Related Manuals for Radio Shack PRO-74
Summary of Contents for Radio Shack PRO-74
- Page 1 20-513.fm Page 1 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Owner’s Manual Cat. No. 20-513 PRO-74 100-Channel VHF/UHF/Air/800 MHz Race Scanner Please read before using this equipment.
- Page 2 You can select up to 100 channels for your scanner to scan, and you can change any of those selections at any time. We have included a frequency guide with your PRO-74 that includes listings by state for many of the frequencies you can listen to.
- Page 3 Memory Backup — keeps the frequencies stored in memory for up to 3 days if the PRO-74 loses power. Key Confirmation Tones — the scanner sounds a tone when you per- form an operation correctly, and an error tone if you make an invalid entry.
- Page 4 20-513.fm Page 4 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Resume Start — the scanner saves its settings when you turn the power off. This returns you to the function you were using if you acci- dentally turn the scanner off or the batteries are weak. Triple-Conversion Circuitry —...
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Page 5: Fcc Notice
20-513.fm Page 5 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM FCC NOTICE Your scanner might cause radio or TV interference even when it is oper- ating properly. To determine whether your scanner is causing the interfer- ence, turn off your scanner. If the interference goes away, your scanner is causing it. -
Page 6: Table Of Contents
Scanning Channels ..............30 Deleting a Frequency from a Channel ........30 Listening to Weather Broadcasts ..........31 Using the PRO-74 at the Races ............. 32 Storing a Car Number and Frequency ........32 Adding Frequencies to a Car Number ....... 33 Viewing Frequencies Associated with a Car Number .. - Page 7 20-513.fm Page 7 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Special Features ................36 Turning Memory Banks On and Off ........... 36 Locking Out Channels ............... 36 Priority ..................36 Using the Keylock ..............38 Using the Display Backlight ............38 Changing Search Speeds ............
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Page 8: Preparation
20-513.fm Page 8 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM PREPARATION POWER SOURCES 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 Using Internal Batteries You can power your scanner using four AA batteries. - Page 9 20-513.fm Page 9 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Warning: Never set if you are ALKALINE JACK NI-CD NI-CD installing non-rechargeable batteries. Non-rechargeable batteries can get hot or explode if you try to recharge them. 3. Install two batteries in the compartment and two in the cover as indicated by the polarity symbols (+ and –) marked inside those locations.
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Page 10: Charging Nickel-Cadmium Batteries
20-513.fm Page 10 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Charging Nickel-Cadmium Batteries The scanner has a built-in circuit that lets you recharge nickel-cadmium batteries while they are in the scanner. To charge the batteries, set , install the nickel-cadmium batteries KALINE JACK NI-CD... -
Page 11: Using Standard Ac Power
20-513.fm Page 11 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Using Standard AC Power You can power the scanner from a standard AC outlet using an option- al AC adapter (such as Cat. No. 273-1665). Warning: Do not use an AC adapter’s polarized plug with an extension cord, receptacle, or other outlet unless the blades can be fully inserted to prevent blade exposure. -
Page 12: Using Vehicle Battery Power
20-513.fm Page 12 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Using Vehicle Battery Power To power the scanner from your vehicle's cigarette-lighter socket, you need a DC adapter, such as Cat. No. 270-1560. Cautions: • The DC adapter must be capable of delivering 9 volts and at least 300 milliamps, its center tip must be set to negative, and its barrel plug must correctly fit the scanner's jack. -
Page 13: Connecting An Antenna
20-513.fm Page 13 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM When you finish using the DC adapter, disconnect it from the cigarette- lighter socket, then disconnect it from your scanner. Note: If the scanner does not operate properly when you connect a DC adapter, unplug the adapter from the cigarette-lighter socket and clean the socket to remove ashes and other debris. -
Page 14: Connecting An Optional Antenna
20-513.fm Page 14 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Connecting an Optional Antenna The scanner’s antenna jack makes it easy to use the scanner with a variety of antennas. Instead of either of the supplied antennas, you can attach a different one, such as an external mobile antenna or outdoor base station antenna. -
Page 15: Connecting An Extension Speaker
20-513.fm Page 15 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM CONNECTING AN EXTENSION SPEAKER In a noisy area, an extension speaker (such as Cat. No. 21-549), posi- tioned in the right place, might provide more comfortable listening. Plug the speaker cable’s -inch mini-plug into your scanner’s jack. -
Page 16: Listening Safely
20-513.fm Page 16 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an ear- phone or headphones. • Do not listen at extremely high volume levels. Extended high- volume listening can lead to permanent hearing loss. •... -
Page 17: Understanding Your Scanner
20-513.fm Page 17 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 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 find the communications you want to receive, then set the scanner to scan them. - Page 18 20-513.fm Page 18 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM — lets you store car numbers and frequencies in the scanner’s RACE channels, add and delete frequencies from car numbers, display car numbers, and listen to the channel where a car number is stored. —...
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Page 19: A Look At The Display
20-513.fm Page 19 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM 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. BANK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 BATT.Lo K / L RACE PRI DA TA HOLD HYPER... - Page 20 20-513.fm Page 20 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM — appears when a car number is displayed — appears with when you select the scanner’s marine service bank (see “Service Banks” on Page 21). — appears when you listen to a priority channel. —...
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Page 21: Understanding Banks
Memory Banks To make it easier to identify and select the channels you want to listen to, the PRO-74’s channels are divided into 10 banks of 10 channels each. Use each memory bank to group frequencies, such as the police department, fire department, ambulance services, or aircraft (see “Guide to the Action Bands”... - Page 22 20-513.fm Page 22 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Name Typical Usage Frequency Range (in MHz) 2-Meter Ham 144.0000–148.0000 VHF Hi 148.0000–174.0000 Federal Government 406.0000–420.0000 70-Centimeter Ham 420.0000–450.0000 450.0000–470.0000 470.0000–512.0000 800 MHz 806.0000–823.9375 851.0000–868.9375 896.1125–956.0000 Your scanner also has 7 preprogrammed weather frequencies. For example, if you wanted to search for transmissions between a driver and that driver’s pit crew at an auto race, you could search only the ser- vice bank where you are most likely to hear the transmissions (...
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Page 23: Operation
20-513.fm Page 23 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH Note: Make sure an antenna is connected to the scanner before you turn it on. 1. Turn fully counterclockwise. SQUELCH PR O-7 4 V O L U M E S Q U E L C H O F F... -
Page 24: Storing Known Frequencies Into Channels
20-513.fm Page 24 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM STORING KNOWN FREQUENCIES INTO CHANNELS Good references for active frequencies are the RadioShack “Beyond Police Call,” “Aeronautical Frequency Directory,” and “Maritime Fre- quency Directory.” We update these directories every year, so be sure to get a current copy. -
Page 25: Finding And Storing Active Frequencies
20-513.fm Page 25 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM • Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency to the nearest valid frequency. For example, if you enter a frequency of 151.473, your scanner accepts it as 151.475. • Your scanner automatically delays scanning for 2 seconds after a transmission ends before it proceeds to the next channel. -
Page 26: Searching From A Selected Frequency
20-513.fm Page 26 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM To release hold and continue searching, press or hold HOLD down t or s for more than 1 second. Notes: • To step through the frequencies while HOLD is displayed, press t or s. -
Page 27: Storing Active Frequencies
20-513.fm Page 27 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Notes: • To step through the frequencies while HOLD is displayed, press t or s. • If you tune to a search skip frequency, appears (see “Search Skip Memory” on Page 27). •... -
Page 28: Manually Selecting A Channel
20-513.fm Page 28 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM To skip a frequency, press when the PR OG MA N scanner stops on the frequency during a B A N D R A C E S C A N search. The scanner stores the frequen- 1-10 11-20 2 1 - 3 0... -
Page 29: Scanning Channels
20-513.fm Page 29 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Note: You cannot use this procedure to select a car number. See “Viewing Frequencies Associated with a Car Number” on Page 33 to select a car number. To manually select a channel, press , enter the channel number, then press again. -
Page 30: Listening To Weather Broadcasts
20-513.fm Page 30 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM LISTENING TO WEATHER BROADCASTS The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has allocated fre- quencies for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion (NOAA). Regulatory agencies in other countries have also allocated frequencies for use by their weather reporting authorities. -
Page 31: Using The Pro-74 At The Races
20-513.fm Page 31 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM USING THE PRO-74 AT THE RACES The PRO-74 is specially designed to help you listen to communications at auto races. Drivers and their pit crews and corner watchers, pace car drivers, security officers, emergency personnel, track officials, and... -
Page 32: Adding Frequencies To A Car Number
20-513.fm Page 32 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Follow these steps to store a car number and frequency. 1. Press then RACE Car No?--- appears. RACE. 2. Enter the car number. If the number is one or two digits, enter the number, then press . -
Page 33: Viewing Frequencies Associated With A Car Number
20-513.fm Page 33 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Viewing Frequencies Associated with a Car Number After you store a car number and associate frequencies with that num- ber, you can view all frequencies associated with the number. 1. Press then RACE Car No?---... -
Page 34: Finding What Car Numbers Are In What Channels
20-513.fm Page 34 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM FINDING WHAT CAR NUMBERS ARE IN WHAT CHANNELS If you are listening to a channel and want to know what car number you are hearing, simply press twice. If a car number has been asso- RACE ciated with this frequency, the car number and frequency appear. -
Page 35: Special Features
20-513.fm Page 35 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM SPECIAL FEATURES TURNING MEMORY BANKS ON AND OFF You can turn each memory bank on and off. When you turn off a bank, the scanner does not scan any of the 10 channels in that bank. While scanning, press the number key that corresponds to the bank you want to turn on or off. - Page 36 20-513.fm Page 36 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM The scanner automatically designates each bank's first channel as its priority channel. Follow these steps to select a different channel as the priority channel. 1. Press PROG 2. Enter the channel number you want to select as the priority chan- nel, then press appears to the right of the channel PRIORITY...
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Page 37: Using The Keylock
You can turn on the display backlight for easy viewing at night. Press to turn it on for 15 seconds. To turn it off before 15 seconds elapse, press the button again. CHANGING SEARCH SPEEDS The PRO-74 has two search speeds. Normal Search Hypersearch 100 steps/second... -
Page 38: Turning The Key Tone Off/On
20-513.fm Page 38 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Notes: • You can use Hypersearch only in the 5 kHz step bands (29–54 MHz and 137–174 MHz. • Since the marine service bank is not in one of the 5 kHz step bands, you cannot use Hypersearch in the marine service bank. -
Page 39: Skipping Data Signals
20-513.fm Page 39 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM SKIPPING DATA SIGNALS You can set the scanner so it skips nonmodulated or data signals (such as modem transmissions) during a search or scan. Note: Since data signals are not generally found in the air band, this feature does not work in the air band. -
Page 40: A General Guide To Scanning
20-513.fm Page 40 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM 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. GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Frequencies 162.400 162.475... -
Page 41: Birdie Frequencies
20-513.fm Page 41 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Chan- Frequency Chan- Frequency Ship Shore Ship Shore Chan- Frequency Chan- Frequency Ship Shore Ship Shore 19 156.9500 156.9500 79 156.9750 156.9750 20 157.0000 161.6000 80 157.0250 157.0250 21 157.0500 157.0500 81 157.0750 157.0750 22 157.1000... -
Page 42: Guide To The Action Bands
20-513.fm Page 42 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM To find the birdies in your particular scanner, begin by disconnecting the antenna and moving it away from the scanner. Make sure that no other nearby radios or TVs are turned on near the scanner. Use the search function to search every frequency range from its lowest to the highest frequency. -
Page 43: Primary Usage
20-513.fm Page 43 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Primary Usage As a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated on the fol- lowing frequencies: VHF Band Activities Frequencies Government, Police, and Fire 153.785–155.980 MHz Emergency Services 158.730–159.460 MHz Railroad 160.000–161.900 MHz UHF Band... - Page 44 20-513.fm Page 44 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM FIRE ..........Fire Department HAM .
- Page 45 20-513.fm Page 45 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM 42.960–43.180 ..........IND 43.220–43.680 .
- Page 46 20-513.fm Page 46 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM 166.250 ......... . GOVT, RTV, FIRE 166.275–169.400 .
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Page 47: Frequency Conversion
20-513.fm Page 47 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Conventional Systems Band – Locally Assigned 851.0125–855.9875 ......... . .CSB Conventional/Trunked Systems Band –... -
Page 48: Troubleshooting
20-513.fm Page 48 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM TROUBLESHOOTING If you have problems, here are some suggestions that might help. If none do, take your scanner to your local RadioShack store for as- sistance. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY Keys do not work or Undetermined error. -
Page 49: Resetting The Scanner
20-513.fm Page 49 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY BATT .Lo The batteries are Recharge rechargeable appears. weak. batteries, or replace non- PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY rechargeable batteries. Poor or no recep- Batteries are weak Check the batteries, or tion. -
Page 50: Care And Maintenance
20-513.fm Page 50 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your RadioShack PRO-74 100-Channel VHF/UHF/Air/800 MHz Race Scanner is an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The fol- lowing suggestions will help you care for your scanner so you can en- joy it for years. -
Page 51: Specifications
20-513.fm Page 51 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage ....... 29–54 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 108–136.975 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) 137–174 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 406–512 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) 806.0000–823.9375 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) 851.0000–868.9375 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) 896.1125–956.0000 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) Channels .................. - Page 52 20-513.fm Page 52 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 2:39 PM Limited One-Year Warranty This product is warranted by RadioShack against manufacturing defects in material and workmanship under normal use for one (1) year from the date of purchase from RadioShack company-owned stores and authorized RadioShack franchisees and dealers.