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20-430.fm Page 1 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM
Owner’s Manual Cat. No. 20-430
PRO-2050
VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz
300-Channel TrunkTracker Home Scanner
Please read before using this equipment.
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20-430.fm Page 2 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM FEATURES Your new RadioShack PRO-2050 response for that 2-way radio user VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Channel and easily “follow” the conversation. TrunkTracker Home Scanner is one of a new generation of scanners de- The scanner also lets you scan con- signed to track Motorola Type I, ventional transmissions, and is pre- Type II (such as Smartnet and Priva- programmed with service-search cy Plus ), and hybrid analog trunking banks for convenienc
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20-430.fm Page 3 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Scan Delay — delays scanning for signals, making a scan or search fast- about 2 seconds before moving to an- er. other channel in conventional mode, so you can hear more replies that are Manual Access — lets you directly made on the same channel. In trunk access any stored channel. tracking mode, it delays for about 5 seconds before moving to another ID. Liquid-Crystal Display — makes it easy to view and change program- Lock-Out Function — le
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20-430.fm Page 4 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Your PRO-2050 scanner can receive FCC NOTICE all of these bands: Your scanner might cause TV or radio interference even when it is operating Frequency Types of properly. To determine if your scanner Range Transmissions is causing the interference, turn off 29–29.7 MHz 10-Meter Amateur your scanner. If the interference goes Radio away, your scanner is causing it. Try to eliminate the interference by: 29.7–50 MHz VHF Lo • Moving your scanner
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20-430.fm Page 5 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SCANNING LEGALLY Scanning is a fun and interesting hob- by. You can hear police and fire de- partments, ambulance services, government agencies, private compa- nies, amateur radio services, aircraft, and military operations. It is legal to listen to almost every transmission your scanner can receive. However, there are some electronic and wire communications that are illegal to in- tentionally intercept. These include: • Telephone conversatio
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20-430.fm Page 6 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM CONTENTS Preparation ........................................................................................................... 8 Connecting an Antenna ................................................................................... 8 Connecting the Supplied Antenna ............................................................... 8 Connecting an Outdoor Antenna ................................................................. 8 Connecting
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20-430.fm Page 7 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Trunk Tracking ................................................................................................... 26 Types of Trunking Systems ........................................................................... 26 Setting the Scanner to the Trunk Tracking Mode .......................................... 27 Setting Squelch for the Trunk Tracking Mode ............................................... 27 Programming Trunked Frequencies ...
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20-430.fm Page 8 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM PREPARATION This scanner is designed primarily for use in the home as a base station. You can place it on a desk, shelf, or table. Your scanner’s front feet fold up or down. Adjust them to give you the best view of the display. The scanner’s sensitivity depends on the antenna’s length and various envi- ronmental conditions. For the best re- ception of the transmissions you want Your scanner’s display is protected to hear, adjust the antenna’s
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20-430.fm Page 9 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM • The antenna should be as high as Cautions: possible on the vehicle or building. • Do not run the cable over sharp • The antenna and its cable should edges or moving parts that might be as far as possible from sources damage it. of electrical noise (appliances, • Do not run the cable next to power other radios, etc.). cables or other antenna cables. • The antenna should be vertical for the best performance. Warning: Use extreme caution when
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20-430.fm Page 10 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Cautions: ANT • The supplied AC adapter supplies DC 12V 12 volts DC power and delivers 500 milliamps. Its center tip is set to positive, and its plug properly fits the scanner’s DC 12V jack. Cautions: Using an adapter that does not meet these specifications could • If you use a DC cigarette lighter damage the scanner or the power cable with the scanner, it adapter. must supply 12 volts and at least 500 milliamps of DC automotive • Be sure t
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20-430.fm Page 11 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an earphone or headphones. • Do not listen at extremely high volume levels. Extended high- volume listening can lead to per- manent hearing loss. •Set VOLUME to the lowest setting before you begin listening. After Note: Connecting an external speaker you begin listening, adjust VOL- disconnects the scanner’s internal UME to a comfortable level. speaker. • Once you
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20-430.fm Page 12 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER Once you understand a few simple terms we use in this manual and familiarize yourself with your scanner’s features, you can put the scanner to work for you. You simply determine the type of communications you want to receive, then set the scanner to scan them. A frequency is the tuning location of a station (expressed in kHz or MHz). To find active frequencies, you can use the search function. You can also search
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20-430.fm Page 13 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SCAN Scans through the stored channels. MANUAL Stops scanning and lets you directly enter a channel number or frequency. TRUNK Switches between conventional and trunk tracking modes. SVC (service) Selects a service bank. PRIORITY/SPEED Sets and turns on and off the priority feature; turns the HyperSearch mode on and off. Number Keys Each key has a single-digit label and a range of num- bers. The single digits are used to enter a channel, fre
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20-430.fm Page 14 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM HOLD/s Holds on the current ID in the trunk tracking mode; sets the search direction and holds the frequency search. DATA Turns the data signal skip feature on or off or checks the current trunking bank in the trunk tracking mode. A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has indicators that show the scanner’s current operating status. A good look at the display will help you understand how your scanner operates. LIST Appears with a number (1–5) to
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20-430.fm Page 15 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Shows which control/voice channels are currently (channel activity indicator) active. P Appears when a priority channel is selected. SCAN Appears when you scan channels. MANUAL Appears when you set the scanner to its manual mode. PRI Appears when the priority feature is turned on. HOLD Appears when the scanner is in the hold mode during a search. DELAY Appears when you program a delay. DATA Appears when the data skip function is active. L
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20-430.fm Page 16 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING BANKS TRUNKING In the past, groups that broadcast fre- Channel Storage Banks quently, such as police departments, were restricted to transmitting on just To make it easier to identify and select a few frequencies. This resulted in the channels you want to listen to, heavy traffic and often required 2-way channels are divided into 10 banks of radio users to wait for a specific fre- 30 channels each. Use each chann
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20-430.fm Page 17 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM OPERATION TURNING ON THE STORING KNOWN SCANNER AND SETTING FREQUENCIES INTO SQUELCH CHANNELS 1. Turn SQUELCH and VOLUME fully Good references for active frequen- counterclockwise. cies are the RadioShack “Police Call Guide including Fire and Emergency Services,” “Official Aeronautical Fre- quency Directory,” and “Maritime Fre- quency Directory.” We update these directories every year, so be sure to get a current copy. Note: To store trunki
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20-430.fm Page 18 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 3. Press E to store the frequency into stores this setting in the chan- the channel. nel. 4. If you want to program the next channel in sequence, press MAN- UAL and repeat Steps 2 and 3. SEARCHING SERVICE BANKS You can search for public service, po- lice, fire/emergency, aircraft, and weather transmissions even if you do Notes: not know the specific frequencies that • If you made a mistake in Step are used in your area. And, you can 2, Err
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20-430.fm Page 19 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM To select another service bank, re- LIMIT SEARCH peatedly press SVC until the scanner displays the name of the bank you If you do not know a frequency to want to use. store, you can search for transmis- sions within a range of frequencies Notes: limit search you select, called the range . Then you can store any inter- • To skip data signals (such as esting frequencies you find into chan- modem signals), press DATA. See nels. “Skipping Data
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20-430.fm Page 20 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM quency into the channel. The MANUALLY SELECTING scanner stores the frequency. A CHANNEL • s or t to stop searching so you can listen to the transmission. You can continuously monitor a single HOLD appears. channel without scanning. This is use- To release hold and continue ful if you hear an emergency broad- searching, press SEARCH. cast on a channel and do not want to miss any details — even though there might be periods of silence — or if
