Radio Shack 20-501 User Manual
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Radio Shack 20-501 User Manual

Channel compact scanner w/sweep search and lighted keypad
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20-501
PRO-83 200 Channel
compact scanner w/sweep
search and lighted keypad
Read this user's guide completely
before using your scanner

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Summary of Contents for Radio Shack 20-501

  • Page 1 20-501 PRO-83 200 Channel compact scanner w/sweep search and lighted keypad Read this user’s guide completely before using your scanner...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Contents The Basics The FCC wants you to know ....4 powering your scanner ....5 using rechargeable batteries .
  • Page 3 storing frequencies into channels during service search......29 scanning the stored channels....30 manually selecting a channel .

  • Page 4: The Basics

    The FCC wants you to know This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.

  • Page 5: Powering Your Scanner

    powering your scanner You can power your scanner from any of three sources: • internal batteries (not supplied) • standard AC power (using an optional AC adapter) • vehicle battery power (using an optional DC adapter) Before installing batteries, set the switch in the battery compartment to match the type of batteries you will use.
  • Page 6 Install 2 AA batteries, matching the polarity symbols (+ -). Replace the cover. The Basics...

  • Page 7: Using Rechargeable Batteries

    Warning: Set ALKALINE/RECHARGEABLE to RECHARGEABLE for use only with nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd) or nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries. Never attempt to recharge non- rechargeable batteries. Non-rechargeable batteries can get hot or explode if you try to recharge them. Cautions: •...
  • Page 8 RECHARGEABLE inside the battery compartment to RECHARGEABLE, install the batteries in the scanner, and connect an external AC or DC adapter to the scanner's DC 6V jack (see “using AC power” on Page 10 or “using vehicle battery power” on Page 11).
  • Page 9 • If you connect an external power source to the scanner with ALKALINE/RECHARGEABLE set to ALKALINE, CHArg appears but the scanner does NOT charge the batteries. This is because the scanner's microprocessor unit does not recognize the switch position when you incorrectly connect an external power source.

  • Page 10: Using Ac Power

    using AC power You can power the scanner using a 6V, 300 mA AC adapter and a size B Adaptaplug™ adapter (neither supplied). Both are available at your local RadioShack store. Cautions: • You must use a Class 2 power source that supplies 6V DC and delivers at least 300 mA.

  • Page 11: Using Vehicle Battery Power

    using vehicle battery power You can power the scanner from a vehicle's 12V power source (such as a cigarette-lighter socket) using a 6V, 300 mA DC adapter and a size B Adaptaplug (neither supplied). Both are available at your local RadioShack store. Cautions: •...
  • Page 12 If rechargeable batteries are installed and ALKALINE/RECHARGEABLE is set to RECHARGEABLE, the adapter powers the scanner and recharges the installed batteries at the same time. 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 debris.

  • Page 13: Setting Up Your Scanner

    setting up your scanner connecting the antenna To attach the supplied flexible antenna to the connector on the top of your scanner, align the slots around the antenna's connector with the tabs on the scanner's BNC connector. Then slide the antenna's connector down over the scanner's connector and rotate the antenna connector's outer ring clockwise until it locks into place.

  • Page 14: Connecting An Earphone/Headphone

    Note: Always use 50-ohm, RG-58, or RG-8, coaxial cable to connect an outdoor antenna. If the antenna is more than 50 feet from the scanner, use RG-8 low- loss dielectric coaxial cable. If your antenna's cable does not have a BNC connector, your local RadioShack store carries a variety of BNC adapters.

  • Page 15: Connecting An Extension Speaker

    • Once you set the volume, do not increase it. Over time, your ears adapt to the volume level, so a volume level that does not cause discom- fort might still damage your hearing. traffic safety Do not use an earphone or headphones with your scanner when operating a motor vehicle in or near traffic.

  • Page 16: Attaching The Belt Clip

    attaching the belt clip To make your scanner easier to carry when you are on the go, use the supplied belt clip. Use a Phillips screwdriver and the supplied screws to attach the clip to the scanner. The Basics...

  • Page 17: About Your Scanner

    about your scanner We use a few simple terms in this manual to explain the features of the scanner. Familiarize yourself with these terms and the scanner's features, and you can put the scanner to work for you right away. Simply determine the type of communications you want to receive, and then set the scanner to scan those communications.

  • Page 18: A Look At The Keypad

    a look at the keypad Your scanner's keys have various functions labeled on the key tops and below the keys. To select the function labeled on a key, simply press the key. To select the function labeled below a key, first press FUNC then release it.
  • Page 19 SCAN/SRCH: SCAN Scans the stored channels. FUNC+ SRCH Starts chain search or resumes searching. /KEYLOCK: Turns the display and key backlight on or off. FUNC+ KEYLOCK Locks and unlocks the keypad. FUNC Lets you use various functions by pressing this key in combination with other keys. Press and hold for more than 2 seconds to turn the scanner on or off.
  • Page 20 3/SVC: 3 Enters a 3. FUNC + SVC Lets you search the five service search banks. 4/ALT: 4 Enters a 4. FUNC + ALT Turns the WX alert function on or off. 5/DLY: 5 Enters a 5. FUNC + DLY Turns the delay function on or off. 6/B.SLCT: 6 Enters a 6.
  • Page 21 9 Enters a 9. . /CLR/ . /CLR Enters a decimal point or clears an incor- rect entry. Jumps directly to the last channel in memory (Ch#200) from any mode. 0/L/O: 0 Enters a 0. FUNC + L/O Lets you lock out a selected channel or skip a specified frequency.

  • Page 22: A Look At The Display

    a look at the display The display has indicators that show the scanner's current operating status. The display information helps you understand how your scanner operates. BANK - appears with numbers (1-10). P - appears when you select a priority channel. SCN - appears when you scan channels.
  • Page 23 L/O - appears when you manually select a channel you locked out or a skip frequency. - appears when you lock the keypad. - alerts you when the battery power gets low. PGM - appears while you store a frequency into a channel.

  • Page 24: Understanding Banks

    understanding banks service banks The scanner is preprogrammed with all the frequen- cies allocated to the weather, ham, marine, aircraft, and police (fire/emergency) services. channel storage banks To make it easier to identify and select the channels you want to listen to, the 200 channels are divided into 10 channel-storage banks.

  • Page 25: Beyond The Basics

    operating your scanner turning on the scanner and setting squelch Your scanner is preprogrammed at the factory with 150 of the most frequently used frequencies in Channels 1 to 150. You can scan these frequencies as soon as you turn on the scanner. Note: Make sure the scanner's antenna is connected before you turn it on.
  • Page 26 consider using a frequency guide. Excellent refer- ences for active frequencies are the RadioShack Police Call Guide including Fire and Emergency Services, and Official Aeronautical Frequency Direc- tory. We update these directories every year, so be sure to get a current copy. Follow these steps to store frequencies into chan- nels.
  • Page 27 •When you enter a frequency into a channel, the scanner automatically turns on the delay function and DLY appears. When delay is turned on, the scanner automatically pauses scanning 2 seconds after the end of a transmis- sion before scanning proceeds to the next channel.

  • Page 28: Searching For And Temporarily Storing Active Frequencies

    searching for and temporarily storing active frequencies If you do not have a reference to frequencies in your area, use a search (except weather service search) to find a transmission. Note: When the scanner starts searching, it automatically turns on the delay function. To turn delay on or off, press FUNC + DLY.

  • Page 29: Storing Frequencies Into Channels During Service Search

    To release the hold and continue searching, press HOLD. Or, if you did not press HOLD, simply press FUNC and or FUNC and searching. Note: Because there are many different frequencies allocated to fire and police departments, it can take several minutes to search all the service frequencies.

  • Page 30: Scanning The Stored Channels

    scanning the stored channels To begin scanning channels, press SCAN. The scanner scans through all non-locked channels in the activated banks. (See “locking out channels” on Page 48 and “turning channel-storage banks on and off” on Page 48). When the scanner finds a transmis- sion, it stops on it.

  • Page 31: Signal Stalker

    To manually select a channel, press HOLD, enter the channel number and then press HOLD again. Or, during scanning, if the radio stops at a channel you want to listen to, press HOLD once. (Repeatedly pressing HOLD at this time causes the scanner to step through the channels.) Press SCAN to resume automatic scanning.

  • Page 32: Setting The Signal Stalker Options

    Signal Stalker might not find the transmission you are searching for, or it might find a transmis- sion other than the one you are searching for. • Signal Stalker cannot detect satellite dishes or any transmitter with a frequency above or below the frequency ranges listed under “setting the signal stalker options”...
  • Page 33 If you selected S-S.bnd, one of the following band names appears. bnd Lo: VHF Low Band (25.0000 - 54.0000 MHz) bnd Air: AIR Low Band (108.0000 - 136.9875 MHz) bnd Hi: VHF High Band (137.0000 - 174.0000 MHz) bnd UHF: UHF Band (406.0000 - 512.0000 MHz) bnd 800: 800MHz Band (806.0000 - 956.0000 MHz) If you selected S-S.Alt, skip to Step 4.
  • Page 34 Repeatedly press want appears, and then press E to select it. Otherwise, press . /CLR if you do not want to select it. Then skip to Step 7. Press E while S-S.Alt appears. One of the following alert options appears... ALt bEEP: The scanner beeps when a signal stalker signal is detected.

  • Page 35: Using Signal Stalker

    using signal stalker To turn on Signal Stalker, press FUNC + once except in WX search, band select, or program mode. appears. Every two seconds, the scanner searches for frequencies in the range you specified in “setting the signal stalker options” on Page 32.

  • Page 36: Skywarn

    Skywarn The skywarn function lets you jump directly to the last channel in memory (Channel 200) from any mode by pressing FUNC + into scan hold mode and starts receiving transmissions in the last channel. If no frequency is programmed in the last channel, No Prg appears and the scanner sounds an error tone.
  • Page 37 • high water areas • downed power lines • other emergency conditions that affect life or property Listening to Skywarn broadcasts makes it easy to quickly find out about and prepare for inclement weather conditions in your immediate area, even before your local NOAA weather broadcast and local TV or radio station can announce them.

  • Page 38: Wx Alert

    it several minutes before it can be relayed for broadcast by NOAA and as much as 5 or 10 minutes sooner than you will hear it on local TV or radio! Those few minutes can be worth a lot when it comes to deciding if your family needs to take cover.

  • Page 39: Chain Search Mode

    The preset frequency ranges are: Bank No. Frequency (MHz) 25.0000-27.9950 28.0000-29.6950 29.7000-49.9950 50.0000-54.0000 137.0000-143.9950 144.0000-147.9950 406.0000-419.99375 420.0000-449.99375 450.0000-469.99375 806.0000-956.0000 chain search mode Press FUNC and SRCH to start chain search mode. SRCH, the enabled search bank number, and (indicating the search direction) appear. The search bank number being searched flashes.

  • Page 40: Paging System Eliminator

    At least one search bank must be enabled. (The scanner sounds an error tone if you try to disable all the search banks). The search bank and the fre- quency where chain search starts depends on how the scanner was set before you selected chain search mode.

  • Page 41: Storing Frequencies Found During Chain Search Into Channel Memory

    storing frequencies found during chain search into channel memory You can store frequencies you find in chain search mode or chain search hold mode. Press FUNC and PGM in chain search mode or chain search hold mode. The lowest blank chan- nel and bank appear.

  • Page 42: Direct Entry Search

    When you select the search bank, the lower limit and upper limit frequency assigned in the search bank alternate on the display. To select another search bank, press FUNC + B.SLCT or FUNC number or FUNC + FUNC + or FUNC + quickly move through the search bank numbers.

  • Page 43: Direct Entry Search Hold Mode

    Enter the frequency you want to start from by using the number keys. (Press . /CLR to enter a decimal point). Press FUNC and searches, starting from the frequency you entered in Step 2. If you enter a frequency that is out of range, the scanner sounds an error tone and Error appears.

  • Page 44: Storing Frequencies Found During Direct Entry Search Into Channel Memory

    upward. direction. Press FUNC + step or FUNC + down decrease or increase the frequency. To resume direct search, press FUNC + SEARCH or HOLD. ( the search direction). storing frequencies found during direct entry search into channel memory Follow these steps to store frequencies received during direct entry search mode or direct entry search hold mode.

  • Page 45: Search Skip Memory

    If you enter a frequency that has already been entered elsewhere, the scanner sounds an error tone and displays the channel that was duplicated. If you entered the frequency by mistake, press . /CLR. To enter the frequency anyway, press E to accept. The scanner moves to program mode after you stored the frequency.
  • Page 46 Follow these steps to clear a single frequency from skip memory so the scanner stops on it during a search. Press HOLD to stop the search. Press FUNC and the frequency. L/O appears. Press FUNC and L/O. L/O disappears. To clear all the skip frequencies at once while searching or search hold, press FUNC and then press and hold L/O until the scanner beeps.

  • Page 47: Delay

    delay Sometimes a user might pause before replying to a transmission. To avoid missing a reply on a specific channel, you can program a 2-second delay into any channel or frequency. The scanner continues to monitor the channel frequency for an additional 2 seconds after the transmission stops before resuming scanning or searching.

  • Page 48: Turning Channel-Storage Banks On And Off

    turning channel-storage banks on and off You can turn each channel-storage bank on and off. When you turn off a bank, the scanner does not scan any of the 20 channels in that bank. While scanning, press the number key that corre- sponds to the bank you want to turn on or off.

  • Page 49: Priority

    Note: You can still manually select locked-out channels. To remove the lockout from a channel, manually select the channel, and then press FUNC and L/O. L/O disappears. To unlock all channels in the banks that are turned on, press HOLD to stop scanning, and then press FUNC and press and hold L/O until the scanner beeps twice.

  • Page 50: Using Keylock

    Press FUNC and PGM, and then press FUNC and PRIORITY. P appears to the left of the selected channel number. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the channel in each bank you want to program as a priority channel. To turn on the priority feature, press FUNC and PRIORITY during scanning.

  • Page 51: Wired Programming

    wired programming You can transfer programming data to your scanner using your PC and an optional interface cable (Cat. No. 20-289, available at your local RadioShack store) and software (available at your local RadioShack or www.radioshack.com). Note: If the scanner receives no data from the PC for more than 20 seconds, T-Err appears and wired programming stops.

  • Page 52: Using The Display/Key Backlight

    To set up the program, click on Tools, select Configuration, and select PRO-83 (if necessary). Turn on the scanner. The scanner automatically goes into the wired programming mode. PGM and WirEd appear. Then send the data from the Data frame numbers being received appear. When the scanner has successfully received all data, End appears.

  • Page 53: Frequently Asked Questions

    frequently asked questions Q: My scanner isn’t working at all. How do I turn it on? A: The scanner might not be receiving power. Make sure the batteries are installed correctly and are good (if you installed alkaline batteries) or fully charged (if you installed rechargeable batteries).
  • Page 54 If you stored at least two frequencies, make sure the AC adapter’s or DC adapter’s barrel plug is fully inserted into the scanner’s 6V 300 mA jack. See “using AC power” on Page 10 for more information. Q: The scanner’s display is dim and hard to see. The scanner also beeps once every 15 to 30 seconds.
  • Page 55 flashes on the display. What is it? A: The batteries might be weak. Make sure the bat- teries are good (if you installed alkaline batteries) or fully charged (if you installed rechargeable batter- ies). See “powering your scanner” on Page 5 for more information.
  • Page 56 turned off. See “WX alert” on Page 38 for more information. Q: ERROR appears on the display. What does it mean? A: If you were trying to enter a frequency, you might have made a programming error. Re-enter the fre- quency correctly, including the decimal point.

  • Page 57: Glossary

    glossary ALKALINE/RECHARGEABLE Switch - Lets you select the type of batteries you want to use in the scanner (alkaline or rechargeable) ... 5 Service Banks - preset groups of frequencies categorized by the type of services that use those frequencies..17, 24 Channel-Storage Banks - Groups of channels, used for frequency storage...

  • Page 58: Index

    index ALKALINE/RECHARGEABLE Switch ... 5 Antenna Connecting ... 13 Attaching a belt clip ... 16 Backlight ... 52 Batteries Charging ... 5 Belt Clip Attaching ... 16 Chain Search ... 38 Mode ... 39 Hold Mode ... 40 Storing Frequencies ... 41 Channel-Storage Banks ...
  • Page 59 Earphone Connecting ... 14 Extension Speaker Connecting ... 15 Frequently Asked Questions ... 53 FUNC Key ... 19 Keylock ... 50 Locking Out Channels ... 48 Manually Selecting Channels ... 30 Paging System Eliminator ... 40 Priority ... 49 Powering the scanner Using Batteries ...
  • Page 60 Storing frequencies ... 25 During Service Search ... 29 Direct Entry Search Mode ... 44 Chain Search Mode ... 41 Signal Stalker ... 31 Setting Options ... 32 Using ... 35 Skywarn ... 36 Turning on the scanner/setting squelch ... 25 Weather Alert ...

  • Page 61: Warranty

    warranty This product is warranted by RadioShack against manufacturing defects in material and workmanship under normal use for 90 (ninety) days from the date of purchase from RadioShack company-owned stores and authorized RadioShack franchisees and dealers. For complete warranty details and exclu- sions, check with your local RadioShack store.

  • Page 62: Accessories

    accessories Beyond the Basics...
  • Page 63 Beyond the Basics...
  • Page 64 20-501 07A04 Beyond the Basics...

This manual is also suitable for:

Pro-83 200

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