RadioShack Pro 28 Programmable Scanner Reciever Owners Manual

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5. Slowly turn SQUELCH counterclockwise until you hear a hissing
sound. 
6. Adjust 
VOLUME/OFF to a comfortable listening level.
7. Slowly turn 
SQUELCH clockwise until the hissing sound stops.
Note:
 If you want to listen to a weak or distant station, turn 
SQUELCH
counterclockwise to increase receiver sensitivity. If reception is poor,
turn 
SQUELCH clockwise to decrease receiver sensitivity.
STORING FREQUENCIES
Follow these steps to store frequencies into channels.
1. Press 
MANUAL, enter the channel number where you want to store
a frequency, then press 
MANUAL again. The desired channel num-
ber appears on the display. 
2. Use the number keys and 
CLEAR/. to enter the frequency (includ-
ing the decimal point) you want to store.
3. Press 
WX/E to store the frequency.
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Notes:
• If you make a mistake in Step 2, 
Error appears on the display
and the scanner beeps three times. Simply start again from
Step 2. 
• Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency to the
nearest valid frequency. For example, if you try to enter a fre-
quency of 151.473, your scanner accepts it as 151.475.
4. Repeat Steps 1-3 to program more channels. Or, if you want to
program the next channel in sequence, press 
MANUAL and repeat
Steps 2 and 3. 
Notes:
• VHF band frequencies (30-300 MHz) are found at .005 MHz steps.
UHF band frequencies (300-3000 MHz) are found at .0125 MHz
steps.
• Without battery or external adapter power, the scanner protects
the frequencies stored in memory for about 60 minutes.
SEARCHING FOR AND STORING ACTIVE 
FREQUENCIES
Band Search
A band search lets you search for active transmissions within any one
of the seven pre-programmed frequency bands. 
Follow these steps to search for active frequencies.
1. Press 
MANUAL, then HOLD/BAND. The scanner displays the previ-
ously selected frequency band for 2 seconds, then automatically
starts searching.
2. To select a different frequency band, repeatedly press 
HOLD/BAND
until the desired frequency band appears on the display.
29–54 MHz 137–144 MHz 144–148 MHz
148–174 MHz 406–450 MHz 450–470 MHz
470–512 MHz
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3. To change the search direction, press t to search downward or s to
search upward. 
b, SRCH, and t or s appear on the display.
4. When the scanner stops on an active frequency, you can do one of
the following:
• To store the displayed frequency into the monitor memory,
press 
MON/0. MON appears on the display.
• To continue the search, press t or s.
• To hold the frequency, press 
HOLD/BAND. H appears on the
display. To continue the search, press and hold t or s for about 1
second. 
H disappears from the display. The scanner briefly dis-
plays the frequency band, then resumes scanning where you
stopped. 
Notes:
• If you want to step through the frequencies while 
H is displayed,
press t or s.
• If you tune to a search skip frequency, 
L appears on the display.
See “Search Skip Memory.”
• If you want to change the frequency band, repeatedly press
HOLD/BAND. The selected frequency band is displayed. 
Direct Search
You can search up or down for more frequencies from the currently dis-
played frequency.
1. Press 
MANUAL.
2. Use the number keys and 
CLEAR/. to enter the frequency (includ-
ing the decimal point) you want to start the search from, or enter
the channel number containing the starting frequency.
3. Press t to search downward or s to search upward from the
selected frequency. 
d, SRCH, and t or s appear on the display.
4. When the scanner stops on a transmission, you can do one of the
following:
• To store the displayed frequency into the monitor memory,
press 
MON/0. MON appears on the display.
• To continue the search, press t or s. 
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• To hold the frequency, press HOLD/BAND. h appears on the dis-
play. To continue the search, press and hold t or s for about 1
second.
Notes:
• If you want to step through the frequencies while 
h is displayed,
press t or s.
• If you tune to a search skip frequency,
 L appears on the dis-
play (see “Search Skip Memory”).
• If you press 
HOLD/BAND, the scanner restarts as a band
search. 
b, SRCH, and t or s appear on the display.
Search Skip Memory
You can skip up to 20 specified frequencies during a band or direct
search. This lets you avoid unwanted frequencies or ones you have al-
ready stored in a channel.
To skip a frequency, press 
L-OUT/S/S when the scanner stops on the fre-
quency during a band or direct search. The scanner stores the frequen-
cy in memory and resumes the search. 
To clear a single frequency from skip memory so the scanner can stop
on it during a band or direct search, press 
HOLD/BAND to hold the
search, press t or s to select the frequency, then press 
L-OUT/S/S until
L disappears from the display.
To clear all the skip frequencies at once, while in the search mode,
press 
HOLD/BAND, then press and hold L-OUT/S/S until the scanner
beeps twice (about 3 seconds).
Notes:
• If you program more than 20 frequencies to skip, each new fre-
quency replaces ones you stored earlier, starting from the first
stored frequency.
• You can select the skipped frequency when the scanner is in the
hold mode. The scanner displays 
L when you select a skipped fre-
quency.
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LISTENING TO THE MONITOR MEMORY
The scanner has one monitor memory. You can use this memory to
temporarily store a frequency while you decide whether to store it into a
channel. This is handy for quickly storing an active frequency when you
search through an entire band. Once you have temporarily stored a fre-
quency into the scanner’s monitor memory, you can listen to it by press-
ing 
MANUAL then MON/0.
MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM THE 
MONITOR MEMORY TO A CHANNEL
Follow these steps to move a frequency stored in the monitor memory
to a permanent channel.
1. Press 
MANUAL. MAN appears on the display.
2. Enter the number for the channel where you want to store the
monitor frequency. The channel number appears on the display.
3. Press 
MANUAL. The frequency currently assigned to that channel
appears.
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4. Press MON/0. The entered frequency appears, and the channel
number starts flashing.
5. Press 
WX/E. The scanner stores the frequency into the selected
channel, and the channel number stops flashing.
SCANNING THE STORED CHANNELS
To scan the stored channels, press SCAN. Your scanner then scans
through all non-locked channels (see “Locking Out Channels”). 
Using the 2-Second Delay
Many agencies use a two-way radio system that has a period of several
seconds between a query and a reply. To avoid missing a reply, you can
program a 2-second delay into any channel. When the scanner stops on
an active channel with a programmed delay, it continues to monitor the
channel for 2 seconds after the activity stops before resuming scanning.
To program a 2-second delay into a specific channel while the scanner
is scanning, manually select the desired channel then press
 DELAY. D
appears on the display.
To program a 2-second delay when the scanner has stopped on an ac-
tive channel during scanning, quickly press 
DELAY while the channel
number is displayed. 
D appears on the display.
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To turn off the 2-second delay on any active channel, press DELAY again
while the channel number is displayed. 
D disappears from the display.
Locking Out Channels
You can increase the effective scanning speed by locking out individual
channels that have a continuous transmission, such as a weather chan-
nel. To lock out a channel, manually select the channel and press 
L-
OUT/S/S
 so L appears on the display.
Notes: 
• You can still manually select locked out channels.
• You cannot lock out all channels.
To remove the lock-out from a channel, manually select the channel and
press 
L-OUT/S/S so L disappears from the display. 
To remove the lock-out from all channels, press 
MANUAL, then press
and hold 
L-OUT/S/S until the scanner beeps twice (about 3 seconds).
MANUALLY SELECTING A CHANNEL
You can continuously monitor a single channel without scanning. This
is useful if you hear an emergency broadcast on a channel and do not
want to miss any details — even though there might be periods of si-
lence — or if you want to monitor a specific channel. 
Follow these steps to manually select a channel.
1. Press 
MANUAL. 
2. Enter the channel number.
3. Press 
MANUAL again. 
Or, if your scanner is scanning and stops at the desired channel, press
MANUAL one time. (Pressing MANUAL additional times causes your
scanner to step through the channels.) 
To resume automatic scanning, press 
SCAN. Your scanner then scans
through all non-locked channels.
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LISTENING TO THE WEATHER BAND
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has allocated 11
channels for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion (NOAA). We have preprogrammed your scanner with the seven fre-
quencies most commonly used by NOAA (see “National Weather
Frequencies”). 
To hear your local forecast and regional weather information, simply
press 
WX/E. Your scanner begins scanning through the weather band,
and 
WX appears on the display. 
Your scanner should stop within a few seconds, then you hear the local
weather broadcast. If the broadcast is weak, you can press 
WX/E again
to scan through the rest of the weather band. 
USING THE KEYLOCK
Once you program your scanner, you can protect it from accidental pro-
gram changes by turning on the keylock feature. When locked, the only
controls that operate are 
SCAN, MANUAL, KEYLOCK, VOLUME/OFF, and
SQUELCH. 
Note: 
The keylock does not prevent the scanner from scanning chan-
nels.
To turn on the keylock, press and hold 
KEYLOCK until   flashes on the
display. To turn it off, press and hold 
KEYLOCK until   disappears from
the display. 
K
K
 
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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
* Not preprogrammed in this scanner.
Birdie Frequencies
Every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are signals created inside
the scanner’s receiver. These operating frequencies might interfere with
broadcasts on the same frequencies. If you program one of these fre-
quencies, you hear only noise on that frequency. If the interference is
not severe, you might be able to turn 
SQUELCH clockwise to cut out the
birdie.
The birdie frequencies on this unit to watch for are:
31.2 MHz
41.6 MHz
52.0 MHz
145.6 MHz
156.0 MHZ
To find the birdies in your scanner, begin by disconnecting the antenna
and moving it away from the scanner. Make sure that no other nearby
radio or TV sets are turned on near the scanner. Use the search function
and scan every frequency range from its lowest frequency to the high-
est. Occasionally, the searching will stop as if it had found a signal, often
without any sound. That is a birdie. Make a list of all the birdies in your
scanner for future reference.
161.650* 161.775* 162.400 162.425
162.440* 162.450 162.475 162.500
162.525 162.550 163.275*
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GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS
Typical Band Usage
Primary Usage
As a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated on the fol-
lowing frequencies:
VHF Band
UHF Band
Note:
 Remote control stations and mobile units operate at 5 MHz higher
than their associated base stations and relay repeater units.VHF Band (30.00–300.0 MHz)
Low Range 29.00–50.00 MHz
6-Meter Amateur 50.00–54.00 MHz
U.S. Government 137.00–144.00 MHz
2-Meter Amateur 144.00–148.00 MHz
High Range 148.00–174.00 MHz
UHF Band (300.00 MHz–3.0 GHz)
U. S. Government 406.00–420.00 MHz
70-cm Amateur 420.00–450.00 MHz
Low Range 450.00–470.00 MHz
FM-TV Audio Broadcast, Wide Band 470.00–512.00 MHz
Activities Frequencies
Government, Police, and Fire 153.785–155.980 MHz
Emergency Services 158.730–159.460 MHz
Railroad 160.000–161.900 MHz
Activities Frequencies
Land-Mobile “Paired” Frequencies 450.000–470.000 MHz
Base Stations 451.025–454.950 MHz
Mobile Units 456.025–459.950 MHz
Repeater Units 460.025–464.975 MHz
Control Stations 465.025–469.975 MHz
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