Radio Shack PRO-2049 manual

Cat. No. 20-419 OWNER’S MA NUAL PRO- 2049 90-Channel Direct Entry Programmable Scanner Please r ead before using thi s equipm ent. 20-419.fm Page 1 Wednesday, March 24, 1999 2:43 PM[...]

2 FEA TURES Your Radi oShack PRO-2049 90 - Channel Dir ect Entr y Progr ammab le Scanner lets you in on all the ac tion! This s canner give s yo u direc t acces s to over 23, 000 frequen cies, inc luding those use d by polic e and fire depart- ments, am bulance and tr anspor tation service s, governm ent agencies , and amateu r radio ser vices. You[...]

3 Extern al Speaker Jack — lets you conne ct an exter nal sp eake r, or an earphone or headph ones fo r private listeni ng. External Antenna Terminal — lets you con nect an external anten na (not supplie d) for i mproved recepti on. Your PRO -2049 sc anner can rec eive all of the se fr equencie s: • 29–54 MH z (10-Mete r Amateu r Radio, VHF[...]

4 FCC NO TICE Your s cann er m igh t cau se TV o r ra d io interfer ence ev en wh en it i s op erating properly . To det ermine whether y our scanner is c ausing th e inte rference, turn off your scanner. If the interfer - ence goes away, your s canner is causing it. Try to eliminat e the interfer - ence by: • moving your scanner aw a y from the [...]

5 CONTENTS Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Removing the Dis play Prote ctor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Connectin g an Anten na . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Conn[...]

6 A General Guide to Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Ham Radio Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 6 National Weather F requ encies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Birdie F requen cies . . . . . [...]

7 PREPARATION This sc anner is designe d for u se in the home a s a base station. You c an place i t on any fl at surfa ce su ch as a desk, shel f, or tabl e. REMO VING THE DISPLA Y PR OTECTOR Your sc anner’ s displ ay is pr otected during ship ment by a piece of film. Peel off thi s film be fore you u se the scanner . CONNECTING AN ANTENNA Conne[...]

8 To conn ect an opt ional base-s tation antenna , first remove th e supplie d an- tenna from th e scanner . Always use 50-ohm co axial cable, su ch as RG-58 or RG-8, to con nect the base-stati on antenna. F or len gths over 50 fe et, us e RG-8 low- loss die lectric c oaxi al cabl e. If the antenna ca ble’s connector doe s not fit in the ANT . ja[...]

9 • Use only the suppli ed AC adapter to power y our sc anner . Using another ada pter coul d damage y our s canner . A replac ement adapter i s a vailable b y speci al order thro ugh your local RadioShack store. • Be su re to conne ct the AC adapter to the scanne r before y ou conne ct it to an AC outle t, and dis connect the A C ad apter from[...]

10 Listening Safel y To prot ect your hearing, follow these guidelin es when you us e an earpho ne or headp hones. •S e t OFF/VOLUME to the lowest setting before you begin li steni ng. After you put on the ea r phon e or headph ones, adjust OFF/V OLUME to a comfor ta b le le vel. • Do not lis ten at extremely high v olume lev els. Extended high[...]

11 UNDERSTANDING Y OUR SCANNER A LOOK AT THE FR ONT P ANEL A quick glance at this s ection should h elp you u ndersta nd eac h contro l’s fu nction. VO L U M E T urns th e scanne r on or off and adj usts t he volum e. SQUELCH Adjusts th e scanner ’s sque lch. Se e “Turnin g On the Scan- ner/Se tting Vol ume and Squelc h” on Pag e 17. / Ente[...]

12 MANU AL S tops scan ning to let y ou listen to a monitor me mory or direc tly enter a channe l numb er. 1–9, HOLD/ 0 Each k ey has a si ngle-di git labe l, and the 1 – 3 keys also ha ve a ra nge of number s. Use t he digits on the keys t o enter the n umber s for a chann el or a fr equen- cy. Use the range of num bers ab ove the k ey ( 61 ?[...]

13 A LOOK AT THE DISP LA Y The disp lay has indic ators that sh ow the scanne r’s cur rent opera ting mod e. A good look at th e displa y wil l help you unde rstand y our sc anner. B Appear s with a numb er (1–3) to its righ t to show whic h channe l-st orage bank s are turne d on for scan ning. Se e “Under s tand ing Bank s and Ban ds ” on[...]

14 WX (weather) Appear s when the sc anner i s searc hing t he weather band. / Indica tes the search direct ion du ring a sear ch. b Appear s inst ead of the chann el number during a band search. d Appear s inste ad of the c hannel nu mber d uring a d irect search. H Appears dur ing a ba nd sea rch hold. h Appears during a direct sear ch hold. 20-4[...]

15 UNDERSTANDING BANKS AND BANDS You can store frequenc ies into eithe r a perman ent memo ry location c alled a chann el, or a te mpo ra ry me mor y lo ca - tion ca lled a monito r memory . You can store u p to 90 channel s and up to 3 monitor memor ie s. Your s canner a lso has ei ght freque ncy bands, eac h coverin g a specific range of freque n[...]

16 This tab le shows the freq uen cy band ran ges dis pl ay ed by the s ca nne r and the ty p- ical usage , freq uency cov erage, and step f or each. Notes: • Y our s canner search es at th e preset frequenc y ste p rate (5 or 12 .5 kHz ) f or each fre quency . Y ou cannot c hange th e frequen cy step rate. • The sc anner d isplays the ne arest[...]

17 OPERATION T URNING ON THE SCANNER/SETTING V OLUME AND SQUELCH 1. T urn OFF/V OLUME and SQUELCH full y co unterc loc kw ise . 2. T urn VO L U M E cl ockwise u ntil you hear a hissi ng sound. Set it to the desir ed v olume le v el. 3. T urn SQUELCH clockwise, then leav e it set to a poi nt just af ter the hissin g soun d stops. Notes: • If the s[...]

18 MANUALL Y STORIN G FREQUENCIES INTO CHANNELS If you kno w a frequenc y you wan t to store, yo u can store it ma nually in to a chann el. Good referen ces for active frequen- cies are Ra dioSh ack’s “P olice Cal l Radio Gui de Includ ing Fire and Emer- gency Ser vices ,” “Aerona utical F re- quency Di rector y,” and “ Mariti me Freque[...]

19 SEAR CHING FOR AND T E MPORARIL Y STORING ACTIVE FREQUENCIES You can sear ch f or tran smis sions us- ing eithe r a band or direc t search, th en temporar ily st ore th e frequ encie s fo r those tran smission s into mon itor memorie s. Notes: • If you manually tune to a sea rch skip fr equency , the dis play shows L/O (see “Ski pping F requ[...]

20 Note: You can ch ange the d ir ec tio n of either an auto matic or man ual search by press ing or once . Direct Sear c h Using di rect search , you can enter a frequenc y, then sea rch for trans mis- sions ab ove or bel ow that fre quency within all of the frequ ency ban ds. 1. Pre ss MANU AL . 2. Use the number ke ys to ent er the frequenc y wh[...]

21 MO VING A FREQUENCY FR OM A MONITOR MEMORY TO A CHANNEL 1. If the scanner is sc annin g, press MANU AL . 2. Use the number ke ys to ent er the channel numbe r where you want to store the mo nitor freq uency , then press PROGRAM . PGM appears on the dis play . 3. Press MONIT OR . The chann el number flashe s. 4. Use the number ke ys to ent er the[...]

22 To sele ct one o r more c hannel- storage banks while sc anning , sele ct each bank you w ant to sca n by pres s- ing it s nu mber ke y so the b ank’s num - ber appe ars o n the dis play. To turn o ff channel -storag e banks, press the n umber k ey for the bank(s ) so the bank’s number disapp ears. T he scanner does not s can an y of the sto[...]

23 SPECIAL FEATURES DELA Y Many agenc ies us e a two-way r adio system that migh t have a pa use of seve ral sec onds b etwee n a quer y and a reply . To av oid missin g a repl y, yo u can prog ram a 2-s econd de lay i nto any of y our scanne r’s ch annels or f re- quencies . Then, when the scanne r stops on th e chann el or fre quency, DLY appea[...]

24 Remo vi ng Skip fr om Frequencies To re move t he skip from a freq uency while searchin g, press HOLD to stop the sear ch, pr es s or to select t he skipped freq uenc y, then pres s S/S until L/O disa ppears . To remo ve the skip fro m all freq uen- cies at o nce whil e searchin g, hold down S/S - LOCK OUT unt il t he sc anner beep s twice. Note[...]

25 3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for each chann el you want to program as a pri or ity ch ann el. To confirm priority channel numbers for all banks, press PROGRAM then repeated ly pres s PRIORITY . To turn on priori ty, press PRIORITY during sca nning. PRI a ppear s, and the scan ner che cks the prio rity chan - nel in each se lected bank every 2 sec- on[...]

26 A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANN ING Reception of the frequ enci es cov ered by your scann er is main ly “line -of-si ght.” T hat means y ou usua lly ca nnot hea r statio ns tha t are b eyond the horizo n. HAM RADIO FREQUENCIES Ham radi o operato rs o ften broad cast eme rgency informat ion whe n o ther mean s o f commu nication brea k down. The fol[...]

27 BI R DIE FREQ UENC IES Every s canner h as birdie frequencies. Birdie s are signal s crea ted inside the scanner ’s rece iver. The se operati ng frequenc ies migh t interfer e with broad - cast s on the same frequen cies. If you program on e of th ese freq uenci es, you hear only noise on that freque ncy. If the in terfer ence is not severe, y[...]

28 GUIDE TO THE ACTION BAND S T ypical Band Usage Prima r y Us age As a gener al rule , most of the r adio acti vity is con centrate d on the fo llowin g fre- quencies : VHF Band UHF Band Note: Remote co ntrol stat ions an d mobile uni ts operat e at 5 MHz highe r than the ir associ ated ba se st ations an d rela y repea ter units . VHF Band (29.00[...]

29 BAND ALLOC ATION To hel p decide which freque ncy ranges t o scan, use th e follow ing listing of the typical services t hat use the frequen cies your scanner recei ves. These frequenci es are subject to chang e, and migh t vary fro m area t o area. Fo r a more com plete listi ng, ref er to the “Police Call Radio Guide including Fire a nd Emer[...]

30 TVn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FM-TV A udio Broadcas t USXX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gov ernment Classifie d UTIL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

31 VHF High Band (148–174 MHz) 148.050 –150.345 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CAP , MAR, MIL 150.775 –150.790 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MED 150.815 –150.980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[...]

32 ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY (UHF) — (300 MHz – 512 MHz) U. S. Gover nment Band (40 6–450 MH z) 406.125 –419.975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GO VT , USXX 70-Centimete r Amateur Ba nd (420– 450 MHz) 420.000 –450.000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]

33 A V OIDING IMA GE FREQUENCIES You m ight dis cover one of yo ur regu lar sta tions on ano ther fre quency that is not lis t- ed. It might be what is kn own as an i mage frequ ency. F or e xample, you might find a servic e that reg ularly uses a fr equen cy of 431 .975 al so on 474 .775. To see if it is an i mage, d o a little math. Note the new [...]

34 T RO UBLESHOOTING If your sca nner is n ot workin g as it should, the se sugge stion s might help you elim inate t he pro blem. I f the sc an- ner s till d oes not operate prop erly, take it to your lo cal R adioS hack store for as sist ance. SYMPTOM S UGGEST ION Scann er is on , but will not scan. Be su re SQUELCH is adjusted pr oper- ly. See ?[...]

35 CARE AND MAINTENAN CE Your Ra dioShack PR O-2049 90-Channe l Programmab le Home Scan ner is an ex- ample of super ior des ign an d crafts manship . The fol lowing sugge stion s will he lp you car e for y our scanne r so you can enjoy it for year s. Keep th e scanner dry. If it get s wet, wipe it dry imm ediate ly. Liqui ds might co ntain m inera[...]

36 SPECIFICA TIONS F req uency Coverage: VHF Lo ........... ............. ................... ............. ............. 29.7 – 50 MHz (i n 5 kHz s teps) Amateur Radio ...... ............. ............ ............. ............. 29 – 29. 7 MHz (i n 5 kHz s teps) 50 – 54 MH z (in 5 k Hz steps ) 144 – 148 MH z (in 5 kH z steps ) 420 – 450[...]

37 Squelch Sens itivit y: Threshold . ............. ............ .................... ............. ............. ....... Less th an 0.4 µ V Tight .. ............. ............. ............. ................... ............. ............. ... (S + N) /N 25 dB Air ................... ............. ............. ................... ............. ..[...]

38 NO TE S 20-419.fm Page 38 Wednesday, March 24, 1999 2:43 PM[...]

39 20-419.fm Page 39 Wednesday, March 24, 1999 2:43 PM[...]

RadioShac k A Division of T andy Corporation For t W or th , T exas 76102 UBZZ012 95ZZ 03A9 9 Pr inte d in t he P h ili ppi nes Limited O ne-Y ear W arranty This p roduct is warrant ed by RadioShack ag ainst manufactur ing def ects in mater ial and wor kman- ship un der nor mal us e for one (1) year from the dat e of purc hase from R adioSha ck com[...]