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20-311a.fm Page 1 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM
Cat. No. 20-311A
OWNER’S MANUAL
PRO-71 VHF/UHF/Air
Handheld Scanner
Please read before using this equipment.
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20-311a.fm Page 2 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM FEATURES Your new RadioShack PRO-71 VHF/UHF/Air Handheld Scanner lets you in on all the action! This scanner gives you direct access to 23,000 exciting frequencies that include police department, fire department, ambulance, aircraft, amateur radio, and transportation services. You can select up to 100 channels for your scanner to scan and you can change your selection at any time. The secret to your scanner’s ability to scan so many frequenc
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20-311a.fm Page 3 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM Your scanner can receive all of these bands: Frequency Range (MHz) Transmission 29–29.7 10-Meter Amateur Radio 29.7–50 VHF Lo 50–54 6-Meter Amateur Radio 108–136.975 Aircraft 137–144 Government 144–148 2-Meter Amateur Radio 148–174 VHF Hi 406–420 Government 420–450 70-cm Amateur Radio 450–470 UHF Standard 470–512 UHF “T” Band In addition, your scanner is preprogrammed with the following weather service channels: Frequency (MHz) 162.400 162.
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20-311a.fm Page 4 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM FCC NOTICE Your scanner might cause TV or radio interference even when it is op- erating properly. To determine whether your scanner is causing the in- terference, turn off your scanner. If the interference goes away, your scanner is causing it. Try to eliminate the interference by: • moving your scanner away from the receiver • connecting your scanner to an outlet that is on a different electrical circuit from the receiver • contacting your
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20-311a.fm Page 5 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM This scanner has been designed to prevent reception of illegal trans- missions. This is done to comply with the legal requirement that scan- ners be manufactured so as to not be easily modifiable to pick up those transmissions. Do not open your scanner’s case to make any modifica- tions that could allow it to pick up transmissions that it is not legal to lis- ten to. Doing so could subject you to legal penalties. We encourage responsible, le
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20-311a.fm Page 6 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM CONTENTS Preparation ....................................................................................... 8 Power Sources ............................................................................ 8 Installing Batteries ....................................................................... 8 Important Information About the External Power Jacks .............. 9 Using Standard AC Power ....................................................
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20-311a.fm Page 7 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM A General Guide to Scanning ........................................................ 30 Guide to Frequencies ................................................................ 30 National Weather Frequencies ........................................... 30 Canadian Weather Frequencies ......................................... 30 Guide to the Action Bands ......................................................... 31 Band Allocation ...............
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20-311a.fm Page 8 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM 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) INSTALLING BATTERIES Your scanner requires 4 AA batteries (not supplied) for power. For the best performance and longest life, we recommend alkaline batteries. Or, you can use rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. Both types of batteries
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20-311a.fm Page 9 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM 2. Install two batteries in the compartment and two in the cover as indicated by the polarity symbols (+ and –) marked inside each location. 3. Replace the cover. When BATT.Lo flashes and the scanner beeps every 15 seconds, im- mediately replace or recharge all four batteries. Cautions: • If you do not plan to use the scanner with batteries for a month or more, or if you plan to use only an AC or DC adapter, remove the batteries. Batteries c
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20-311a.fm Page 10 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM The POWER jack powers the scanner and disconnects the internal bat- teries. You can use this jack to connect an external power source (AC or DC adapter), regardless of the type of batteries you install. The CHARGE jack supplies power to operate the scanner and also charges the internal batteries. Use the CHARGE jack only when you have installed rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries. Warning: Never use the CHARGE jack when you have installed
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20-311a.fm Page 11 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM Cautions: • You must use an AC adapter that supplies 9 volts and delivers at least 300 mA. Its center tip must be set to negative and its plug must fit the scanner’s POWER jack. The recommended adapter meets these specifications. Using an adapter that does not meet these specifications could damage the scanner or the adapter. • When you finish using the AC adapter, disconnect it from the AC outlet first. Then disconnect it from the scanner
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20-311a.fm Page 12 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM 4. Plug the other end of the adapter into your vehicle’s cigarette- lighter socket. Note: If the scanner does not operate properly when you use a DC adapter, unplug the adapter from the cigarette-lighter socket and clean 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 batteries while they are in the scanner. To charge the batter
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20-311a.fm Page 13 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM CONNECTING THE ANTENNA Follow these steps to attach the supplied flexible antenna to the connector on the top of your scan- ner. 1. Align the slots around the antenna’s connec- tor with the tabs on the jack. 2. Press the antenna down over the jack and rotate the antenna’s base clockwise until it locks into place. Connecting an Optional Antenna The antenna connector on your scanner makes it easy to use the scan- ner with a variety of antenna
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20-311a.fm Page 14 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/ HEADPHONES For private listening, you can plug an earphone or mono headphones 1 (not supplied) with a /8-inch (3.5-mm) plug (such as Cat. No. 33-177 or 20-210) into the jack on top of your scanner. This automatically dis- connects the internal speaker. Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an ear- phone or headphones. • Set the volume to the lowest setting before you begin lis
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20-311a.fm Page 15 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM CONNECTING AN EXTENSION SPEAKER In a noisy area, an optional extension speaker (such as RadioShack Cat. No. 21-549) or an amplified speaker (such as RadioShack Cat. No. 21-541), positioned in the right place, might provide more comfort- 1 able listening. Plug the speaker cable’s /8-inch (3.5 mm) mini-plug into your scanner’s jack. USING THE BELT CLIP You can attach the supplied belt clip to make the scanner easier to use when you are on the
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20-311a.fm Page 16 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER A LOOK AT THE KEYPAD Your scanner’s keys might seem confusing at first, but this information should 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 — lets you lock out a selected channel. Skips a specified frequency during limit or direct search. PRIORITY — sets and turns on and off priority f
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20-311a.fm Page 17 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM for example) shows the channels that make up a memory bank. In ad- dition, the keypad has different functions in manual mode, scan mode, and program mode. See “Banks and Memories” on Page 19. A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has several indicators that show the scanner’s current op- erating mode. A quick look at the display will help you understand how to operate your scanner. MON — appears when you listen to a monitor memory. A number (1–
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20-311a.fm Page 18 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM PRI — appears when you select the priority feature. L/O — appears when you manually select a locked-out channel, or during a search hold when the frequency is stored in search skip mem- ory. WX — appears when you scan the preprogrammed weather channels. ▼ and ▲ — indicate the search direction. SRCH — appears during a limit search, a direct search, and a weather band search. -L- — appears instead of the channel number during a limit search.
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20-311a.fm Page 19 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM BANKS AND MEMORIES Your scanner can store up to 110 frequencies. You store each frequen- cy in either a memory called a channel, or a temporary memory called a monitor memory. This scanner has 100 channels and ten monitor memories. CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS To make it easier to identify and select the channels you want to listen to, channels are divided into ten channel-storage banks of 10 channels each. Use each channel-storage bank to group f
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20-311a.fm Page 20 Friday, February 12, 1999 4:51 PM 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 weak or distant station, turn SQUELCH counterclockwise. If reception is poor, turn SQUELCH clockwise. STORING FREQUENCIES Follow these steps to st
