Radio Shack RS-500 Owner's Manual

Owner’s ManualCat. No. 20-522PRO-92 500-ChannelPortable Trunking ScannerPlease read before using this equipment.20-522.fm Page 1 Friday, May 19, 200

10PREPARATIONPOWER SOURCESYou can power your scanner from any of three sources:• internal non-rechargeable batteries or rechargeablebatteries (not sup

11Warning: Never install non-rechargeable batteries in therechargeable yellow battery holder. Non-rechargeablebatteries can get hot or explode if you

123. Insert six AA batteries in the battery holder as indi-cated by the polarity symbols (+ and –) marked onthe holder.Cautions:• Use only fresh batte

13When battery power is low, Low Battery! appearsand the scanner beeps continuously. When battery pow-er is depleted, the scanner turns itself off. Re

14• Rechargeable batteries last longer and deliver morepower if you let them fully discharge once a month.To do this, use the scanner until Low Batter

152. Plug the adapter’s barrel plug into the scanner’sPWR DC 9V jack.3. Plug the adapter into a standard AC outlet.Using Vehicle PowerYou can power th

163. Plug the adapter’s cigarette-lighter plug into yourvehicle’s cigarette-lighter socket.Note: If the scanner does not operate properly when youconn

17Connecting an Optional AntennaThe antenna connector on your scanner makes it easy touse the scanner with a variety of antennas, such as anexternal m

18Listening SafelyTo protect your hearing, follow these guidelines when youuse an earphone or headphones:• Do not listen at extremely high volume leve

19USING THE BELT CLIPYou can use the belt clip attached to the back of thescanner for hands-free carrying when you are on the go.Slide the belt clip o

2FEATURESYour RadioShack PRO-92 500-Channel Portable Trunk-ing Scanner is one of a new generation of scanners de-signed to track Motorola® Type I and

20ABOUT YOUR SCANNEROnce you understand a few simple terms used in thismanual and familiarize yourself with your scanner’s fea-tures, you can put the

21FUNC (function) — lets you use various functions bypressing this key along with other keys.SCAN — scans through the programmed channels.MANUAL — sto

22PGM — programs frequencies into channels.ENTER — lets you complete the entry of frequencies andtext.1/DELAY — enters a 1, or programs a 2-second del

23A LOOK AT THE DISPLAYManual ModeCurrent Manual Mode (AM or FM)ChannelStored TextCurrent FrequencyCurrent BankMode is FMReceiving a Signal (• no sign

24Search Mode6 and 7 are turned offSearch ModeUpper LimitSteppingAM Delay Scanning UpSearching Frequencyfor Rangein Bank 3Search ModeMotorolaSearch Ba

25UNDERSTANDING BANKSChannel Storage BanksTo make it easier to identify and select the channels youwant to listen to, channels are divided into 10 ban

26450.9250 452.1875 25 Business453.9875 454.9875 25 Business460.9750 462.5500 25 Business463.1750 465.0000 25 Business851.0000 866.0000 12.5 Business9

27144.0000 148.0000 20 Ham 2 m420.0000 450.0000 25 Ham 70 cm902.0000 928.0000 12.5 Ham/ISM 33cm150.9650 151.9850 5 Highways462.9250 463.1750 25 Medica

28Note: The steps shown above are default values. Youcan select any desired step setting.UNDERSTANDING YOUR PRO-92’S MODESYou can program each channel

29With few exceptions, such as the VHF Aircraft and Ma-rine bands, almost every other VHF or UHF radio systemuses some form of coded squelch. By far,

3Your scanner includes these special features:Simultaneous Trunking Operation — tracks threetrunking systems, LTR, Motorola, and EDACS at thesame time

30When the scanner receives a transmission on a channelset to the PL mode, it first decodes the PL tone includedwith the transmission. In the Open mod

31LTR (E. F. Johnson) ModeThis sets the scanner to decode the talk group ID’s usedwith an LTR system. This is a trunking system used pri-marily by bus

32Motorola ModeThis sets the scanner to decode the talk group ID’s usedwith Motorola trunking systems. These systems are usedby business and public sa

33For example, Police  East Patrol might be assigned togroup 12, making the full Fleet, Subfleet ID be 000-12. Toproperly map the raw Type I data to

34When there is activity on an EDACS system, that infor-mation is sent out on the control channel. The scannerdecodes the ID for the active talk group

35OPERATIONTURNING ON THE SCANNER AND SETTING SQUELCH1. Turn SQUELCH fully counterclockwise until the indi-cator points to MIN before you turn on the

36STORING KNOWN FREQUENCIES INTO CHANNELSGood references for active frequencies are the Ra-dioShack Police Call, Aeronautical Frequency Directory,and

37• Your scanner automatically rounds the enteredfrequency to the nearest valid frequency. Forexample, if you enter a frequency of 151.473, yourscanne

383. Press TEXT. The cursor appears at the 3rd line onthe display.4. Enter the text using the numeral keys (see “TextInput Chart” on Page 39).Note: If

39Note: If the channel is programmed for P/L, DPL, LTR,MOT or ED mode, the scanner displays the mode infor-mation on the 4th line.Text Input ChartNote

460 Preprogrammed Frequency Ranges — let yousearch for transmissions within preset frequency rangesor within ranges you set, to reduce search time and

40FINDING AND STORING ACTIVE FREQUENCIESYou can search for transmissions within ten ranges of fre-quencies, called a search bank. The search bank is d

41Searching a Preprogrammed Frequency RangeThe scanner contains these preprogrammed searchranges, stored in search banks (0–9).Follow these steps to s

423. When the scanner finds an active frequency, it stopssearching. To save the frequency into a channel inthe channel storage bank (bank 9 only), pre

43Changing a Search Range with One of the 60 Preprogrammed RangesYou can replace the search range with one of the 60 pre-programmed ranges.1. Press FU

443. Use the number keys to enter the lower range youwant to search and store, then press ENTER to storethe frequency.4. Use the number keys to enter

45Notes:• You cannot turn off all banks. There must be at leastone active bank.• You can manually select any channel in a bank,even if the bank is tur

46DELETING FREQUENCIES FROM CHANNELS1. Press MANUAL.2. Use the number keys to enter the channel which hasthe frequency you want to delete.3. Press MAN

47Weather Alert FeatureThis scanner can detect both the weather alert tone andcan decode the digital SAME message that precedeseach alert. If you are

48SPECIAL FEATURESUSING THE DELAY FUNCTIONNote: The delay function turns on automatically whenyou turn on the scanner.Many conversations might have a

49Notes:• You can still manually select locked-out channels.• If you lock out a channel that is set to a trunkingmode, lockout is removed when you cyc

5Three Power Options — let you power the scanner withinternal batteries (non-rechargeable batteries or re-chargeable batteries). You can also use an A

50Reviewing Locked-Out FrequenciesFollow these steps to review the frequencies within asearch bank that you locked out:1. Press SEARCH to start search

513. Press FUNC, then press 4. Confirm listclear? 1=YES Press other key for NO.appears on the display. Press 1 to clear all lock-outfrequencies and Li

52Note: This scanner cannot set a channel as the prioritychannel if the channel’s receive mode is LTR, MOT, orED.Follow these steps to program a weath

53CHANGING THE RECEIVE MODEThe scanner is preset to the most common AM or FM re-ceive mode for each frequency range. The preset modeis correct in most

54CHANGING THE FREQUENCY STEPThe scanner searches at a preset frequency step foreach frequency range. Press STEP to change the step in-crement when mo

55Note: If you turn on this feature, the scanner might not re-ceive weak signals.To turn off the attenuator, press ATT again. A disappearsfrom the dis

56Note: You cannot activate the keylock when in the middleof programming.To turn on the keylock, press FUNC then press /LIT.Keyboard Locked appears o

57TRUNKING OPERATIONThe PRO-92 scanner tracks transmissions that use theMotorola® Type I and Type II (such as Smartnet and Pri-vacy Plus) and hybrid a

58PROGRAMMING TRUNKING FREQUENCIESProgram trunking frequencies just as you program nor-mal, non-trunked frequencies, but store the appropriatemode (MO

595. Press 8 and the display below appears.6. Enter the size code information supplied with theType I system information, referring to the instruction

6If you cannot eliminate the interference, the FCC requiresthat you stop using your scanner.This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Op-era

607. Enter the size code and press ENTER for each entry.If you make a mistake, press CL and enter the cor-rect size code.Note: The default setting of

61Note: When you try to store more than 100 talk groupID’s in a bank, Memory full! appears. Clear sometalk group ID’s in order to store new ones (see

62Locking Out Talk Groups IDNote: You can only lock out talk group ID’s when thescanner is in the closed mode (see “Open and ClosedModes” on Page 63).

63Clearing All Talk Group ID’s in One BankYou can clear all talk group ID’s within a bank. This letsyou quickly delete all talk group ID’s from a bank

64The open or closed mode is set in each channel storagebank. + or – is displayed under the channel storagebank’s number while scanning. Or, the statu

65A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNINGReception of the frequencies covered by your scanner ismainly “line-of-sight.” That means you usually cannothear stations

66This scanner’s birdie frequencies (in MHz) are:To find the birdies in your scanner, begin by disconnect-ing the antenna and moving it away from the

67GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDSTypical Band UsagePrimary UsageAs a general rule, most of the radio activity is concentrat-ed on the following frequencies:

68Note: Remote control stations and mobile units operateat 5 MHz higher than their associated base stations andrelay repeater units.BAND ALLOCATIONTo

69TOW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tow TrucksTRAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Transporta

7CONTENTSPreparation ... 10Power Sources ...

70VHF High Band (148–174 MHz)148.050–150.345 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .CAP, MAR, MIL150.775–150.790 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

71ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY (UHF)U. S. Government Band (406–420 MHz)406.125–419.975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GOVT, USXX70-cm Amateur

72Private Trunked Band935.0125–939.9875 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PTRGeneral Trunked Band940.0125–940.9875 . . . . .

73TROUBLESHOOTINGIf you have problems with your scanner, here are somesuggestions that might help you eliminate the problem. Ifthey do not, take your

74In the scan mode, the scanner locks on frequen-cies that have an unclear transmission.Stored frequen-cies are the same as “birdie” frequencies.Avoid

75RESETTING/INITIALIZING THE SCANNERIf the scanner’s display locks up or does not work proper-ly after you connect a power source, you might need tore

762. Press 0 then 1 while the display shows WelcomeTo Multi-System Trunking. Initializ-ing Please Wait. appears on the display about25 seconds.Note: D

77CARE AND MAINTENANCEYour RadioShack PRO-92 500-Channel Portable Trunk-ing Scanner is an example of superior design and crafts-manship. The following

78SPECIFICATIONSFrequency Coverage:Ham ... 29–30 MHz (in 5 kHz steps)VHF Lo ... 30–50

79Search Rate ... Up to 50 Steps per secondDelay Time ... 2 secondsIntermedi

8Storing a Frequency While Searching for a Specified Channel ... 42Changing a Search Range with One of the 60 Pr

RadioShackA Division of Tandy CorporationFort Worth, Texas 76102GE-99D-331409A99 Printed in JapanLimited One-Year WarrantyThis product is warranted by

9Clearing Talk Group ID’s ......... 62Clearing All Talk Group ID’sin One Bank .............