RadioShack PRO-79 - Manual

6 CONTENTS Preparation ............................................................................ 8 Installing Batteries ............................................................ 8Using AC Power ................................................................ 9Using Vehicle Battery Power .........

8 PREPARATION Note: If the scanner’s display locks up or does not work properlyafter you connect a power source, you might need to reset or ini-tialize the scanner. Important: If you have problems, first try to reset the scanner(see “Resetting the Scanner” on Page 26). If that does not work,you can ...

9 When B appears on the display and the scanner beeps continu- ously, or if the scanner stops operating properly, replace the bat-teries. Warning: Dispose of old batteries promptly and properly. Do notburn or bury them. Caution: If you do not plan to use the scanner with batteries fora month or more...

10 Cautions: You must use a power source that supplies 9V DCand delivers at least 300 mA. Its center tip must beset to positive and its plug must fit the scanner's PWR jack. Using an adapter that does not meet these speci- fications could damage the scanner or the adapter. • Always connect the DC ad...

11 Note: Ni-Cd batteries last longer and deliver more power if youoccasionally let them fully discharge. To do this, simply use thescanner until B appears on the display. Then fully charge the batteries. Important: This radio can use Ni-Cd recharge-able batteries. At the end of a Ni-Cd battery'susef...

12 Connecting an Outdoor Antenna Instead of the supplied antenna, you can connect an outdoorbase-station or mobile antenna (not supplied) to your scannerusing a BNC connector. Your local RadioShack store sells a va-riety of antennas. Choose the one that best meets your needs. When deciding on a mobi...

13 Warning: Use extreme caution when you install or remove anoutdoor antenna. If the antenna starts to fall, let it go! It couldcontact overhead power lines. If the antenna touches a powerline, contact with the antenna, mast, cable, or guy wires cancause electrocution and death. Call the power compa...

14 Traffic Safety • Do not use an earphone/headphones with your scanner when operating a motor vehicle or riding a bicycle in or neartraffic. Doing so can create a traffic hazard and could be ille-gal in some areas. • If you use an earphone/headphones with your scanner while riding a bicycle, be ver...

15 UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER Once you understand a few simple terms we use in this manualand familiarize yourself with your scanner’s features, you canput the scanner to work for you. You simply determine the typeof communications you want to receive, then set the scanner toscan them. A frequency i...

17 A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has indicators that show the scanner’s current oper-ating status. This quick look at the display will help you under-stand how your scanner operates. Appears when you lock the keypad. ▼ / ▲ Indicates the search or scan direction. AIR Indicates that the scanner is...

19 on tonE Appears when you turn the key tone on. P Appears when the scanner is tuned to the prioritychannel. PGM Appears when you program frequencies into thescanner’s channels. PRI Appears when the priority feature is turned on. SCAN Appears when the scanner scans channels. SRCH Appears during ser...

20 Service Banks The scanner is preprogrammed with the frequencies allocatedby fire/police, aircraft, ham radio, and marine services. This ishandy for quickly finding active frequencies instead of searchingthrough an entire band (see “Searching the Service Banks” onPage 28). Note: The frequencies in...

24 MONITOR MEMORIES The scanner has 20 monitor memories that you can use to tem-porarily store frequencies while you decide whether to savethem into channels. This is handy for quickly storing an activefrequency when you are searching through an entire band. Youcan store a frequency into a monitor m...

25 OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER/SETTING VOLUME AND SQUELCH 1. Turn SQUELCH fully counterclockwise (until the indicator points to MIN ) before you turn on the scanner. 2. To turn on the scanner, turn VOLUME clockwise until you hear a hissing sound. 3. Turn SQUELCH clockwise, just until the hissin...

26 Resetting the Scanner 1. Turn off the scanner, then turn it on again. 2. Insert a pointed object, such as a straightened paper clip, into the reset opening on the side of the scanner (asshown). Then gently press the reset button inside the open-ing. Information disappears from the display as you ...

27 STORING KNOWN FREQUENCIES INTO CHANNELS Good references for active frequencies are the RadioShack Po- lice Call Guide including Fire and Emergency Services , Official Aeronautical Frequency Directory , and Maritime Frequency Di- rectory . We update these directories every year, so be sure to get ...

28 • Press DELAY if you want the scanner to pause 2 seconds on this channel before it proceeds to the next channelafter a transmission ends (see “Delay” on Page 36). Thescanner also stores this setting in the channel. 4. To program the next channel in sequence, press PGM and repeat Steps 2 and 3. FI...

29 • To pause the search while receiving a signal, press ▲ or ▼ . To resume searching, hold down ▲ or ▼ . • To quickly move up or down through the frequencies, hold down ▲ or ▼ . The scanner tunes through the frequencies until you release ▲ or ▼ . • If necessary, you can select search groups using t...

30 Note: You can use the scanner’s delay feature while using di-rect search. 1. Press MAN then enter the frequency (including the decimal point) you want to use as a starting point for the search. Note: To start from a frequency already stored in one ofyour scanner’s channels, press MAN and enter th...

31 • If you entered a frequency that is already stored in another channel, -dUPL- (duplicate) and the lowest- numbered channel containing the duplicate frequencyflash on the display for about 3 seconds. If you want tostore the frequency anyway, press ENT again. 4. To store the displayed frequency in...

32 2. Press MON/CL . M , a monitor memory number, and CH flash, and the frequency in the selected monitor memory appears. 3. Enter the desired monitor memory’s number (1–20), then press MON/CL again. The selected monitor memory’s fre- quency appears. 4. Press ENT . The scanner stores the frequency i...

33 TURNING CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS OFF AND ON Channel-storage banks (1–10) are on when they have a bar un-derneath them and off when no bar appears underneath them.To turn off a channel-storage bank, press SCAN to see which banks are currently on, then press the bank’s number key. Thebar under the ban...

34 CLEARING A STORED CHANNEL If you no longer want a frequency stored in a channel (and youdo not want to replace that frequency with a different one), fol-low these steps to clear the stored frequency. 1. Press MAN to stop scanning. 2. To select the desired channel number, use the number keys to en...

35 Your scanner should stop within a few seconds on your localweather broadcast. If the broadcast is weak, you can press WX again to resume scanning. WX Alert Your scanner’s WX alert warns you of serious weather condi-tions by sounding an alarm if a National Weather Service broad-caster in your area...

36 SPECIAL FEATURES DELAY Many agencies use a two-way radio system that has a period ofseveral seconds between a query and a reply. To avoid missinga reply, you can program a 2-second delay into any channel orset a delay for all frequencies. When your scanner stops on achannel or frequency with a pr...

37 To remove the lockout from a channel, manually select thatchannel again, then hold down L/O/L/O RVW until L/O disap- pears. Notes: • Your scanner automatically locks out empty channels. • You can still manually select locked-out channels. Locking Out Frequencies To lock out a frequency during a s...

38 Removing Lockouts From All Frequencies in All Service Banks Notes: • These steps do not clear any lockouts in the marine service bank. • If you locked out frequencies which are within the range of any of the service banks during direct search, the scanneralso removes those locked-out frequencies ...

39 Note: If you program a weather frequency into the priority chan-nel and the scanner detects a WX alert tone on that frequency(see “WX Alert” on Page 35), the scanner sounds the alert toneand ALErt flashes. Press any key to turn off the alarm. USING THE DISPLAY BACKLIGHT You can turn on the displa...

40 To turn on the keylock, hold down for about 3 seconds un- til the scanner beeps three times and appears. To turn it off, hold down for about 3 seconds until the scanner beeps three times and disappears. AVOIDING IMAGE FREQUENCIES You might discover one of your regular stations on another fre-quen...

41 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 thatare beyond the horizon. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Frequencies Birdie Frequencies Every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are...

42 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS Typical Band Usage (MHz) Primary Usage As a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated onthe following frequencies: VHF Band UHF Band VHF BandLow Range 29.00–50.00 6-Meter Amateur 50.00–54.00 Aircraft 108.00–136.00 U.S. Government 137.00–144.00 2-Meter Amat...

43 Note: Remote control stations and mobile units operate at 5MHz higher than their associated base stations and relay re-peater units. BAND ALLOCATION To help decide which frequency ranges to scan, use the follow-ing listing of the typical services that use the frequencies yourscanner receives. The...

46 Low Band (450–470 MHz) 450.050–450.925 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RTV451.025–452.025 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IND, OIL, TELM, UTIL452.0375–453.00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IND, TAXI, TRAN TOW, NEWS453.0125–454.000 . . . . ....

47 TROUBLESHOOTING If your scanner is not working as it should, these suggestionsmight help you eliminate the problem. If the scanner still doesnot operate properly, take it to your local RadioShack store forassistance. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY Scanner is totally inopera-tive. The AC or DC adap...

48 CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your RadioShack PRO-79 200 Channel VHF/Air/UHF Hand-held Scanner is an example of superior design and craftsman-ship. The following suggestions will help you care for yourscanner so you can enjoy it for years. Keep the scanner dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry immedi-ately. Li...

49 SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage (MHz): 10 Meter Amateur Radio ..................... 29–30 (in 5 kHz steps)VHF Lo ................................................ 30–50 (in 5 kHz steps)6 Meter Amateur Radio ....................... 50–54 (in 5 kHz steps)Aircraft ............................... 10...

51 NOTES 20-314.fm Page 51 Monday, December 13, 1999 12:55 PM