20-135 PRO-135 Handheld Radio Scanner Thank you for purchasing your 200–channel Handheld Radio Scanner from RadioShack. What’s Included Scanner Antenna Belt Clip (2) Screws Preprogrammed Frequency List User’s Guide Quick Start Guide Please read this user’s guide before installing, setting up, and using your new scanner www.radioshack.
Contents Scanner Setup ............................................. 4 Scanner Features ....................................................4 Connecting the Antenna.........................................6 Attaching the Belt Clip............................................6 Powering Your Scanner...........................................6 Installing Batteries..............................................7 Battery Notes....................................................8 Recycle Rechargeable Batteries.....
Contents Manually Selecting a Channel ............................ 22 Weather Scan........................................................ 22 Weather Alert........................................................ 22 Testing the Weather Alarm............................. 23 Skywarn ................................................................. 23 About Skywarn ................................................. 23 Settings ..................................................... 25 Setting Delay ..............
Scanner Setup Scanner Setup Scanner Features SCAN / Scan the stored channel frequencies. Press and hold to activate Signal Stalker I. MAN Go to manual mode. SRCH Start a limit search. TUNE / MENU Operate Fine Tune. Press and hold to enter menu. MENU WX PSE SRCH MAN SCAN TUNE MAR POL AIR SVC 1 2 3 ALERT HAM PRI 4 5 6 L/O 7 8 9 DELAY PGM CL 0 • ENT KEYLOCK SVC Press to put the scanner in service mode. 1/MAR (Marine) Press after SVC to select the marine band.
Scanner Setup WX / Start weather scan. Press and hold to activate Skywarn. PSE (Pause) Stop and resume search or scan. S/T Search up and down a selected frequency range; selects options in menu mode. / KEYLOCK Turns the display and key backlight on. Press and hold to lock the keypad. PRI (Priority)/ALERT Turns the priority function on or off. Press and hold to turn weather alert on and off. L/O Lockout selected channels or skip specified frequencies during a search. CL Press to clear an entry.
Scanner Setup Headphones VOLUME/OFF Turn the scanner on or off; adjust the volume. SQUELCH Adjust the squelch. Connecting the Antenna Attach the supplied antenna to the scanner by aligning the slots around its base with the tabs on the scanner, and then slide into place. When using an external antenna, always connect with 50-ohm, RG-58, or RG-8, coaxial cable. If the antenna is over 50 feet from the scanner, use RG-8 low-loss dielectric coaxial cable.
Scanner Setup Installing Batteries 1. Remove the battery compartment cover. 2. Set the Battery Switch inside the battery compartment to the appropriate setting: • ALKALINE when using alkaline batteries. • Ni-MH when using rechargeable (Ni-MH) AA batteries. 3. Insert two AA batteries (not included) into the battery compartment and two AA batteries into the battery compartment cover, matching the polarity symbols (+ and -) marked inside. 4. Replace the cover.
Scanner Setup To charge batteries: 1. Set the Power Switch to Ni-MH. 2. Install rechargeable batteries. 3. Connect an external power source to the DC 9V 300mA jack. The scanner stops charging automatically after a maximum of 14 hours. Warning: Do not attempt to charge batteries if non-rechargeable batteries are installed in the scanner and the switch is set to Ni-MH, or if you are unsure of the switch’s position. Nonrechargeable batteries will get hot and can explode if you try to recharge them.
Scanner Setup Recycle Rechargeable Batteries Placing rechargeable batteries into the trash or the municipal waste system can be harmful to the environment. RadioShack participates in an industry program to collect and recycle rechargeable batteries at the end of their useful life. You can return your rechargeable batteries to your local RadioShack store for recycling free of charge. Or call 1-800-THE-SHACK (1-800-8437422) for information on recycling rechargeable batteries in your area.
Scanner Setup Warning: Do not connect a charging adapter to the scanner if non-rechargeable batteries (such as alkaline batteries) are installed in the scanner and the switch is set to Ni-MH, or if you are unsure of the switch’s position. Connecting Headphones For private listening, you can plug headphones (not included) into the headphone jack on top of your scanner. This automatically disconnects the internal speaker. Note that the sound is not in stereo.
Scanner Setup The scanner scans conventional frequencies. A frequency, expressed in kHz or MHz, is the tuning location of a station. To find active frequencies, use the search function or consult an online resource such as www.radioreference.com. Besides searching within a selected frequency range, you can also search your scanner’s service banks. Service banks are preset groups of frequencies categorized by the type of services that use those frequencies.
Scanner Setup you program one of these frequencies, you hear only noise on that frequency. This scanner’s known birdie frequencies (in MHz) are: 449.18125 449.24375 449.30625 Turning on the Scanner 1. Turn SQUELCH fully counterclockwise. 2. Turn VOLUME/OFF clockwise until it clicks and you hear a hissing sound. 3. Turn SQUELCH clockwise until the hissing stops. Note: Make sure the scanner’s antenna is connected before you turn it on. To perform a quick check of scanner operation, press the WX key.
Scanner Setup Note: If you entered an invalid bank or channel number, Error appears and the scanner beeps. Enter a valid channel. 5. Use the number keys to enter the frequency, using • for the decimal point. 6. Press ENT/PGM to store the frequency into the channel. 7. To program the next channel in sequence, press S or T and repeat Steps 5 and 6. Notes: • If you entered an invalid frequency in Step 5, Error appears and the scanner beeps. Enter a valid frequency.
Searching Searching Use the search function to find active frequencies. While doing a limit search, fine tune, or service bank search, press •/DELAY to turn the 2-second delay on or off. Limit Search This feature lets you search through preset frequency ranges. You can also program a range. The preset frequency ranges are 25.0000 512.0000MHz. Starting Limit Search 1. Press SRCH. SRCH and -L- appear. 2. Press T to search down or S to search up. 3.
Searching 3. Using the number keys, enter the lower limit frequency, and then press ENT/PGM. 4. Press T or S to move from lower to upper. 5. Using the number keys, enter the upper limit frequency, and then press ENT/PGM. Fine Tune You can search up or down from the currently displayed frequency using a fine tune search. Searching stops when a transmission is found and resumes after the transmission ends (searching resumes after two seconds if delay is on). 1.
Searching Service Bank Search The scanner is preprogrammed with all the frequencies allocated to Ham, Marine, Aircraft, and Police (Fire/Emergency) transmissions. To search the service banks, press SVC. The current service symbol appears and the scanner starts searching. To select a different service bank, press 1/MAR, 2/POL, 3/AIR, or 4/HAM. Note: Because there are many different frequencies allocated to Ham and Aircraft, it can take several minutes to search all the service frequencies.
Searching Note: If the same frequency already exists on another channel, the scanner beeps and displays that channel. Press CL to cancel, or press ENT/PGM to store the frequency in both channels. Search Skip Memory You can skip up to 50 unwanted frequencies during a limit search, fine tune, service bank, or Signal Stalker I search. Note: You cannot skip frequencies during WX service search. To skip a frequency, press L/O when the scanner stops on the frequency during a search.
Searching Search Speeds The scanner has two search speeds: Normal search at 55 steps/second and Hypersearch at 160 steps/second. Hypersearch applies only to the 5 kHz step bands (25–27.995 MHz, 28–54 MHz, and 137–174 MHz). Signal Stalker I Signal Stalker I detects and then displays the frequency of nearby strong radio transmissions. Signal Stalker I works well for locating mobile and handheld two way radios in areas with no other strong transmission sources.
Searching Setting the Signal Stalker I Options 1. Press and hold TUNE/MENU to open the menu. 2. Press T or S to select a Signal Stalker I menu icon appears with Signal option. (The Stalker I menu options.) Note: See below for a description of the Signal Stalker I options. 3. Press ENT/PGM. The scanner flashes the setting On or OF (On or Off). 4. Press T or S to select On or OF. Press ENT/ PGM. 5. Press T or S to select another option or press CL to exit the menu mode.
Searching • UHFbnd: UHF Band. Set to On to search UHF Band (380-512MHz). • IntrPt: Voice Interrupt. While Signal Stalker I is on and the scanner is receiving an audio signal (voice) in normal scanning, the scanner checks the Signal Stalker I every 2 seconds causing the audio signal to break at that moment. Set Voice Interrupt to On if you want to keep the Signal Stalker I active despite interruptions while the scanner is receiving an audio signal. Set to Off if you do not want to hear interruptions.
Scanning Scanning Scanning Stored Channels Press SCAN to begin scanning your programmed frequencies. SCAN appears and the scanner scans through all non-locked channels in the activated banks. Select any combination of banks to scan by pressing the corresponding number keys. The bank numbers appear at the top of the display. The bank number which is currently being scanned blinks. When the scanner finds a transmission, it stops on it. When the transmission ends, the scanner resumes scanning.
Scanning Manually Selecting a Channel You can continuously monitor a single channel without scanning. This is useful if you want to monitor a specific channel or if you hear an emergency broadcast on a channel and do not want to miss any details, even though there might be periods of silence. To directly access a channel: 1. Press MAN to stop scanning. 2. Enter the bank and channel number and press MAN. The selected channel appears. To stop at a channel while scanning: 1. Press MAN to stop scanning.
Scanning Testing the Weather Alarm To hear the alarm for the weather alert signal, press WX/ to select the weather service, then hold down PRI/ALERT for about two seconds. The tones sound and TEST appears. Press any key to end the test. Skywarn The Skywarn function lets you jump directly to the last channel in memory (Bank 9, Channel 19) from any mode by pressing and holding WX/ . The scanner goes into manual mode and starts receiving transmissions in the last channel.
Scanning (which spawn tornadoes) • Severe lowering of a wall cloud • Turbulence in a wall cloud • Funnel clouds • Tornadoes • High water areas • Downed power lines • Other emergency conditions that affect life or property 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 which relays those reports to NOAA and other emergency agencies.
Settings Settings Setting Delay Sometimes a user might pause before replying to a transmission. To avoid missing a reply on a specific channel, the scanner automatically programs a 2-second delay into any channel or frequency. Depending on the scanner operation, follow one of these steps to turn the delay on or off. • To turn off the 2-second delay, press •/DELAY while the scanner is monitoring a channel, scanning, or searching. DLY disappears.
Settings • One bank must always be active. If you try to turn off all banks, bank 0 remains. Locking Out Channels You can increase the scanning speed by locking out channels that have a continuous transmission (such as a weather channel). To lock out a channel, quickly press L/O when the scanner stops on a transmission. Or, manually select the channel and then press L/O. L/O appears. Note: You can still manually select locked-out channels.
Settings first channel as its priority channel. To select a different channel as the priority channel: 1. Press MAN then press ENT/PGM. 2. Press T or S to select the channel you want to set as priority, then press and hold PRI. Or, enter the bank and channel number you want to set as priority and then press PRI. P appears to the left of the selected channel frequency. 3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 for the channel in each bank that you want to program as a priority channel.
Settings 2. Press T or S to select AutLit, then press ENT/PGM. 3. Press T or S to select On or OF. Press ENT/ PGM. 4. Press TUNE/MENU or CL to exit the menu mode. Setting the Power On Backlight The backlight can be set to light for 5 seconds when you power on the scanner. To turn the power on backlight on or off: 1. Press and hold TUNE/MENU to open the menu. 2. Press T or S to select PonLit, then press ENT/PGM. 3. Press T or S to select On or OF. Press ENT/ PGM. 4.
Settings Setting the Battery Save Function The battery save feature conserves energy when the scanner is set to monitor a manually selected channel and it is not actively scanning. The scanner repeatedly turns off the internal power for one second, and then turns it back on for half a second to check for a transmission. To turn the battery save function on or off: 1. Press and hold TUNE/MENU to open the menu. 2. Press T or S to select b-SAVE, then press ENT/PGM. 3. Press T or S to select On or OF.
Advanced Programming Advanced Programming Transferring Data To or From another Scanner You can clone your scanner by transferring the programmed data to or from another PRO-135 scanner using a connecting cable. You can also upload or download programmed data from a PC through wired programming.
Advanced Programming 5. When the data transfer is completed, donE appears on both units. If the transfer was not successful, Error appears. 6. After the clone operation is complete, remove the cable, turn both units off and then on again. Transferring Data From a PC Wired Programming You can transfer programming data to your scanner using your PC and an optional interface cable and software (available at your local RadioShack or www.radioshack.com). 1. Make sure your scanner is turned off. 2.
Additional Information Additional Information FCC Notice Your scanner might cause radio or TV interference even when it is operating properly. To determine whether your scanner is causing the interference, turn off your scanner. If the interference goes away, your scanner is causing it. Try the following methods to eliminate the interference: • Move your scanner away from the receiver. • Connect your scanner to an outlet that is on a different electrical circuit from the receiver.
Additional Information According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), as amended, you are subject to fines and possible imprisonment for intentionally listening to, using, or divulging the contents of such a transmission unless you have the consent of a party to the communication (unless such activity is otherwise illegal).
Additional Information Specifications Frequency Coverage 25.0000-27.9950 (in 5 kHz steps) 28.0000-54.0000 (in 5 kHz steps) 108.0000-136.9875 (in 12.5 kHz steps) 137.0000-174.0000 (in 5 kHz steps) 380.0000-399.9875 (in 12.5 kHz steps) 400.0000-512.0000 (in 6.25 kHz steps) Sensitivity (AM/FM) FM ........................... 20 dB S/N at 3 kHz deviation 28.0000-54.0000............................................ 0.4µV 137.0000-174.0000........................................ 0.5µV 400.0000-512.0000.............
Additional Information Antenna Impedance.........................................50ȍ Audio Output........................... 260 mW maximum Built-in Speaker................ 1.25 Inches (32 mm) 8 ...................................................... Dynamic Type Power 4 AA Alkaline Batteries (6.0 VDC), or 4 AA Rechargeable Ni-MH Batteries (4.8 VDC) or Optional AC Adapter (9V DC; 300mA; center tip set to positive) Current Drain Squelched....................................................75 mA Full Output .
Additional Information Troubleshooting Problem Cause Solution Scanner is on but SQUELCH is not Adjust SQUELCH. will not scan. adjusted correctly. Only one channel Store frequencies into or no channels are more than one chanstored. nel. Scanner won’t work at all. Scanner is not receiving power. Recharge the rechargeable batteries or replace the non-rechargeable batteries. The AC adapter or Be sure the adapter’s DC adapter is not barrel plug is fully connected. plugged into the DC 9V 300 mA jack.
Additional Information Resetting your Scanner If the scanner’s display locks up or stops operating properly, you might need to reset the scanner. Caution: This procedure clears all the information you have stored in the scanner. Before you reset the scanner, try turning it off and on again to see if it begins working properly. Reset the scanner only when you are sure it is not working properly. 1. Turn off the scanner. 2. While holding down 2, 9 and PSE, turn on the scanner.
Additional Information Notes: 38
Additional Information Notes: 39
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. For complete warranty details and exclusions, check with your local RadioShack store. RadioShack Customer Relations 300 RadioShack Circle, Fort Worth, TX 76102 Hypersearch and Adaptaplug are trademarks used by RadioShack Corporation.
