RadioShack Pro 2040 Home Scanner Owners Manual

							11
INITIALIZING THE 
SCANNER
If the scanner or its display does not
work properly even after resetting it,
follow these steps to initialize the
scanner.
Caution: 
Initializing the scanner
clears all the channels you stored in
memory. Initialize the scanner only
when you are sure it is not working
properly.
1. If the scanner is off, press
POWER to turn it on.
2. Press and hold 
./CLEAR, then
press 
RESET on the back of the
scanner using a pointed object,
such as a straightened paper
clip. The display resets, and the
scanner turns off.
3. Press 
POWER to turn on the
scanner.
CONNECTING AN 
EARPHONE/
HEADPHONES/
EXTERNAL SPEAKER
The 1/8-inch EXT SP jack on the back
of the scanner lets you connect an
earphone, headphones, or an exter-
nal speaker.
• For private listening, connect an
earphone (Cat. No. 33-175).
• For more comfortable private lis-
tening, connect monaural head-
phones (Cat. No. 20-210).
• For listening from a remote area
or in a noisy area, connect an
extension speaker (Cat. No. 21-
549).
Note: Connecting any external de-
vice to the
 EXT SP jack automatically
disconnects the internal speaker.
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							12
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 per-
manent hearing loss.
• Set the volume to the lowest set-
ting before you begin listening.
After you begin listening, adjust
the volume to a comfortable
level.
• 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 discomfort might still
damage your hearing. 
Traffic Safety
Do not wear an earphone or head-
phones while operating a motor vehi-
cle or riding a bicycle. This can
create a traffic hazard and is illegal in
some areas.
Even though some earphones are
designed to let you hear some out-
side sounds when listening at normal
volume levels, they still present a
traffic hazard.
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							13
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER
A LOOK AT THE FRONT PANEL
This look at the scanner’s front panel will help you understand each control’s
function.
Control Function
POWER Turns the scanner on and off.
1-0Each single-digit number on the keys enters the
numbers for a channel or a frequency, or each
range of numbers above the number keys indicates
the channels that make up a channel-storage bank.
See “Understanding Channel-Storage Banks.”
./CLEAREnters the decimal point in a frequency, or clears an
incorrect entry and is used when you initialize the
scanner.
ENTEREnters programmed frequencies into channels.
VOLUMESets the scanner’s volume.
SQUELCHAdjusts the scanner’s receiver sensitivity to help
you eliminate background noise.
SCANStarts scanning through the stored channels.
MANUALStops scanning and lets you manually enter a chan-
nel number.
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							14
Control Function
L/O/SEARCH SKIPTurns the selected channel’s lockout function on
and off, or skips a specified frequency during a limit
or direct search.
PRI/HYPER SEARCHSets and turns on and off the priority function for a
particular channel, or selects the hyper search
speed.
LIMIT Used to set the lower or upper limit during frequen-
cy searches.
DLYPrograms a 2-second delay for the selected chan-
nel.
MONStores frequencies into and accesses the 10 moni-
tor memories.
SPEEDChanges the scanning or search speed. See “Scan-
ning and Search Speeds.”
D - —Enters the up or down direction in the search mode.
PGMPrograms frequencies into channels.
WXSearches through the seven preprogrammed
weather channels.
DATATurns the data skip feature on and off.
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							15
A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY
The display has several indicators that show the scanner’s current operating
mode.
Indicator Function
MONAppears when you listen to a monitor memory.
BANKAppears with numbers (1-10) to the right to show which
channel-storage banks are turned on for the scan
mode. See “Understanding Channel-Storage Banks.”
SCANAppears when you scan channels. Blinks when the
scanner is in the hyperscan mode.
MANUALAppears when you manually select a channel.
PROGRAMAppears while you program frequencies into the scan-
ner’s channels.
CHDigits that precede this indicator show which channel
the scanner is currently tuned to.
MHzDigits that precede this indicator show which of the
31,000 possible frequencies the scanner is tuned to.
PAppears when you listen to the priority channel.
PRIORITYAppears when you turn on the priority channel feature.
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							16
Indicator Function
LOCKOUTAppears when you manually select a locked channel, or
during a search hold when the frequency is stored in
search skip memory. 
DATAAppears while the data skip function is turned on.
DELAYAppears when you program a channel for a two-second
delay before scanning or when you listen to a channel
programmed with the delay feature.
WXAppears when the scanner is in the weather band
mode.
s and 
tIndicates the search direction. Blinks in high speed
search mode.
SEARCHAppears during a limit (-L- also appears) or direct
search (
-d- also appears) or weather scan. Blinks in
hyper search mode.
ErrorAppears when you make an incorrect keyboard entry.
LoAppears when you program the low limit for a frequency
search.
HiAppears when you program the high limit for a frequen-
cy search.
-h-Appears during a direct search hold. 
-H-Appears during a limit search hold. 
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							17
UNDERSTANDING THE 
SCANNER’S MEMORY
You can store up to 110 frequencies
into your scanner’s memory. You
store each frequency into either a
memory called a channel, or a tem-
porary memory called a monitor. This
scanner has 100 channel memories
and 10 monitor memories.
Channel-Storage Banks
To make it easier to identify and se-
lect the channels you want to listen
to, channels are divided into 10 chan-
nel-storage banks of 10 channels
each. Use each channel-storage
bank to group frequencies, such as
the police department, fire depart-
ment, ambulance services, or aircraft
(see “A Guide to the Action Bands”).
For example, the police department
might use four frequencies, one for
each side of town. You could pro-
gram the police frequencies starting
with Channel 1 (the first channel in
Bank 1) and program the fire depart-
ment starting with Channel 11 (the
first channel in Bank 2).
Monitor Memories
The scanner has 10 monitor memo-
ries. You can use these memories to
temporarily store frequencies while
you decide whether or not to store
them into channels. This is handy for
quickly storing an active frequency
when you search through an entire
band. You can manually select these
memories, but you cannot scan
them. See “Searching For and Tem-
porarily Storing Active Frequencies.”
When you are in the monitor mode,
one of the memory numbers (1-10)
appears to the right of the MON indi-
cator. The number indicates the cur-
rent monitor memory.
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							18
OPERATION 
TURNING ON THE 
SCANNER/SETTING 
THE VOLUME AND 
SQUELCH
1. Turn SQUELCH fully clockwise.
2. Press 
POWER to turn on your
scanner. The scanner continu-
ously scans the unlocked chan-
nels.
Note: The first time you turn on
the scanner, the channels might
not have any frequencies stored
in them, but the scanner will
continuously scan the empty
channels anyway.3. Press 
MANUAL to stop the scan-
ning. The display shows the cur-
rent channel.
4. Turn 
VOLUME clockwise to set
the scanner’s volume about 1/4
of the way between MIN and
MAX.
5. Turn 
SQUELCH counterclock-
wise until you hear a hissing
noise.
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							19
6. Adjust VOLUME to a comfortable
level.
7. Slowly turn 
SQUELCH clockwise
until the hissing noise stops.
Squelch Tips:
• If the scanner picks up
unwanted or weak transmis-
sions, slightly turn 
SQUELCH
clockwise to decrease receiver
sensitivity.
• If the scanner does not pick up
any transmissions, slightly turn
SQUELCH counterclockwise to
increase receiver sensitivity.
FINDING BIRDIE 
FREQUENCIES
Birdies are operating frequencies
generated and used inside the scan-
ner’s receiver. These operating fre-
quencies could interfere with
broadcasts on the same frequencies
and make them difficult or impossible
to receive.
These are the most common birdies
to watch for:
31.0500 MHz 134.550 MHz
127.2500 MHz 136.050 MHz
128.1875 MHz 138.050 MHz
128.2500 MHz 140.275 MHz
129.6875 MHz 144.900 MHz
132.0500 MHz 171.250 MHz
132.2625 MHzIf you store one of these frequencies
into a channel, you might hear only
noise when the scanner stops on that
frequency. If the interference is not
severe, you might be able to turn
SQUELCH clockwise to cut out the
birdie. 
To find your scanner’s specific bird-
ies:
1. Disconnect the antenna and
move it away from the scanner.
Note: Make sure that no other
nearby radios or TVs are turned
on.
2. Search every frequency band
from its lowest frequency to the
highest (see “Searching For and
Temporarily Storing Active Fre-
quencies”).
If searching stops (as if the scanner
had found a signal) but there is no
sound, that frequency might be a
birdie.
For future reference, record all the
birdies in your particular scanner.
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							20
MANUALLY STORING 
FREQUENCIES IN 
CHANNELS
You can manually store up to 100 fre-
quencies into your scanner’s chan-
nels. Radio Shack sells some good
references for active frequencies,
such as “Police Call Radio Guide In-
cluding Fire and Emergency Servic-
es,” “Official Maritime Frequency
Directory” and “Official Aeronautical
Frequency Directory.”
Radio Shack updates these directo-
ries every year, so be sure to get a
current copy. If you do not have a ref-
erence to frequencies in your area,
you can use a limit or direct search to
find a transmission.
Follow these steps to manually store
frequencies.
1. Press 
MANUAL to stop the scan-
ning. 
2. Enter the channel number where
you want to store a frequency.3. Press 
PGM. 000.0000MHz
PROGRAM
, BANK, the bank
number and the selected chan-
nel number appear on the dis-
play.
4. Enter the frequency you want to
store, including the decimal
point.
Notes:
• Frequencies are separated
from each other in the follow-
ing steps:
• When you enter a frequency,
the scanner automatically
rounds it to the nearest valid
number. For example, if you
enter the frequency 151.473,
your scanner rounds it up to
151.475.
Frequencies Steps
29.0-108.0 MHz 5 kHz
108-136.975 MHz 12.5 kHz
137.0-300.0 MHz 5 kHz
300-3000 MHz 12.5 kHz
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