RadioShack Pro 83 Compact Scanner Reciever Owners Manual

							31  Beyond the Basics
To manually select a channel, press HOLD, enter the 
channel number 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.
Signal Stalker
Your scanners Signal Stalker feature lets you set the 
scanner so it detects then displays the frequency of 
a nearby strong radio transmission. You can set the 
scanner so Signal Stalker works in the background 
while you are scanning other frequencies, turn off 
normal scanning while Signal Stalker is working, or 
turn off Signal Stalker and use the scanner normally. 
You can set the scanner so it alerts you when Signal 
Stalker finds a frequency. You can also set the 
frequency band where you want the scanner to look 
for transmissions.
Notes: 
• Signal Stalker works well for locating the source 
of strong local transmissions such as mobile 
and handheld two-way radios in areas with no 
other strong transmission sources. However, if 
you are in an area with many transmission 
sources (such as pager radio transmitters, multi-
use radio towers, traffic control devices, etc.), 
20-501.fm  Page 31  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							Beyond the Basics 32
Signal Stalker might not find the transmission 
you are searching for, or it might find a 
transmission other than the one you are 
searching for. You can screen unwanted 
transmissions by pressing FUNC + L/O to lock 
them out. See “Locking Out Frequencies” on 
Page 49 for more information.
• 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” on Page 32.
• Signal Stalker works better with some types of 
transmissions than others. It might not correctly 
display frequency information for transmitters 
using a highly directive antenna (such as an 
amateur radio beam antenna), if there are many 
transmitters operating at the same time in the 
same area, or if the transmitter is a broadcast 
television station.
Setting the Signal Stalker Options
X Press FUNC then press and hold   for 2 
seconds. One of the following signal stalker 
options appears. 
S-S.bnd: Lets you select the signal stalker band.
S-S.ALt: Lets you select the signal stalker alert 
settings.
20-501.fm  Page 32  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							33  Beyond the Basics
Y Repeatedly press   or   to select the option 
you want, then press E. 
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 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 
[.
Z Repeatedly press   or   until the band you 
want to search appears, then press E to select it. 
Otherwise, press .
/CLR if you do not want to 
select it. 
The scanner displays the following options.
Lo On or Lo OFF
Air On or Air OFF
Hi On or Hi OFF
UHF On or UHF OFF
800 On or 800 OFF
20-501.fm  Page 33  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							Beyond the Basics 34
[ Repeatedly press   or   until the option you 
want appears, then press E to select it. 
Otherwise, press .
/CLR if you do not want to 
select it. Then skip to Step 
^.
\ 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.
ALt Light: The scanner flashes the display 
backlight when a signal stalker signal is detected.
ALt bP-Lt: The scanner flashes the display 
backlight and beeps when a signal stalker signal 
is detected.
ALt OFF: The scanner does not provide any alert 
when a signal stalker signal is detected.
] Repeatedly press   or   until the option you 
want appears, then press E to select it. 
Otherwise, press .
/CLR if you do not want to 
select it. 
^ When you select the option, press .
/CLR to exit 
the option mode. Otherwise, to continue normal 
scanning, repeatedly press FUNC until   
disappears then press SCAN.
F
20-501.fm  Page 34  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							35  Beyond the Basics
Using Signal Stalker
To turn on Signal Stalker, turn SQUELCH fully 
clockwise, then press FUNC +   once except in 
WX search, band select, or program mode.
 appears. Every 2 seconds, the scanner searches 
for frequencies in the range you specified in “Setting 
the Signal Stalker Options” on Page 32. 
Note: To continue scanning normally while Signal 
Stalker is working, simply press SCAN.
When the scanner finds a frequency, it sounds the 
alert you specified in “Setting the Signal Stalker 
Options” on Page 32, and Found flashes. Press any 
key to confirm the displayed frequency. Press SCAN 
to resume scanning. Or press   or   while the 
frequency and   appear to select the band where 
you are searching.
To turn on Signal Stalker and turn off normal 
scanning, press FUNC +   twice.   and - - -  - - - 
flash. 
To turn off Signal Stalker and turn on normal 
scanning, press FUNC +   three times.
 disappears.
F
20-501.fm  Page 35  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							Beyond the Basics 36
Skywarn
The Skywarn function lets you jump directly to the 
last channel in memory (Channel 200) from any 
mode by pressing FUNC +  . The scanner goes 
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.
About Skywarn
Skywarn is an organized group of trained weather 
observers. A Skywarn group exists in virtually every 
US county with a significant population. During 
inclement weather, reports made by Skywarn 
observers include information about:
• pea-sized and larger hail
• wind and wind gusts 40 MPH and greater
• heavy rainfall
• lightning (cloud-to-cloud and especially 
cloud-to-ground)
• wall clouds seen in severe thunderstorms 
(which spawn tornadoes)
• severe lowering of a wall cloud
• turbulence in a wall cloud
• funnel clouds
• tornadoes
20-501.fm  Page 36  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							37  Beyond the Basics
• 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.
Enter the local Skywarn frequency for your area into 
Channel 200 on your scanner, then listen to Skywarn 
first when severe weather threatens.
Listen to NOAA: for weather alerts and warnings, 
watch box notices, and weather forecasts
Listen to Skywarn: to hear trained observers in your 
vicinity call in official reports to a net control 
station who relays those reports to NOAA and other 
emergency agencies.
If you tune to a Skywarn frequency when the 
Skywarn net is not active, you may hear nothing or 
you may hear amateur radio operators talking on a 
local repeater system.
Most importantly, you get Skywarn reports directly 
from trained observers - that means you get them 
several minutes before they can be relayed for 
20-501.fm  Page 37  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							Beyond the Basics 38
broadcast by NOAA and as much as 5 or 10 minutes 
sooner than you will hear them 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.
WX Alert
Turning On the Weather Alert Feature 
Turn on the WX alert function by pressing FUNC + 
ALT in the WX search or WX search hold mode. ALT 
appears. When the scanner receives a WX alert 
signal while the WX alert function is on, it goes into 
WX alert hold mode and generates a WX alert tone, 
and ALT flashes. To stop the WX alert tone, press 
any key. ALT disappears.
Chain Search
This feature lets you search through preset 
frequency ranges. You can also change each range 
to a range you set. There are three modes within 
this feature: chain search mode, chain search hold 
mode, and program band select mode.
20-501.fm  Page 38  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							39  Beyond the Basics
The preset frequency ranges are:
Bank No.  Frequency (MHz)  Step (kHz)
1 25.0000-27.9950 5
2 28.0000-29.6950 5
3 29.7000-49.9950 5
4 50.0000-54.0000 5
5 137.0000-143.9950 5
6 144.0000-147.9950 5
7 406.0000-419.99375 6.25
8 420.0000-449.99375 6.25
9 450.0000-469.99375 6.25
10 806.0000-956.0000 12.5
Chain Search Mode
Press FUNC + SRCH to start chain search mode. 
SRCH, the enabled search bank number, and   or 
 (indicating the search direction) appear. The 
search bank number being searched flashes.
Press 0-9 to enable or disable the search bank 
number being searched in this mode. Enabled bank 
numbers appear. (Disabled bank numbers 
disappear).
20-501.fm  Page 39  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM 
						

							Beyond the Basics 40
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 
frequency where chain search starts depends on 
how the scanner was set before you selected chain 
search mode.
Chain Search Hold Mode
To start chain search hold mode, press HOLD in 
chain search mode. The scanner stops searching 
and HOLD appears. In this mode, pressing 
FUNC +   changes the search direction 
downward and pressing FUNC +   changes the 
search direction upward.   or   appears 
according to the current search direction.
Pressing   while   appears decreases the 
frequency by one step and pressing   increases it 
by one step. Hold down   or   to quickly 
decrease or increase the frequency. To resume chain 
search, press HOLD if   does not appear on the 
display or press SRCH if   appears on the display.
F
F
F
20-501.fm  Page 40  Friday, July 9, 2004  3:23 PM