20-430.fm Page 1 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Owner’s Manual Cat. No. 20-430 PRO-2050 VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Channel TrunkTracker Home Scanner Please read before using this equipment.
0-430.fm Page 2 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM FEATURES Your new RadioShack PRO-2050 VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Channel TrunkTracker Home Scanner is one of a new generation of scanners designed to track Motorola Type I, Type II (such as Smartnet and Privacy Plus), and hybrid analog trunking systems, which are extensively used in many 800 MHz communication systems.
20-430.fm Page 3 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Scan Delay — delays scanning for about 2 seconds before moving to another channel in conventional mode, so you can hear more replies that are made on the same channel. In trunk tracking mode, it delays for about 5 seconds before moving to another ID. Lock-Out Function — lets you set your scanner to skip over specified channels or frequencies when scanning or searching, and skip over IDs when tracking trunked systems.
20-430.fm Page 4 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Your PRO-2050 scanner can receive all of these bands: Frequency Range Types of Transmissions 29–29.7 MHz 10-Meter Amateur Radio 29.7–50 MHz VHF Lo 50–54 MHz 6-Meter Ham Band 108–136.
20-430.fm Page 5 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SCANNING LEGALLY Scanning is a fun and interesting hobby. You can hear police and fire departments, ambulance services, government agencies, private companies, amateur radio services, aircraft, and military operations. It is legal to listen to almost every transmission your scanner can receive. However, there are some electronic and wire communications that are illegal to intentionally intercept.
20-430.fm Page 6 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM CONTENTS Preparation ........................................................................................................... 8 Connecting an Antenna ................................................................................... 8 Connecting the Supplied Antenna ............................................................... 8 Connecting an Outdoor Antenna ................................................................. 8 Connecting Power ........
20-430.fm Page 7 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Trunk Tracking ................................................................................................... Types of Trunking Systems ........................................................................... Setting the Scanner to the Trunk Tracking Mode .......................................... Setting Squelch for the Trunk Tracking Mode ............................................... Programming Trunked Frequencies .............................
20-430.fm Page 8 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM PREPARATION This scanner is designed primarily for use in the home as a base station. You can place it on a desk, shelf, or table. Your scanner’s front feet fold up or down. Adjust them to give you the best view of the display. Your scanner’s display is protected during shipment by a piece of blue film. Peel off this film before you use the scanner.
20-430.fm Page 9 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM • The antenna should be as high as possible on the vehicle or building. • The antenna and its cable should be as far as possible from sources of electrical noise (appliances, other radios, etc.). • The antenna should be vertical for the best performance. To connect an optional base-station or mobile antenna, first remove the supplied antenna from the scanner.
20-430.fm Page 10 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Cautions: • The supplied AC adapter supplies 12 volts DC power and delivers 500 milliamps. Its center tip is set to positive, and its plug properly fits the scanner’s DC 12V jack. Using an adapter that does not meet these specifications could damage the scanner or the adapter. • Be sure to connect the AC adapter to the scanner before you connect it to an AC outlet, and disconnect the AC adapter from the AC outlet before you disconnect it from the scanner.
20-430.fm Page 11 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Listening Safely To protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when you use an earphone or headphones. • Do not volume volume manent Note: Connecting an external speaker disconnects the scanner’s internal speaker. CONNECTING AN EARPHONE/ HEADPHONES listen at extremely high levels. Extended highlistening can lead to perhearing loss. • Set VOLUME to the lowest setting before you begin listening.
20-430.fm Page 12 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 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 determine the type of communications you want to receive, then set the scanner to scan them. A frequency is the tuning location of a station (expressed in kHz or MHz). To find active frequencies, you can use the search function.
20-430.fm Page 13 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SCAN Scans through the stored channels. MANUAL Stops scanning and lets you directly enter a channel number or frequency. TRUNK Switches between conventional and trunk tracking modes. SVC (service) Selects a service bank. PRIORITY/SPEED Sets and turns on and off the priority feature; turns the HyperSearch mode on and off. Number Keys Each key has a single-digit label and a range of numbers.
20-430.fm Page 14 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM HOLD/s Holds on the current ID in the trunk tracking mode; sets the search direction and holds the frequency search. DATA Turns the data signal skip feature on or off or checks the current trunking bank in the trunk tracking mode. 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.
20-430.fm Page 15 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM (channel activity indicator) Shows which control/voice channels are currently active. P Appears when a priority channel is selected. SCAN Appears when you scan channels. MANUAL Appears when you set the scanner to its manual mode. PRI Appears when the priority feature is turned on. HOLD Appears when the scanner is in the hold mode during a search. DELAY Appears when you program a delay. DATA Appears when the data skip function is active.
20-430.fm Page 16 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM UNDERSTANDING BANKS Channel Storage Banks To make it easier to identify and select the channels you want to listen to, channels are divided into 10 banks of 30 channels each. Use each channelstorage bank to group frequencies, such as those used by the police department, fire department, ambulance services, or aircraft (see “Guide to the Action Bands” on Page 39). For example, the police department might use four frequencies, one for each side of town.
20-430.fm Page 17 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH 1. Turn SQUELCH and VOLUME fully counterclockwise. STORING KNOWN FREQUENCIES INTO CHANNELS Good references for active frequencies are the RadioShack “Police Call Guide including Fire and Emergency Services,” “Official Aeronautical Frequency Directory,” and “Maritime Frequency Directory.” We update these directories every year, so be sure to get a current copy.
20-430.fm Page 18 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 3. Press E to store the frequency into the channel. stores this setting in the channel. 4. If you want to program the next channel in sequence, press MANUAL and repeat Steps 2 and 3. SEARCHING SERVICE BANKS Notes: • If you made a mistake in Step 2, Error appears and the scanner beeps when you press E. Simply start again from Step 2. • Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency to the nearest valid frequency.
20-430.fm Page 19 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM To select another service bank, repeatedly press SVC until the scanner displays the name of the bank you want to use. Notes: • To skip data signals (such as modem signals), press DATA . See “Skipping Data Signals” on Page 23. • Because frequencies are not always assigned to the same services everywhere, you might hear transmissions from one service in another service group.
-430.fm Page 20 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM quency into the channel. The scanner stores the frequency. • s or t to stop searching so you can listen to the transmission. HOLD appears. To release hold and continue searching, press SEARCH. Notes: • To step through the frequencies while HOLD appears, press s or t. • If you tune to a search skip frequency, L/O appears. See “Locking Out Channels and Frequencies” on Page 23. • To skip data signals (such as modem signals), press DATA .
20-430.fm Page 21 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SPECIAL FEATURES DELAY Many agencies use a two-way radio system that might have a period of 2 or more seconds between a query and a reply. To keep from missing a reply, you can program a 2-second delay into any channel or frequency. The scanner continues to monitor the frequency for 2 seconds after the transmission stops before resuming scanning or searching.
20-430.fm Page 22 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM LOCKING OUT CHANNELS AND FREQUENCIES You can scan existing channels or search frequencies faster by locking out channels or frequencies that have a continuous transmission, such as a weather channel. Note: If you just want to skip over a lengthy transmission (such as a modem signal), see “Skipping Data Signals” on Page 23. scanning, then hold down L/O until the scanner beeps twice.
20-430.fm Page 23 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM TURNING THE KEY TONE ON AND OFF SKIPPING DATA SIGNALS To turn the key tone off, turn off the scanner. Then, while holding down L/O/SKIP , turn on the scanner. OF bEEP appears. You can set the scanner so it skips nonmodulated or data signals (such as modem transmissions) during a scan or search. To turn the key tone back on, repeat the above procedure. oN bEEP appears.
20-430.fm Page 24 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM PRIORITY The priority feature lets you scan through channels and still not miss important or interesting calls on specific channels. You can program one stored channel in each bank as a priority channel (for up to a total of 10 stored channels). As the scanner scans the bank, if the priority feature is turned on, the scanner checks the priority channel for activity every 2 seconds.
20-430.fm Page 25 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM TYPES OF TRUNKING SYSTEMS Your trunk tracking scanner can monitor two basic types of systems — Type I and Type II. Instead of selecting a specific frequency to transmit on, a trunked system chooses one of several frequencies in a 2-way radio user’s talk group when that user presses PTT (push to talk). Thus, trunking systems allocate a few frequencies among many different users, but the way Type I and Type II systems do this is slightly different.
20-430.fm Page 26 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SETTING THE SCANNER TO THE TRUNK TRACKING MODE Press TRUNK to switch between the scanner’s conventional and trunk tracking modes. Note: You can change this setting, if necessary, to provide better performance in your area. PROGRAMMING TRUNKED FREQUENCIES Before you program your scanner to track a trunked system, consider the following: • Valid trunked system frequencies range from 851.0000–868.9875 in 12.5 kHz steps.
20-430.fm Page 27 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 2. Select the bank you want to store the trunked system’s frequencies in by pressing a number key. The scanner automatically selects the first channel in the bank. 3. Use the number keys to enter the trunked system’s frequencies, then press E. 6. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until all frequencies have been entered. SCANNING A TRUNKED BANK You can scan one trunked bank at a time.
20-430.fm Page 28 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM the ID you want to hold. LIST 1 appears 3. Press HOLD again. HOLD flashes and the scanner monitors that ID. Note: To see the bank currently in use for about 5 seconds, press DATA while in the trunk tracking mode. 3. To return to conventional scanning, press TRUNK again. Hint: While scanning, you will not know exactly whom the IDs are assigned to until you listen awhile or until you locate ID lists in frequency guides or on internet sites such as www.
20-430.fm Page 29 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM To lock out an ID, press L/O when the ID appears. The ID is locked out, and the next active ID appears. Unlocking a Single ID 1. Hold down L/O until you hear two short beeps. Using Trunk Tracking Scan Delay Many trunked systems have a period of 2 or more seconds between a query and a reply. You can program a 5second delay so the scanner holds on an ID for 5 seconds to wait for a reply.
20-430.fm Page 30 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Monitoring IDs You can use your scanner’s display to monitor the frequencies in a trunked system for activity. You cannot hear conversations in this mode, but this is an excellent way to determine which talk groups are the most active. To set the scanner to monitor IDs, hold down SEARCH until the scanner beeps twice. SEARCH flashes, and all active talk group IDs appear in succession. To stop monitoring IDs, press SEARCH again.
20-430.fm Page 31 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SCAN LISTS When you program trunked frequencies into a bank (see “Programming Trunked Frequencies” on Page 26), your scanner sets up 5 scan lists into which you can store your favorite IDs. Each list can contain up to 10 IDs, so you can store a total of 50 IDs for each trunk tracking bank (500 IDs if you use all banks as trunking banks!). Scan lists help you organize trunking system users into categories.
20-430.fm Page 32 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Storing IDs into Scan Lists While Searching Follow these steps to select a scan list location and store an ID during a search. 1. When your scanner stops on an ID you want to store, press PRIORITY. The currently selected scan list memory location flashes. Deleting a Stored ID 1. Press MANUAL. 2. Repeatedly press s or t to select the scan list location (shown at the top of the display) you want to delete. Scan List Location 2.
20-430.fm Page 33 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM To remove a scan list from active scanning, use the number keys to enter the scan list’s number. The scan list indicator turns off, and the IDs in that list are not scanned. Note: You cannot remove all the scan lists. One scan list must always be active. To restore a scan list to active scanning, use the number keys to enter its number again. Press SEARCH to return to the scanner’s previous function.
20-430.fm Page 34 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM S2 16 8 64 1 S3 8 8 128 1 S4 1 16 512 1 S5 64 4 32 1 S6 32 8 32 1 S7 32 4 64 1 S8 16 4 128 1 S9 8 4 256 1 S10 4 8 256 1 S11 2 16 256 1 S12 1 16 1024 2 S13 1 16 2048 4 S14 1 16 4096 8 Each ID in the block is unique. The left-most digit is the block number in the ID. The next two digits identify which fleet is active, and the last digit(s) (after the hyphen) identifies the subfleet.
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20-430.fm Page 36 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Block Size Code Block Size Code 0 S3 0 S4 1 S3 1 S3 2 S11 2 S10 3 S4 3 S4 4 S4 4 S4 5 S0 5 S4 6 S0 6 S12 7 S0 7 — E1P15 E1P16 Block Size Code Block Size Code 0 S4 0 S3 1 S4 1 S10 2 S4 2 S10 3 S11 3 S11 4 S11 4 S0 5 S0 5 S0 6 S12 6 S12 7 — 7 — Selecting a Preset Fleet Map 1. Press SCAN, then hold down TRUNK until the scanner beeps twice. BANK, TRUNK and the bank numbers flash. 2.
20-430.fm Page 37 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 5. Repeatedly press s or t until USr appears. would not see another prompt because it uses all available blocks. PROGRAMMING A HYBRID SYSTEM 6. Press DATA . 7. Repeatedly press s or t to select the size code for the first block, then press E. The next available block appears. A hybrid system is simply a Type I system with some of its blocks designated as Type II blocks. To program a hybrid system, follow the steps listed in “Programming a Fleet Map.
20-430.fm Page 38 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING Reception of the frequencies covered by your scanner is mainly “line-ofsight.” That means you usually cannot hear stations that are beyond the horizon. 162.400 162.500 161.650 162.525 162.450 161.775 Birdie Frequencies Every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are signals created inside the scanner’s receiver. These operating 406.7625 162.
20-430.fm Page 39 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS Typical Band Usage VHF Band Low Range 6-Meter Amateur Aircraft U.S. Government 2-Meter Amateur High Range UHF Band U.S.
20-430.fm Page 40 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Primary Usage VHF Band As a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrated on the following frequencies: Activities Government, Police, and Fire Emergency Services Railroad Frequencies 153.785–155.980 MHz 158.730–159.460 MHz 160.000–161.
20-430.fm Page 41 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM FIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire Department HAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amateur (Ham) Radio GOVT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Federal Government GMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-430.fm Page 42 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 35.020–35.980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .BUS, PUB, IND, TELM 36.000–36.230 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVT, MIL 36.230–36.990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Oil Spill Cleanup, GOVT, MIL 37.020–37.980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-430.fm Page 43 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM 157.530–157.725 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IND, TAXI 157.740 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BUS 157.770–158.100 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TELB 158.130–158.460 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-430.fm Page 44 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM FM-TV Audio Broadcast, UHF Wide Band (470–512 MHz) (Channels 14 through 69 in 6 MHz steps) 475.750 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481.750 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487.750 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 511.
20-430.fm Page 45 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM FREQUENCY CONVERSION The tuning location of a station can be expressed in frequency (kHz or MHz) or in wavelength (meters). The following information can help you make the necessary conversions. 1 MHz (million) = 1,000 kHz (thousand) To convert MHz to kHz, multiply the number of megahertz by 1,000: 9.62 (MHz) ¥ 1000 = 9620 kHz To convert from kHz to MHz, divide the number of kilohertz by 1,000: 2780 (kHz) ÷ 1000 = 2.
20-430.fm Page 46 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM TROUBLESHOOTING If your scanner is not working as it should, these suggestions might help you eliminate the problem. If the scanner still does not operate properly, take it to your local RadioShack store for assistance. PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE Scanner is on but will not scan. SQUELCH is not correctly REMEDY adjusted. Adjust SQUELCH clockwise. Only one channel or no channels are stored. Store frequencies into more than one channel. No power.
20-430.fm Page 47 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM PROBLEM Scanner will not track a trunked system. PROBLEM (continued) POSSIBLE CAUSE The data frequency is missing. POSSIBLE CAUSE The system you are trying to track is a Type I system, and the scanner is set to scan Type II systems. Scanner will not stop while scanning a scan list. Scanner will not acquire a data channel. Missing replies to conversations. REMEDY Find the data frequency (see “Programming REMEDY Trunked Frequencies” on Page 26).
20-430.fm Page 48 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM PROBLEM POSSIBLE CAUSE REMEDY Missing replies to conversations. (continued) The selected fleet map is incorrect. Try another preset fleet map or program your own fleet map (see “Scanning Type I and Hybrid Trunked Systems” on Page 33). Not all of the trunk’s frequencies have been entered. Enter all of the trunk’s frequencies. The transmission might be a private or telephone interconnect call. The scanner does not scan these types of transmissions.
20-430.fm Page 49 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM RESETTING THE SCANNER You might need to reset the scanner if any of the following occur: • The scanner’s display locks up. • The scanner does not work properly after you connect power. • The scanner is dropped or subjected to a physical or electrical shock. Caution: This procedure clears all the information you have programmed into the scanner. Use this procedure only when you are sure your scanner is not working properly. 1. Turn off the scanner. 2.
20-430.fm Page 50 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your RadioShack PRO-2050 VHF/UHF/Air/800MHz 300-Channel TrunkTracker Home Scanner is an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The following suggestions will help you care for your scanner so you can enjoy it for years. Keep the scanner dry. If it gets wet, wipe it dry immediately. Liquids can contain minerals that can corrode the electronic circuits. Handle the scanner gently and carefully.
20-430.fm Page 51 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage: 10 Meter Amateur Radio ............................. 29.000–29.6950 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) VHF Lo ...................................................... 29.7000–49.9950 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) 6 Meter Amateur Radio ............................. 50.0000–54.0000 MHz (in 5 kHz steps) Aircraft .............................................. 108.0000–136.9750 MHz (in 12.5 kHz steps) Government ......................................
20-430.fm Page 52 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 PM Audio Power 1.1 W Maximum Power Requirements: AC Adapter 12 Volts DC DC Adapter 12 Volts DC (such as Cat. No. 270-1533) Dimensions 23/4 × 81/16 × 711/16 Inches (HWD) (70 × 205 × 195 mm) Weight 26.5 oz. (750 g) Specifications are typical; individual units might vary. Specifications are subject to change and improvement without notice.
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20-430.fm Page 56 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 1:29 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.