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Radio Shack 20-419 Owner's Manual - Bm123

Manual is about: 90-Channel Direct Entry Programmable Scanner

Summary of 20-419

  • Page 1

    Cat. No. 20-419 owner’s manual pro-2049 90-channel direct entry programmable scanner please read before using this equipment. 20-419.Fm page 1 wednesday, march 24, 1999 2:43 pm.

  • Page 2: Features

    2 features your radioshack pro-2049 90- channel direct entry programmable scanner lets you in on all the action! This scanner gives you direct access to over 23,000 frequencies, including those used by police and fire depart- ments, ambulance and transportation services, government agencies, and ama...

  • Page 3

    3 external speaker jack — lets you connect an external speaker, or an earphone or headphones for private listening. External antenna terminal — lets you connect an external antenna (not supplied) for improved reception. Your pro-2049 scanner can receive all of these frequencies: • 29–54 mhz (10-mete...

  • Page 4

    4 fcc notice your scanner might cause tv or radio interference even when it is operating properly. To determine whether your scanner is causing the interference, turn off your scanner. If the interfer- ence goes away, your scanner is causing it. Try to eliminate the interfer- ence by: • moving your ...

  • Page 5: Contents

    5 contents preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 removing the display protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 connecting an antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

  • Page 6

    6 a general guide to scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 ham radio frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 national weather frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

  • Page 7: Preparation

    7 preparation this scanner is designed for use in the home as a base station. You can place it on any flat surface such as a desk, shelf, or table. Removing the display protector your scanner’s display is protected during shipment by a piece of film. Peel off this film before you use the scanner. Co...

  • Page 8

    8 to connect an optional base-station antenna, first remove the supplied an- tenna from the scanner. Always use 50-ohm coaxial cable, such as rg-58 or rg-8, to connect the base-station antenna. For lengths over 50 feet, use rg-8 low-loss dielectric coaxial cable. If the antenna cable’s connector doe...

  • Page 9

    9 • use only the supplied ac adapter to power your scanner. Using another adapter could damage your scanner. A replacement adapter is available by special order through your local radioshack store. • be sure to connect the ac adapter to the scanner before you connect it to an ac outlet, and disconne...

  • Page 10

    10 listening safely to protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an earphone or headphones. • set off/volume to the lowest setting before you begin listening. After you put on the earphone or headphones, adjust off/volume to a comfortable level. • do not listen at extremely high vol...

  • Page 11: Understanding Your Scanner

    11 understanding your scanner a look at the front panel a quick glance at this section should help you understand each control’s function. Volume turns the scanner on or off and adjusts the volume. Squelch adjusts the scanner’s squelch. See “turning on the scan- ner/setting volume and squelch” on pa...

  • Page 12

    12 manual stops scanning to let you listen to a monitor memory or directly enter a channel number. 1–9, hold/0 each key has a single-digit label, and the 1 – 3 keys also have a range of numbers. Use the digits on the keys to enter the numbers for a channel or a frequen- cy. Use the range of numbers ...

  • Page 13: Bm123

    13 a look at the display the display has indicators that show the scanner’s current operating mode. A good look at the display will help you understand your scanner. B appears with a number (1–3) to its right to show which channel-storage banks are turned on for scanning. See “understanding banks an...

  • Page 14

    14 wx (weather) appears when the scanner is searching the weather band. / indicates the search direction during a search. B appears instead of the channel number during a band search. D appears instead of the channel number during a direct search. H appears during a band search hold. H appears durin...

  • Page 15

    15 understanding banks and bands you can store frequencies into either a permanent memory location called a channel, or a temporary memory loca- tion called a monitor memory. You can store up to 90 channels and up to 3 monitor memories. Your scanner also has eight frequency bands, each covering a sp...

  • Page 16

    16 this table shows the frequency band ranges displayed by the scanner and the typ- ical usage, frequency coverage, and step for each. Notes: • your scanner searches at the preset frequency step rate (5 or 12.5 khz) for each frequency. You cannot change the frequency step rate. • the scanner display...

  • Page 17: Operation

    17 operation turning on the scanner/setting volume and squelch 1. Turn off/volume and squelch fully counterclockwise. 2. Turn volume clockwise until you hear a hissing sound. Set it to the desired volume level. 3. Turn squelch clockwise, then leave it set to a point just after the hissing sound stop...

  • Page 18

    18 manually storing frequencies into channels if you know a frequency you want to store, you can store it manually into a channel. Good references for active frequen- cies are radioshack’s “police call radio guide including fire and emer- gency services,” “aeronautical fre- quency directory,” and “m...

  • Page 19

    19 searching for and temporarily storing active frequencies you can search for transmissions us- ing either a band or direct search, then temporarily store the frequencies for those transmissions into monitor memories. Notes: • if you manually tune to a search skip frequency, the display shows l/o (...

  • Page 20

    20 note: you can change the direction of either an automatic or manual search by pressing or once. Direct search using direct search, you can enter a frequency, then search for transmis- sions above or below that frequency within all of the frequency bands. 1. Press manual . 2. Use the number keys t...

  • Page 21

    21 moving a frequency from a monitor memory to a channel 1. If the scanner is scanning, press manual . 2. Use the number keys to enter the channel number where you want to store the monitor frequency, then press program . Pgm appears on the display. 3. Press monitor . The channel number flashes. 4. ...

  • Page 22

    22 to select one or more channel- storage banks while scanning, select each bank you want to scan by press- ing its number key so the bank’s num- ber appears on the display. To turn off channel-storage banks, press the number key for the bank(s) so the bank’s number disappears. The scanner does not ...

  • Page 23: Special Features

    23 special features delay many agencies use a two-way radio system that might have a pause of several seconds between a query and a reply. To avoid missing a reply, you can program a 2-second delay into any of your scanner’s channels or fre- quencies. Then, when the scanner stops on the channel or f...

  • Page 24

    24 removing skip from frequencies to remove the skip from a frequency while searching, press hold to stop the search, press or to select the skipped frequency, then press s/s until l/o disappears. To remove the skip from all frequen- cies at once while searching, hold down s/s - lockout until the sc...

  • Page 25

    25 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each channel you want to program as a priority channel. To confirm priority channel numbers for all banks, press program then repeatedly press priority . To turn on priority, press priority during scanning. Pri appears, and the scanner checks the priority chan- nel in ...

  • Page 26: A General Guide to Scanning

    26 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 the horizon. Ham radio frequencies ham radio operators often broadcast emergency information when other means of communication br...

  • Page 27

    27 birdie frequencies every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are signals created inside the scanner’s receiver. These operating frequencies might interfere with broad- casts on the same frequencies. If you program one of these frequencies, you hear only noise on that frequency. If the interfe...

  • Page 28

    28 guide to the action bands typical band usage primary usage as a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated on the following fre- quencies: vhf band uhf band note: remote control stations and mobile units operate at 5 mhz higher than their associated base stations and relay repeater ...

  • Page 29

    29 band allocation to help decide which frequency ranges to scan, use the following listing of the typical services that use the frequencies your scanner receives. These frequencies are subject to change, and might vary from area to area. For a more complete listing, refer to the “police call radio ...

  • Page 30

    30 tvn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fm-tv audio broadcast usxx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Government classified util . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

  • Page 31

    31 vhf high band (148–174 mhz) 148.050–150.345 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cap, mar, mil 150.775–150.790 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Med 150.815–150.980 . . ....

  • Page 32

    32 ultra high frequency (uhf) — (300 mhz – 512 mhz) u. S. Government band (406–450 mhz) 406.125–419.975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Govt, usxx 70-centimeter amateur band (420–450 mhz) 420.000–450.000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...

  • Page 33

    33 avoiding image frequencies you might discover one of your regular stations on another frequency that is not list- ed. It might be what is known as an image frequency. For example, you might find a service that regularly uses a frequency of 431.975 also on 474.775. To see if it is an image, do a l...

  • Page 34: Troubleshooting

    34 troubleshooting if your scanner is not working as it should, these suggestions might help you eliminate the problem. If the scan- ner still does not operate properly, take it to your local radioshack store for assistance. Symptom suggestion scanner is on, but will not scan. Be sure squelch is adj...

  • Page 35: Care and Maintenance

    35 care and maintenance your radioshack pro-2049 90-channel programmable home scanner is an ex- ample of superior design and craftsmanship. The following suggestions 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 immediately. Liqu...

  • Page 36: Specifications

    36 specifications frequency coverage: vhf lo ..................................................................... 29.7 – 50 mhz (in 5 khz steps) amateur radio ......................................................... 29 – 29.7 mhz (in 5 khz steps) 50 – 54 mhz (in 5 khz steps) 144 – 148 mhz (in 5 kh...

  • Page 37

    37 squelch sensitivity: threshold ............................................................................... Less than 0.4 µ v tight ......................................................................................... (s + n)/n 25 db air .......................................................

  • Page 38: Notes

    38 notes 20-419.Fm page 38 wednesday, march 24, 1999 2:43 pm.

  • Page 39

    39 20-419.Fm page 39 wednesday, march 24, 1999 2:43 pm.

  • Page 40

    Radioshack a division of tandy corporation fort worth, texas 76102 ubzz01295zz 03a99 printed in the philippines limited one-year warranty this product is warranted by radioshack against manufacturing defects in material and workman- ship under normal use for one (1) year from the date of purchase fr...