jack only when you in- stall rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. Warning: Never use the CHARGE jack with non-rechargeable batteries. If you try to recharge non-rechargeable batteries, t...

9 USING VEHICLE BATTERY POWER You can power the scanner from your vehicle’s battery power, if the ve-hicle has a 12-volt, negative ground electrical system. To do so, youneed a Radio Shack DC Universal Adapter, Cat. No. 270-1560. Cautions: • You must use a DC adapter that supplies (regulated) 9-volt...

10 • If the scanner does not operate properly when you use a DCadapter, unplug the adapter from the cigarette-lighter socket andclean the socket to remove ashes and other debris. CHARGING NICKEL-CADMIUM BATTERIES The scanner has a built-in charging circuit that lets you recharge nickel-cadmium batte...

11 CONNECTING THE ANTENNA Follow these steps to attach the supplied flexible antenna to the connec-tor on the top of your scanner. 1. Align the slots around the antenna’s connector with the tabs on the jack. 2. Press the antenna down over the jack and rotate the antenna’s base clockwise until it loc...

12 CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/HEADPHONES For private listening, you can plug an earphone or mono headphones(such as Radio Shack Cat. No. 33-175 or 20-210) into the jack on top of your scanner. This automatically disconnects the internal speaker. Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these gui...

13 Traffic Safety Do not wear an earphone or headphones while you drive a vehicle orride a bicycle. This can create a traffic hazard and is illegal in some ar-eas. Even though some earphones and headphones are designed to let youhear some outside sounds when you listen at normal levels, they stillpr...

14 UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER A LOOK AT THE KEYPAD Your scanner’s keys might seem confusing at first, but this informationshould help you understand each key’s function. SCAN — scans through the programmed channels. MANUAL — stops scanning and lets you directly enter a channel num- ber. LOCKOUT/S/S ...

15 Number Keys — each key has a single-digit label, and keys 1-6 havea range of numbers printed above them. The single digits refer to thenumber of a channel or frequency entered. The number range (21-30,for example) show the channels that make up a memory bank. In addi-tion, the keypad has differen...

17 BANKS AND MEMORIES Your scanner can store up to 66 frequencies. You store each frequencyin either a memory called a channel, or a temporary memory called amonitor. This scanner has 60 channels and six monitor memories. CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS To make it easier to identify and select the channels yo...

18 OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH 1. Make sure that SQUELCH is turned fully counterclockwise before you turn on the scanner. 2. Turn VOLUME clockwise until you hear a hissing sound. 3. Turn SQUELCH clockwise, just until the hissing sound stops. Note: If you want to listen to a ...

19 3. Use the number keys and CLEAR/. to enter the frequency (includ- ing the decimal point) you want to store. 4. Press WX/E to store the frequency. Notes: • If you made a mistake in Step 3, Error appears on the display and the scanner sounds three beeps. Simply start again fromStep 3. • Your scann...

20 Limit Search A limit search lets you search for active frequencies between upper andlower limits that you set. -L- appears on the display during a limit search. 1. Press PROGRAM , then LIMIT . Lo appears on the display. 2. Enter the lower limit of the frequency range you want to search. 3. Press ...

21 Direct Search When you listen to a channel, you can search up or down from the cur-rently displayed frequency. -d- appears on the display during a direct search. 1. Press MANUAL , the channel number, then MANUAL to select a fre- quency stored in a channel. 2. Press t or s to search up or down fro...

22 LISTENING TO MONITOR MEMORIES Once you have stored frequencies into monitor memories using a director limit search, you can listen to the monitor memories by pressing MAN- UAL , MONITOR , and then the number for the monitor memory you want to listen to. MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM A MONITOR MEMORY TO...

23 MANUALLY SELECTING A CHANNEL You can continuously monitor a specific channel without scanning. Thisis useful if you hear an emergency broadcast on a channel and do notwant to miss any details — even though there might be periods of si-lence — or if you want to monitor a specific channel. Follow t...

24 SPECIAL FEATURES USING THE KEYLOCK Once you program your scanner, you can protect it from accidental pro-gram changes by turning on the keylock feature. In this mode, the onlycontrols that operate are SCAN , MANUAL , KEYLOCK/ , VOLUME , and SQUELCH . Note: The keylock does not prevent the scanner...

25 TURNING CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS ON AND OFF You can turn each channel-storage bank on and off. When you turn offa bank, the scanner does not scan any of the 10 channels in that bank. While scanning, press the number key corresponding to the bank youwant to turn on or off. If the memory bank indicato...

26 To clear all the skip frequencies at once, while in the search mode,press and hold LOCKOUT/S/S until the scanner beeps twice. Notes: • If you program more than 30 skip frequencies, each new fre-quency replaces ones you stored earlier, starting from the firststored frequency. • You can select the ...

27 USING THE DISPLAY BACKLIGHT You can turn on the display’s backlight for easy viewing in the dark.Press KEYLOCK/ to turn on the display light for 15 seconds. To turn off the light before 15 seconds elapses, press KEYLOCK/ again. Note: Do not hold down KEYLOCK/ or it will lock up the keypad. If thi...

28 A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING Reception of the frequencies covered by your scanner is mainly “line-of-sight.” That means you usually cannot hear stations that are beyond thehorizon. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Frequencies * Not preprogrammed in this scanner, but you can manually program t...

29 Birdie Frequencies Every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are signals created insidethe scanner’s receiver. These operating frequencies might interfere withbroadcasts on the same frequencies. If you program one of these fre-quencies, you hear only noise on that frequency. If the interferen...

30 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS Typical Band Usage HF Band (3.00–30.0 MHz) 10-Meter Amateur 29.00–29.70 MHz High Range 29.70–29.90 MHz VHF Band (30.00–300.0 MHz) Low Range 30.00–50.00 MHz 6-Meter Amateur 50.00–54.00 MHz Aircraft 108.00–136.97 MHz U.S. Government 137.00–144.00 MHz 2-Meter Amateur 144.00...

31 Primary Usage As a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated on the fol-lowing frequencies: VHF Band UHF Band Note: Remote control stations and mobile units operate at 5 MHz higherthan their associated base stations and relay repeater units. Specified Intervals Frequencies in diffe...

32 BAND ALLOCATION To help decide which frequency ranges to scan, use the following listingof the typical services that use the frequencies your scanner receives.These frequencies are subject to change, and might vary from area toarea. For a more complete listing, refer to the “Police Call Radio Gui...

36 AVOIDING IMAGE FREQUENCIES You might discover one of your regular stations on another frequencythat is not listed. It might be what is known as an image frequency. Forexample, you might find a service that regularly uses a frequency of453.075 also on 474.675. To see if it is an image, do a little...

37 TROUBLESHOOTING If you have problems, here are some suggestions which might help. If none of these suggestions help, take your scanner to your local RadioShack store for assistance. RESETTING THE SCANNER If the scanner’s display locks up or does not work properly after you con-nect a power source...

38 CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your Radio Shack PRO-29 60-Channel Direct Entry ProgrammableScanner is an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The fol-lowing suggestions will help you care for the PRO-29 so you can enjoyit for years. Keep the scanner dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry immediately.Liq...

39 SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage: VHF Lo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29–54 MHz (in 5.0 kHz steps)Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108–136.975 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps)VHF Hi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137–174 MHz (in 5.0 kHz steps)UHF . . . . . . . . . . . . ...