20-418.fm Page 1 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Cat. No. 20-418 OWNER’S MANUAL PRO-2045 200-Channel Weather Alert Home Scanner Please read before using this equipment.
0-418.fm Page 2 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM FEATURES Your RadioShack PRO-2045 200Channel Weather Alert Home Scanner lets you in on all the action! This scanner gives you direct access to over 49,500 exciting frequencies used by police and fire departments, ambulance and transportation services, amateur radio, as well as aircraft communications, Citizen’s Band, and commercial FM and television broadcasts.
20-418.fm Page 3 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Direct Search — lets you search for transmissions starting from a frequency you specify. Attenuator — reduces the scanner’s sensitivity to help limit reception to strong, nearby transmitters. Count Feature — lets you keep track of how many times your scanner has stopped on a channel. Memory Backup — keeps stored channel frequencies in memory for up to 3 days during a power loss.
20-418.fm Page 4 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Your scanner can receive all of these bands: Range (MHz) Step (kHz) Mode 29–54 5 NFM 108–136.975 12.5 AM 137–174 5 NFM 216–224.9875 12.5 NFM 225–399.9875 12.5 AM 400–512 12.5 NFM 806–823.9375 12.5 NFM 851–868.9375 12.5 NFM 896.1125–1,000 12.5 NFM FCC NOTICE Your scanner might cause radio or TV interference even when it is operating properly. To determine if your scanner is causing the interference, turn off your scanner.
20-418.fm Page 5 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM CONTENTS Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Connecting Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Using Standard AC Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Using Vehicle Battery Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-418.fm Page 6 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Special Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Changing Search Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-418.fm Page 7 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM PREPARATION CONNECTING POWER Follow these steps to use AC power. You can power your scanner from a standard AC outlet using the supplied AC adapter or from your vehicle’s battery using an optional DC power cord. If a power failure occurs or if the power cord is disconnected, the scanner’s memory backup circuit keeps information in memory for up to 3 days.
20-418.fm Page 8 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM • If you use your scanner in your vehicle with the engine running, you might hear electrical noise from the scanner. This is normal. Note: Mobile use of this scanner is unlawful or requires a permit in some areas. Check the laws in your area. Follow these steps to use vehicle battery power. DC 12V ANT 1. Hold the antenna so it stands straight up. 2. Gently push the antenna’s plug onto the ANT jack on the scanner’s back panel.
20-418.fm Page 9 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Note: Always use 50-ohm coaxial cable to connect an outdoor antenna to your scanner. For lengths under 50 feet, use RG-58 or RG-8/M coaxial cable. For lengths over 50 feet, use RG8, low-loss coaxial cable. If the coaxial cable’s connector does not fit the ANT jack, you might also need an adapter. Your local RadioShack store sells a complete line of outdoor antennas, adapters, BNC connectors, and mounting hardware.
20-418.fm Page 10 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM TESTING ALERT OPERATION For your scanner’s weather alert function to be effective, you must place the scanner: • Where it can receive an emergency alert broadcast (see “Testing Alert Reception” on this page) • Where you can hear its alert tone (See “Testing the Weather Alert” on Page 11). Once you determine a location that meets these two conditions, leave the scanner there for the best protection.
20-418.fm Page 11 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Testing the Weather Alert scanner. This disconnects the internal speaker. Follow these steps to test the weather alert — to hear how it sounds and ensure that the circuitry is working. Note: This test does not ensure that your scanner will sound an alert when the weather service transmits an emergency signal (see “Weather Alert” on Page 25). Proper operation is affected by the strength of the weather service’s signal.
20-418.fm Page 12 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Traffic Safety Do not wear an earphone or headphones while operating a motor vehicle. This can create a traffic hazard and can be illegal in some areas. Even though some earphones and headphones let you hear some outside sounds when listening at normal volume levels, they still can present a traffic hazard.
20-418.fm Page 13 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM 2. Remove the scanner’s top cover. 3. Gently plug the CTCSS board into sockets J9 and J10 on the top of the scanner’s circuit board. CTCSS Board CTCSS BORD 4. Replace the scanner’s top cover, then replace the two side screws and three bottom screws. Note: For information about using CTCSS, see “Using CTCSS” on Page 30.
20-418.fm Page 14 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER A LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD A quick glance at this section should help you understand each key’s function(s). VOLUME — rotate to turn the scanner DATA — turns on or off data skip. on or off and adjust the volume. ATT — turns on or off the attenuator to SQUELCH — rotate to adjust the squelch. AUTO — lets you automatically program frequencies into banks; sets the the scanner to scan banks from the lowest to the highest frequency.
20-418.fm Page 15 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Number Keys — each key has a single digit with a range of numbers printed above it. The single digits are used to enter the number of a channel or frequency. The range of numbers (21– 40, for example) indicates the channels that make up a memory bank. See “Understanding Channel-Storage Banks” on Page 17. • — enters a decimal point when you set a frequency.
20-418.fm Page 16 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has several indicators that show the scanner’s current operating mode. A good look at the display will help you understand how your scanner operates. MON — appears during a search or when you listen to a monitor memory. The number to the right of this shows the current monitor memory number. See “Listening to Monitor Memories” on Page 23.
20-418.fm Page 17 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM L/O — appears when you manually select a locked channel or a skipped frequency. DLY — appears when you program a channel for a 2-second delay or when you listen to a channel that has been programmed with the delay feature. Also, the indicator appears when you turn on the delay feature during a limit or direct search or weather scan. WX — appears when the scanner is searching the weather band frequencies.
20-418.fm Page 18 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM OPERATION TURNING ON THE SCANNER/SETTING VOLUME AND SQUELCH 1. Rotate VOLUME 1/4 turn clockwise to turn on the scanner. 2. Rotate SQUELCH fully counterclockwise. 3. Slowly turn SQUELCH clockwise until the hissing stops. STORING FREQUENCIES You can store up to 200 frequencies into your scanner’s channels.
20-418.fm Page 19 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM • Press FREQ/CHAN-LOCK until the CHAN indicator appears. Turn the rotary tuner to select the desired channel. 3. Enter a frequency (including the decimal point). 4. Press E to store the frequency. Notes: • If you made a mistake in Step 3, the scanner displays Error and beeps three times. Press CLEAR, then proceed again from Step 3. • Your scanner rounds frequencies down to the next valid frequency. For example, if you enter 151.
-418.fm Page 20 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM 6. When the scanner finds a transmission, you can: • Store the displayed frequency into the current monitor memory — quickly press MONITOR. A direct search lets you specify a starting frequency, then search for active transmissions above or below the specified frequency. • Lock out the frequency so the scanner does not stop on it again — press S/S. The scanner resumes searching. Note: You can use the delay feature during a direct search (see “Delay”).
20-418.fm Page 21 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM • Continue the search — press s or t. • Hold the scanner on the frequency — press LIMIT or turn the rotary tuner either way one click. -h- appears. Notes: • You can press s or t during the hold to step through the frequencies toward the upper or lower limits. • If you tune to a search skip frequency, the scanner displays L/O (see “Search Skip” on Page 21). • During the direct search, you can change the modulation mode (NFM or AM).
20-418.fm Page 22 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM AUTOMATICALLY STORING FREQUENCIES You can have your scanner automatically store active frequencies into empty channels within the banks you specify. 1. Press PROGRAM then LIMIT. Lo and the lower limit frequency appears. 2. Enter the lower limit using the number keys or use the rotary tuner to enter the lower limit of the frequency range you want to search, then press E. Note: If you enter an invalid frequency in Step 2 or 4, the scanner displays Error.
20-418.fm Page 23 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM LISTENING TO MONITOR MEMORIES Once you store frequencies into monitor memories using a direct or limit search or weather scan, you can listen to a monitor memory by pressing MANUAL , MONITOR, and then the number for the monitor memory you want to listen to. Note: To listen to the monitor memories, the priority channel feature must be turned off. MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM A MONITOR MEMORY TO A CHANNEL 1. Press PROGRAM. 2.
20-418.fm Page 24 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Locking Out Channels You can increase the effective scanning speed by locking out channels that have a continuous transmission, such as a weather channel. Note: You can manually select the channels you have locked out. To lock out a channel, manually select the channel, then press LOCKOUT so L/O appears on the display. To review the locked-out channels, manually select the first channel you want to review.
20-418.fm Page 25 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM SCANNING THE WEATHER BAND 1. Press WX to find the clearest local weather broadcasting station. 2. Press ALERT. ALERT appears. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has allocated 11 channels for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Your scanner is preprogrammed with the following seven frequencies available to NOAA. • 162.400 MHz • 162.450 MHz • 162.500 MHz • 162.475 MHz • 162.425 MHz • 162.550 MHz • 162.
20-418.fm Page 26 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM SPECIAL FEATURES DELAY PRIORITY 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 on a specific channel, you can program a 2-second delay into any channel, or on frequencies during a frequency search. The scanner continues to monitor the frequency for 2 seconds after the transmission stops before resuming scanning.
20-418.fm Page 27 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM The scanner automatically designates each bank’s first channel as that bank’s priority channel. Follow these steps to program a different channel as the priority channel for a bank. CHANGING SEARCH SPEEDS The PRO-2045 speeds. has two search 1. Press PROGRAM. 2. Use the number keys to enter the channel number you want to program as the priority channel, then press PRIORITY. P appears on the display to the right of the channel number.
20-418.fm Page 28 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM USING AUTO SORT You can set the scanner to scan within each bank from the channel with the lowest frequency to the channel with the highest frequency, instead of in channel number order. This makes the scanner scan faster. Follow these steps to turn on auto sort. 1. Turn off the scanner. 2. Press and hold AUTO, then turn on the scanner. on Sort appears for 3 seconds. During scanning, AUTO appears. To turn off auto sort, repeat these steps.
20-418.fm Page 29 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM TRANSFERRING A FREQUENCY TO ANOTHER CHANNEL 3. Using the number keys or the rotary tuner, select the channel that has the frequency you want to transfer. 4. Press TRANSFER twice. flashes on the display. Transferring to an Empty Channel This feature lets you reassign a stored frequency to another bank’s vacant channel. Note: You cannot transfer a frequency into or out of a priority channel. 1. Press MANUAL to stop scanning. 2.
20-418.fm Page 30 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM USING THE COUNT FEATURE The scanner can count the number of times it has detected a transmission on each channel since you turned on the scanner or cleared the count. 1. While the scanner is scanning, press MANUAL. 2. Press COUNT. The scanner displays COUNT, the current channel number, and the count number. 3. Repeatedly press MANUAL to display each channel and the number of times the scanner detected a transmission on that channel.
20-418.fm Page 31 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Assigning a CTCSS Tone Frequency to a Channel You can specify the CTCSS tone frequency you want the scanner to detect on a specific preprogrammed channel. Changing or Deleting a CTCSS Tone Frequency for a Channel 1. If CTCSS is not displayed, press CTCSS. The scanner displays CTCSS. 1. Select the channel number that has the frequency you want to assign a CTCSS tone frequency to. 2.
20-418.fm Page 32 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 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. During the summer months, you might be able to hear stations in the 30–50 MHz range located several hundred or even thousands of miles away. This is because of summer atmospheric con- GUIDE TO FREQUENCIES National Weather Service Frequencies 161.650 MHz 162.425 MHz 162.
20-418.fm Page 33 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Birdie Frequencies Birdies are frequencies your scanner uses when it operates. These operating frequencies might interfere with broadcasts on the same frequencies. If you tune one of these frequencies, 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. Here are this scanner’s birdie frequencies that you might want to watch for: 29.4900 114.6875 147.4550 405.
20-418.fm Page 34 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM GUIDE TO THE ACTION BANDS Typical Band Usage HF Band (29.00–30.0 MHz) 10-Meter Amateur ................................................................. 29.00–29.70 MHz VHF Band (30.00–300.0 MHz) Low Range ............................................................................ 29.70–50.00 MHz 6-Meter Amateur ................................................................... 50.00–54.00 MHz Aircraft ..................................................
20-418.fm Page 35 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Primary Usage As a general rule, most radio activity is concentrated on the following frequencies: VHF Band Activities Frequencies (MHz) Government, Police, and Fire Emergency Services 153.785–155.980 158.730–159.460 Railroad 160.000–161.900 UHF Band Activities Frequencies (MHz) Land-Mobile Paired Frequencies 450.000–470.000 Base Stations 451.025–454.950 Mobile Units 456.025–459.950 Relay Repeater Units 460.025–464.
20-418.fm Page 36 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM BAND ALLOCATION To help decide which frequency ranges to scan, use the following listing of the typical services that use the frequencies your scanner receives. These frequencies are subject to change, and might vary from area to area. For a more complete listing, refer to the “Police Call Radio Guide including Fire and Emergency Services,” available at your local RadioShack store. Abbreviations AIR .................................................
20-418.fm Page 37 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM ROAD........ Road & Highway Maintenance RTV .. Radio/TV Remote Broadcast Pickup TAXI ......................................Taxi Services TELB ..............................Mobile Telephone (Aircraft, Radio Common Carrier, Landline companies) TELC .............................. Cordless Phones TELM ...................Telephone Maintenance TOW .........................................Tow Trucks TRAN ...................
20-418.fm Page 38 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM Aircraft Band (108–136 MHz) 108.000-121.490 .................................AIR 121.500 ............................ AIR Emergency 121.510-136.000 .................................AIR U.S. Government Band (138-144 MHz) 137.000-144.000 .....................GOVT, MIL 2-Meter Amateur Band (144-148 MHz) 144.000-148.000 ............................... HAM VHF-Hi BAND (148-174 MHz) 148.050-150.345 ..............CAP, MAR, MIL 150.775-150.790 ..................
20-418.fm Page 39 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM U.S. Government Band (406-450 MHz) 406.125-419.975 ................. GOVT, USXX 70-Centimeter Amateur Band (420-450 MHz) 420.000-450.000 ...............................HAM Low Band (450-470 MHz) 450.050-450.925 ................................RTV 451.025-452.025 ... IND, OIL, TELM, UTIL 452.0375-453.00 .......... IND, TAXI, TRAN, TOW, NEWS 453.0125-453.9875 ........................... PUB 454.000 ............................................... OIL 454.
20-418.fm Page 40 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM TROUBLESHOOTING If you have problems, here are some suggestions that might help. If none of these suggestions help, take your PROBLEM Scanner is totally inoperative. Scanner is on but will not scan. scanner to your local RadioShack store for assistance. POSSIBLE CAUSE No power. REMEDY Make sure you plugged the scanner into a working AC or DC outlet. • SQUELCH is not correctly adjusted. • Adjust SQUELCH clockwise.
20-418.fm Page 41 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM CARE AND MAINTENANCE Your PRO-2045 200-Channel Direct Entry Programmable Scanner is an example of superior design and craftsmanship. The following suggestions will help you care for the PRO-2045 so you can enjoy it for years. CLEANER 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.
20-418.fm Page 42 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM SPECIFICATIONS Frequency Coverage, Step, and Default Modulation Modes: Range (MHz) Step (kHz) Mode 29–54 5 NFM 108–136.975 12.5 AM 137–174 5 NFM 216–224.9875 12.5 NFM 225–399.9875 12.5 AM 400–512 12.5 NFM 806–823.9375 12.5 NFM 851–868.9375 12.5 NFM 896.1125–1,000 12.5 NFM Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-418.fm Page 43 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM IF Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1st IF: 370.7 MHz 2nd IF: 10.85 MHz 3rd IF: 450 kHz (NFM) Audio Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Watt Maximum Built-In Speaker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27/16-Inch (57 mm), 8-Ohm, Dynamic Type Maximum Current Drain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20-418.fm Page 44 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 12:42 PM RadioShack Limited Warranty This product is warranted against defects for 1 year from date of purchase from RadioShack company-owned stores and authorized RadioShack franchisees and dealers. Within this period, we will repair it without charge for parts and labor. Simply bring your RadioShack sales slip as proof of purchase date to any RadioShack store. Warranty does not cover transportation costs.