PRO-43 (200-0300) Operation Faxback Doc. # 16688 A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display has several indicators that show the scanner's current operating mode. A quick look at the display will help you understand the scanner's operation. The following is a brief explanation of each scanner indicator. P - appears when you tune to the priority channel. MON - appears when you tune to a monitor memory. BANK - bars to the right of this indicator show which memory banks are turned on for the scan mode. See "Understanding Channel Storage Banks." CH - digits that precede this indicator show the selected channel. FM or AM - appears to indicate the search direction in the search mode and to indicate the scanning direction in the program, scan, and manual modes. [up] or - appears to indicate the search direction in the search mode and [down] to indicate the scanning direction in the program, scan, and arrow manual modes. SRCH - appears during a limit search (-L- also displayed) or a direct frequency search (-d- also displayed). SCAN - comes on when you scan channels. MAN - comes on when you manually select a channel. PGM - appears while you program frequencies into the scanner's channels. PRI - appears when you turn on the priority channel feature. DLY - appears when the scanner is set to a channel programmed with the delay feature. See "Programming a Scan Delay." L/O - appears when the channel you listen to is locked out of the scan mode. See "Locking Out Channels." When the entire display blinks and the scanner beeps every 2 seconds, the batteries are low. A LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD The scanner's keys might seem confusing at first, but a quick glance at this page and the next should help you understand each key's function. KEY LOCK - disables the keypad to prevent accidental program changes. Number Keys - have a single digit, followed by a range of numbers. The single digit is the number entered when you enter a channel number or a frequency. The range of numbers (21-40, for example) indicates the channels that make up a channel storage bank. See "Understanding Channel Storage Banks." SCAN - makes the scanner through the programmed channels. MANUAL - stops scanning and lets you directly enter a channel number. PRI - turns the priority feature on and off. LIMIT - turns on the limit mode and sets the frequency range. See "Searching for Active Frequencies." L/OUT - turns the lockout function on and off for the selected channel. [up] & [down] - selects the search, program, scan, or manual mode arrow direction. DELAY - turns the delay feature on and off for the selected channel. ./DIRECT - enters a decimal point after numbers and searches frequencies beginning at the displayed frequency. ENTER - stores a frequency in channel. LIGHT - turns on and off the display light. MON - accesses the 10 monitor memories. See "Searching for Active Frequencies." AM/FM - switches the scanner to AM or FM mode. PGM - sets the scanner so you can store frequencies in channels. CLEAR - clears an incorrect entry. RESETTING THE SCANNER When you first power the scanner, or if no batteries are installed for an extended period of time, its display might lock up and the channels might contain random frequencies. We recommend you reset the scanner before you begin using it. To reset the scanner, hold down both CLEAR and 0, and turn on the power. This clears all programmed channels from the scanner. Use this procedure only when you are sure the scanner is not working properly. SETTING THE VOLUME AND SQUELCH CONTROLS Turn SQUELCH counterclockwise and VOLUME clockwise until you hear a hissing sound. Then slowly turn SQUELCH clockwise until the noise stops. Leave VOLUME set to a comfortable level. If the scanner picks up unwanted weak transmissions, turn SQUELCH clockwise to decrease the scanner's sensitivity to these signals. If you want to hear a weak or fading transmission, turn SQUELCH counterclockwise. You hear hiss between transmissions, but this prevents the scanner from cutting off weak transmissions. USING THE KEY LOCK Once you program your scanner, you can protect it from accidental program changes by moving KEY LOCK to LOCK. In this position, the only controls that operate are SCAN, MANUAL, LIGHT, VOLUME, and SQUELCH. When you want to change the scanner's programming, move the switch to KEY. PROGRAMMING THE SCANNER Follow these steps to store frequencies in channels. 1. Press MANUAL. Enter the channel number you want to program, the press PGM. PGM appears on the display to indicate the scanner is in the programming mode. 2. Enter a frequency. Good references for active frequencies are Radio Shack's "Police Call Radio 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. Also, refer to "Reception Notes" and "Searching for Active Frequencies" in this manual. 3. Press ENTER to store the frequency. If you made a mistake in Step 2, ERROR appears on the display. Press CLEAR and repeat Step 2. 4. Press AM/FM to set the receive mode to the correct setting for the frequency. See "Changing AM/FM Mode." 5. If you want the scanner to pause 2 seconds after each transmission before scanning to the next channel, press DELAY so DLY appears in the display. See "Programming a Scan Delay." 6. Repeat Steps 1-5 to program more channels. To program the next channel in sequence, press PGM and repeat Steps 2-5. To change the programming direction, press [up] or [down] arrow before you press PGM. SEARCHING FOR ACTIVE FREQUENCIES Use these procedures to search for a transmission. This is helpful if you do not have a reference to frequencies in your area. Also see "Guide to the Action Bands." Limit Search This procedure lets you search within a range of frequencies. -L- appears on the display during a limit search. 1. Press PGM. 2. Press LIMIT. 3. Enter the lower limit of the frequency range. Then press ENTER. 4. Press LIMIT. 5. Enter the upper limit of the frequency range. Then press ENTER. 6. Press [up] or [down] arrow to search down or up within the specified range. 7. When the scanner stops on a transmission, press MON to store the frequency in the current monitor memory - the bar under the memory number stops flashing. Or press [up] or [down] arrow to continue the search. NOTE: Press DELAY to make the scanner pause 2 seconds after a transmission before it proceeds to the next frequency. Direct Search When you listen to a channel, you can search up or down from the displayed frequency. -d- appears in the display during a direct search. 1. Press MANUAL, the channel number, and MANUAL in sequence to select a frequency stored in a channel. Then press ./DIRECT. 2. Press [up] or [down] arrow to search up or down from the selected frequency. 3. When the scanner stops on a transmission, you can store that frequency in the current monitor memory by pressing MON. Or press [up] or [down] arrow to continue search. NOTE: Press DELAY to make the scanner pause 2 seconds after a transmission before it proceeds to the next frequency. USING THE MONITOR FREQUENCIES During a limit or direct search, the flashing bar under the memory number indicates the current monitor memory. During a limit or direct search you can store a frequency when the scanner stops on a frequency stored by pressing MON. The scanner replaces any frequency stored in the monitor memory with the tuned frequency, and advances to the next monitor memory. To listen to a monitor memory, press (in sequence) MANUAL, MON, and number for the monitor memory you want to listen to. Moving a Frequency from a Monitor Memory to a Channel To move a frequency from a monitor memory to a channel, follow these steps. 1. Press MANUAL, enter the channel number you want to store the monitor frequency in, and press PGM. 2. Press MON and enter the monitor number that has the frequency you want to store. 3. Press ENTER. The scanner stores the monitor frequency in the channel. SCANNING THE CHANNELS To begin scanning the channels, press SCAN. Press [up] or [down] arrow to select the scan direction. (The scan direction is [up] arrow when you turn on the power.) The scanner scans through all non-locked channels in the activated banks. (See "Locking Out Channels" and "Turning Banks On and Off.") You must set SQUELCH so you do not hear the hissing sound between transmissions for the scanner to scan. CHANGING AM/FM MODE We designed your scanner to automatically select the most common receive mode for each frequency range. Default settings are shown below. FREQUENCY (MHz) RECEIVE MODE 30.000 - 54.000 .................. FM 118.000 - 136.000 .................. AM 137.000 - 174.000 .................. FM 220.000 - 2250000 .................. FM 225.0125 - 400.000 .................. AM 400.0125 - 512.000 .................. FM 806.000 - 999.9875 .................. FM Although the preset mode is correct in most cases, some ham radio and military aircraft (225 - 400 MHz) broadcasts are not in the default mode. If you try to listen to a broadcast when the scanner is not set to the correct receive mode, the broadcast might sound weak or distorted. To change the mode, press AM/FM. AM or FM blinks on the display when you override the default mode. If you press AM/FM during a limit search or direct search, the scanner keeps searching for frequencies in the selected mode and AM or FM blinks on the display. AM or FM blinks even if the mode of a frequency is the same as the default setting. To return to the default settings, press AM/FM while holding down CLEAR. PROGRAMMING A SCAN DELAY Many agencies use a two-way radio system with periods of several seconds between each query and reply. To keep from missing a reply, program a delay on the channels that operate this way. To program a delay, select the channel and press DELAY so DLY appears on the display. Now, when you scanner pauses on that channel when scanning, it waits for 2 seconds after each transmission before it resumes scanning. CANCELLING A SCAN DELAY Some radio systems, especially those above 800 MHz, use a special trunked system. In these systems, the transmitter selects an available frequency each time the operator keys the radio. It is therefore possible for the query to be on one frequency and the reply to be on another. In this case, you have a better chance of hearing the full reply if the scanner immediately resumes scanning when a transmission ends. For each channel that operates this way, manually select the channel and ensure DLY does not appear. If it does, press DELAY to turn off the delay for that channel. LOCKING OUT CHANNELS You can increase the effective scanning speed by locking out channels you have not programmed. This is also handy for locking out channels that have a continuous transmission. Manually select each channel and press L/OUT so L/O appears on the display. You can still manually select locked-out channels. To unlock a channel, manually select the channel and press L/OUT so L/O disappears from the display. NOTE: There must be at least one unlocked channel in each bank. TURNING BANKS ON AND OFF As explained in "Understanding Channel Storage Banks," the scanner splits the 200 channels into 10 banks of 20 channels each. The small bars that appear under the numbers at the top of the display when you scan are the bank indicators. When you turn off a bank, the scanner does not scan any channel in the bank. To turn a bank on or off, while scanning press the number key corresponding to the bank you want to turn on or off. Press 0 to turn on or off Bank 10. If the bank indicator is on, the bank is turned on and the scanner scans all channels within that bank that are not locked out. If the bank indicator is off, the scanner does not scan any of the channels within that bank. You can still manually select any channel in a bank, even if the bank is turned off. You cannot turn off all banks. USING THE PRIORITY FEATURE The priority feature helps you avoid missing calls on a specific channel. Just program the channel as the priority channel and turn on the priority feature by pressing PRI during scanning. The scanner checks the priority channel every 2 seconds, and stays on the channel if there is activity on it. To program a channel as the priority channel, press (in sequence) PGM, the desired channel number, and PRI. P appears in the upper left corner of the display whenever the scanner is set to the priority channel. You can only select one channel as the priority channel. To turn off the priority feature, press PRI again so that PRI disappears from the display. MANUALLY SELECTING A CHANNEL To tune to a locked-out channel, or to remain tuned to a signal channel, manually select the channel by pressing MANUAL, entering the channel number, and pressing MANUAL again. Or, if the scanner is scanning and stops at the desired channel, press MANUAL once. Press MANUAL additional times to step through the channels. You can use this feature to remain tuned to an emergency broadcast. During regular scanning, the scanner tunes to other channels during periods of silence. If you want to change the direction of the step, press [up] or [down] arrow before you press MANUAL. BATTERY-SAVING FEATURE When you manually select an inactive channel, the battery-saving feature puts the scanner in standby mode, which uses only 30% of the normal power. The scanner enters standby mode if it is manually set to a channel, it does not receive a signal, and you do not press any button for 5 seconds. In standby mode, the scanner rests for 1 second, checks for a signal for 1/4 second, and repeats the cycle until it receives a signal or you press a button. (llg/all-08/24/95)