RadioShack Pro 63 Portable Event Scanner Reciever Owners Manual

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Notes:
• If the scanner picks up unwanted, partial, or very weak trans-
missions, turn 
SQUELCH MIN/MAX clockwise to decrease the
scanner’s sensitivity to these signals. If you want to listen to
a weak or distant station, turn 
SQUELCH MIN/MAX counter-
clockwise.
•If 
SQUELCH MIN/MAX is adjusted so you always hear a hiss-
ing sound, the scanner does not scan properly.
SEARCHING FOR AND STORING ACTIVE 
FREQUENCIES
You can store up to 100 frequencies into your scanner’s channels
using either of the following methods.
• Limit search within a range of preprogrammed frequencies
• Manual storage
Good references for active frequencies are Radio Shack’s “Be-
yond Police Call,” “Police Call Radio Guide Including Fire and
Emergency Services,” “Aeronautical Frequency Directory,” and
“Radio!” magazine. We update these references often, so be sure
to get a current copy. See also “A General Guide to Scanning” on
Page 39.
If you do not have a reference to frequencies in your area, follow
the steps in “Limit Search” on Page 22 to search for transmis-
sions.
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Limit Search
If you do not know a frequency to store, you can select a search
band containing a preprogrammed frequency range and search
that range for active frequencies. Then you can store frequencies
you find there into channels. 
SRCH appears on the display during
a search.
1. Press 
BAND/•.
2. Within about 2 seconds, enter the search band number. The
band’s number appears next to 
b on the left side of the dis-
play and the frequency range of the search band appears on
the right. Then the next available channel flashes.
Notes: 
• If you do not press a number key within 2 seconds after you
press 
BAND/•, the number for the previously selected search
band is displayed, then the scanner displays the next avail-
able channel number (or 00
 if you have not stored frequen-
cies into any channels). If this happens, simply press the
search band’s number key again to select the band you
want.
• You can also repeatedly press 
BAND/• in Step 2 instead of
entering a number to select a search band.
After you select a search band, the scanner automatically search-
es from the lower limit to the upper limit through all frequencies in
the search band.
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When the scanner stops on an active frequency, press ENTER to
store it in the flashing channel or press and hold   or   for about
a second to continue the search. 
Notes:
• To search the frequency band upward or downward step by
step (5, 12.5, or 25 kHz), quickly press and release   or  .
 or   disappears from the display. See “Specified Inter-
vals”on Page 42.
• To quickly move upward or downward through the range of
frequencies, press and hold down   or  . The scanner
tunes through the frequencies until you release
  or  .
• If you try to store a frequency you already stored in another
channel, 
dUPL flashes on the display for about 3 seconds,
and the channel number where the frequency was previously
stored appears for about 3 seconds. Select another fre-
quency or press 
ENTER again to store the frequency into the
channel.
• After you store a frequency into the last available channel,
the scanner displays 
Ch FULL when you press  or  . If
you press   or   again, the scanner continues the search
but 
-- flashes on the display. To store more frequencies, you
must unlock some channels. See “Using Channel Lock” on
Page 30.
Manually Storing Frequencies 
If you know a frequency you want to store, follow these steps to
store it manually.
1. Press 
MANUAL. MAN appears.
2. Use the number keys to enter the channel number (00 to 99)
where you want to store the frequency, then press   or  .
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Hint: If you are storing a frequency used by a specific broad-
caster (such as a racing team), you can remember where
you stored the frequency by storing it in the same channel
number as the team’s car number.
Note: If you enter an invalid channel number, the scanner
beeps three times and 
Error flashes on the display for about
4 seconds. Simply repeat this step.
3. Using the number keys, enter the frequency you want to
store into that channel. Use 
BAND/• to enter the decimal
point.
4. Press 
ENTER to store the frequency.
Notes:
• If you entered an invalid frequency in Step 3, the scanner
beeps three times and
 Error flashes on the display for
about 4 seconds. Simply repeat Steps 3 and 4.
• Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency
down to the closest valid frequency. For example, if you try
to enter a frequency of 151.4730, your scanner accepts it as
151.4700.
• If you entered a frequency that is already stored in another
channel, the scanner beeps and 
dUPL flashes on the dis-
play for about 5 seconds, then the channel number where
you tried to store the duplicate frequency appears (next to
the flashing frequency).
• To store the frequency, press 
ENTER again. 
• To store a different frequency, repeat Steps 3 and 4 to
enter another frequency and store it.
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• If you tried to store a frequency in a locked channel, the
scanner beeps once and 
L (next to the channel number) and
LOC flash on the display, then the frequency flashes. To
store the frequency, either unlock the channel (see “Using
Channel Lock” on Page 30) and repeat Steps 1-4, or repeat
Steps 2-4 to select another channel and store the frequency.
Repeat Steps 2-4 to store more frequencies into channels. Or, if
you want to program the next channel in sequence, press   or   ,
then repeat Steps 3-4.
Note: 
When you store a frequency in a channel, the scanner auto-
matically locks that channel (see “Using Channel Lock” on Page 30).
SCANNING THE STORED CHANNELS
Scanning All Channels
To begin scanning all the stored channels in your scanner, press
M.SCAN. The scanner scans through all channels in the activated
banks which are not skipped (see “Skipping Channels” on
Page 28).
Note: 
Press   or   to change the scan direction.
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 10 channels
in that bank.
While scanning, press the number key of the bank you want to turn
on or off. If the memory bank indicator bar is on, the bank is turned
on and the scanner scans all channels within that bank that are not
skipped. If the indicator is off, the scanner does not scan any of
the channels within that bank.
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Notes:
• You can manually select any channel in a bank, even if the
bank is turned off.
• You cannot turn off all banks. There must be at least one
active bank.
• You cannot turn on a bank where all the channels in the bank
are skipped  (see “Skipping Channels” on Page 28).
Scanning a Channel-Storage Bank
You can scan a single channel-storage bank. Select the channel-
storage bank you want to scan, then press 
M.BANK. The scanner
starts scanning  channels in the selected bank that are not
skipped.
To select and scan another bank, repeatedly press 
M.BANK to
move the bar on the top of the display under the bank you want.
To select a channel within the bank, enter the channel number.
MANUALLY SELECTING A CHANNEL
You can continuously monitor a specific channel without scan-
ning. This is useful if you want to hear a broadcast on a channel
and do not want to miss any details (even though there might be
periods of silence) or if you want to monitor a locked-out channel
(see “Skipping Channels” on Page 28).
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Follow these steps to manually select a channel.
1. Press 
MANUAL. MAN appears on the display.
2. Enter the channel number.
3. Press 
MANUAL.
4. To select another channel within the bank, repeatedly press
 to select higher channels or   to select lower channels.
Or, if your scanner is scanning and stops at the desired channel,
press 
MANUAL once before the scanner continues to scan.
LISTENING TO THE WEATHER BAND
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has allocated
11 channels for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration (NOAA). NOAA broadcasts your local forecast and re-
gional weather information on one or more of these channels. We
have preprogrammed your scanner with 10 of the U.S. frequen-
cies available to NOAA.
To scan the preprogrammed weather channels, press 
WX.
To manually tune through the preprogrammed weather channels,
repeatedly press 
WX until MAN appears on the display. Then re-
peatedly press   to select higher channels or   to select lower
channels.
Note: 
For a list of all 11 national weather frequencies, see “Na-
tional Weather Frequencies” on Page 47.
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ADVANCED OPERATION 
DELAY
Many agencies use a two-way radio system that might have a
pause of several seconds between a query and a reply. Your
scanner’s delay feature lets it wait for 2 seconds after each trans-
mission on a channel or frequency while scanning or searching.
To program a 2-second delay, press 
DELAY while the channel or
frequency is selected. 
DLY appears. When your scanner stops on
the channel or frequency while scanning or searching, it waits for
2 seconds after each transmission on that channel or frequency
before it resumes scanning or searching.
SKIPPING CHANNELS
You can increase the scanner’s effective scanning speed by skip-
ping those channels that have a continuous transmission, such as
a weather channel.
To skip a channel while scanning, press 
SKIP while the channel is
selected. 
SKIP appears on the display.
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To remove the skip from a channel, manually select the channel,
then press 
SKIP. SKIP disappears from the display.
Notes: 
• The scanner automatically skips empty channels.
• You cannot remove the skip from an empty channel. 
PRIORITY
You can scan through channels and still not miss an important or
interesting call on a specific channel. Channel 00 (the first channel
in Bank 0) is preset as the priority channel. 
When the priority feature is turned on, the scanner checks Chan-
nel 00 every 2 seconds, and stays on the channel if there is activ-
ity. If there is no activity, 
P flashes on the display every 2 seconds.
To turn on the priority feature, press 
PRI. PRI appears on the dis-
play. To turn off the priority feature, press 
PRI again. PRI disap-
pears from the display.
Notes: 
• Channel 00 is preset as the priority channel. You cannot
change it.
• The scanner automatically skips the priority channel when
there is no transmission on the channel. If there is a trans-
mission on the channel, you must turn off the priority feature
to skip the priority channel.
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USING CHANNEL LOCK
When you enter a frequency into a channel, the scanner automat-
ically locks the channel to prevent it from being overwritten by an-
other frequency. 
L appears to the left of the channel number.
To unlock a channel, press 
LOCK. L disappears from the display.
Follow these steps to unlock all channels.
1. Press 
MANUAL.
2. While pressing and holding down 
ENTER, press and hold
down 
LOCK until the scanner beeps three times.
To manually lock a channel, select the channel, then press 
LOCK.
L appears to the left of the channel number.
USING THE DISPLAY BACKLIGHT
You can turn on the display’s backlight for easy viewing in dimly-
lit areas. Press 
LIGHT to turn on the display light for 5 seconds. To
turn off the light before it automatically turns off, press 
LIGHT
again.
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