Radio Shack 20-423, Owner'S Manual

Page 1: ...20 423 Owner s Manual Please read before using this equipment A 200 Channel VHF AIR UHF Desktop Scanner with WX Alert ...

Page 2: ...search at up to 50 steps per second and to scan at up to 25 channels per second to help quickly find interesting transmissions Duplicate Frequency Check automatically notifies you if you are about to store a frequency you have already stored to help avoid wasting storage space Direct Search lets you search for new and unlisted frequencies starting from a specified frequency Priority Channel lets y...

Page 3: ...n your scanner can receive However there are some transmissions you should never intentionally listen to These include telephone conversations cellular cordless or other private means of telephone signal transmission pager transmissions any scrambled or encrypted transmissions According to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ECPA you are subject to fines and possible imprisonment for intenti...

Page 4: ... Connecting an Antenna 7 Connecting the Supplied Antenna 7 Connecting an Outdoor Antenna 7 Understanding Your Scanner 8 A Look at the Controls 8 A Look at the Display 9 Understanding Service Banks Banks 10 Channel Storage Banks 10 Service Banks 11 Operation 14 Turning On the Scanner Setting Volume and Squelch 14 Storing Known Frequencies into Channels 14 Finding and Storing Active Frequencies 15 S...

Page 5: ...cies in All Service Banks 21 Using Priority 21 Turning the Key Tone On and Off 21 Using a Computer to Program the Scanner 22 Birdie Frequencies 22 United States Broadcast Band 22 Guide to the Action Bands 23 Typical Band Usage 23 Primary Usage 23 Band Allocation 24 Avoiding Image Frequencies 27 Frequency Conversion 27 Troubleshooting 28 Resetting Initializing the Scanner 28 Resetting the Scanner 2...

Page 6: ...rd AC outlet 1 Insert the AC adapter s barrel plug into the DC12V jack on the back of the scanner 2 Plug the adapter into a standard AC outlet Using Vehicle Battery Power You can power the scanner from a vehicle s 12V power source such as cigarette lighter socket using a 12V 300 mA DC cord and a size M Adaptaplug connector neither supplied Both are available at your local RadioShack store Cautions...

Page 7: ... to your scanner Your local RadioShack store sells a variety of antennas Choose the one that best meets your needs When deciding on an outdoor antenna and its location consider these points The antenna should be located as high as possible The antenna and antenna cable should be as far as possible from sources of electrical noise appliances other radios and so on The antenna should be vertical for...

Page 8: ...ssed in kHz or MHz To find active frequencies you can use the search function You can also search the service search banks which are preset groups of frequencies categorized by type of service When you find a frequency you can store it into a programmable memory location called a channel which is grouped with your other channels in a channel storage bank You can then scan the channel storage banks...

Page 9: ...l in a channel storage bank DELAY programs a 2 second delay for the selected channel or enters a decimal point necessary when programming frequencies ENTER enters frequencies into channels A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY The display shows the scanner s current operating mode FD PD appears when you search the fire police service bank BANK appears with numbers 1 10 Bank numbers with a bar under them show whic...

Page 10: ...ut frequencies during a service bank direct search P appears when the scanner is tuned to the priority channel ALErt appears when the scanner is watching the WX alert tone WIrEd appears when you turn on the wired programming mode StArt appears when the scanner starts wired programming C Err appears when the scanner receives a check sum error during wired programming D Err appears when the scanner ...

Page 11: ... in channels for fire police aircraft ham radio and marine banks This is handy for quickly finding active frequencies instead of searching through an entire band Note The frequencies in the scanner s service bank are preset You cannot change them Air Amateur Radio Group Frequency Range MHz Step kHz 108 000 136 9875 12 5 Group Frequency Range MHz Step kHz 1 29 000 29 700 5 2 50 000 54 000 5 3 144 0...

Page 12: ... 71 156 5750 14 156 7000 72 156 6250 15 156 7500 73 156 6750 16 156 8000 74 156 7250 17 156 8500 77 156 8750 18 156 9000 78 156 9250 19 156 9500 79 156 9750 20 157 0000 161 6000 80 157 0250 21 157 0500 81 157 0750 22 157 1000 82 157 1250 23 157 1500 83 157 1750 24 157 2000 161 8000 84 157 2250 161 8250 25 157 2500 161 8500 85 157 2750 161 8750 26 157 3000 161 9000 86 157 3250 161 9250 27 157 3500 ...

Page 13: ...20 42 020 42 940 20 44 620 45 860 40 45 880 45 900 45 940 46 060 40 46 080 46 500 20 2 153 770 154 130 60 154 145 154 445 15 154 650 154 950 15 155 010 155 370 60 155 415 155 700 15 155 730 156 210 60 158 730 159 210 60 166 250 170 150 3 453 0375 453 9625 12 5 458 0375 458 9625 12 5 460 0125 460 6375 12 5 465 0125 465 6375 12 5 ...

Page 14: ...els 1 Press PGM enter the channel number 1 200 where you want to store a frequency then press PGM again The channel number appears 2 Use the number keys and to enter the frequency including the decimal point you want to store 3 Press ENTER to store the frequency into the channel Notes If you made a mistake in Step 2 Error appears and the scanner beeps when you press ENTER Simply start again from S...

Page 15: ...9 9 9 for a few seconds The scanner tunes through the frequencies until it finds an active frequency To reverse the search direction at any time hold down 8 8 8 8 or 9 9 9 9 until the scanner reverses the search direction To search the band up or down in small increments repeatedly press and release 8 8 8 8 or 9 9 9 9 see Service Banks on Page 11 To pause the search while receiving a signal press ...

Page 16: ...search Note To start from a frequency already stored in one of your scanner s channels press MANUAL or PGM enter the desired channel number then press MANUAL or PGM again 2 Hold down 8 8 8 8 or 9 9 9 9 for a few seconds to search up or down d SRCH and 8 8 8 8 or 9 9 9 9 appear on the display Notes To reverse the search direction at any time hold down 8 8 8 8 or 9 9 9 9 for a few seconds To search ...

Page 17: ...itor memories manually but you cannot scan them See Listening to a Monitor Memory Frequency Listening to a Monitor Memory Frequency To recall a frequency stored in the monitor memory press MANUAL then MON CL M the monitor memory number and CH flash and the current monitor memory frequency appears To select other monitor memories enter the desired monitor memory s number 1 20 then press MON CL agai...

Page 18: ... while scanning press the bank s number key until a bar appears under the bank s number Notes You cannot turn off all banks There must be at least one active bank You can manually select any channel in a bank even if the bank is turned off When you turn on the bank while scanning the scanner moves to the selected bank s first channel and continues scanning MONITORING A STORED CHANNEL You can conti...

Page 19: ...r local forecast and regional weather information on one or more of these frequencies We have programmed your scanner with these seven frequencies To hear your local forecast and regional weather information press WX The scanner begins to scan the weather band You will probably receive one frequency better than the others for your area The scanner should stop within a few seconds on that frequency...

Page 20: ...REQUENCIES You can increase the scanning or search speed by locking out individual channels or frequencies that have a continuous transmission such as a weather channel see the Weather Channel Frequency Chart on Page 19 or birdie frequency see Birdie Frequencies on Page 22 Locking Out Channels To lock out a channel while scanning press and release L O L O RVW when the scanner stops on the channel ...

Page 21: ...Lt appears 4 Press ENTER to clear the lockout frequencies in all the service banks except the weather and marine banks If you do not want to clear the lockout tags press MON CL to continue reviewing the lockout frequencies Using Priority You can scan the programmed channels using the priority feature and still not miss an important or interesting call Follow these steps to program the priority cha...

Page 22: ...to cut out the birdie To find the birdies in your scanner follow these steps 1 Disconnect the antenna and move it away from the receiver Make sure that no other operating radio or TV sets are nearby 2 Search in each frequency band from the lowest frequency to the highest If the search stops on a frequency but you hear no sound chances are you have located a birdie Note all birdie frequencies for r...

Page 23: ... 0 MHz Low Range 30 00 50 00 MHz 6 m Amateur 50 00 54 00 MHz U S Government 137 00 144 00 MHz 2 m Amateur 144 00 148 00 MHz High Range 148 00 174 00 MHz UHF Band 300 00 MHz 3 0 GHz U S Government 380 00 420 00 MHz 70 cm Amateur 420 00 450 00 MHz Low Range 450 00 470 00 MHz FM TV Audio Broadcast Wide Band 470 00 512 00 MHz Government Police and Fire 153 785 155 980 MHz Emergency Services 158 730 15...

Page 24: ...t Products MAR Military Amateur Radio MARI Maritime Limited Coast Coast Guard Marine Telephone Shipboard Radio Private Stations MARS Military Affiliate Radio System MED Emergency Medical Services MIL U S Military MOV Motion Picture Video Industry NEW New Mobile Narrow NEWS Relay Press Newspaper Reporters OIL Oil Petroleum Industry POL Police Department PUB Public Services Public Safety Local Gover...

Page 25: ...PUB 46 600 46 990 GOVT 47 020 47 400 PUB 47 420 American Red Cross 47 440 49 580 IND PUB 49 610 49 990 MIL 6 m Amateur Band 50 54 MHz 50 00 54 00 HAM U S Government Band 138 144 MHz 137 000 144 000 GOVT MIL 2 m Amateur Band 144 148 MHz 144 000 148 000 HAM VHF High Band 148 174 MHz 148 050 150 345 CAP MAR MIL 150 775 150 790 MED 150 815 150 980 TOW Oil Spill Cleanup 150 995 151 475 ROAD POL 151 490...

Page 26: ...5 GOVT 170 245 170 305 Wireless Mikes 170 350 170 400 GOVT MIL 170 425 170 450 BIFC 170 475 PUB 170 4875 173 175 GOVT PUB Wireless Mikes 173 225 173 5375 MOV NEWS UTIL MIL 173 5625 173 5875 MIL Medical Crash Crews 173 60 173 9875 GOVT ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY UHF 300 MHz 3 GHz U S Government Band 380 406 MHz 381 800 383 900 GOVT U S Government Band 406 450 MHz 406 125 419 975 GOVT USXX 70 cm Amateur B...

Page 27: ...ouble the intermediate frequency of 10 7 MHz 21 400 and subtract it from the new frequency 21 400 If the answer is the regular frequency 453 275 then you have tuned to an image Occasionally you might get interference on a weak or distant channel from a strong broadcast 21 4 MHz above or below the tuned frequency This is rare and the image signal is usually cleared whenever there is a broadcast on ...

Page 28: ...ed to initialize the scanner PROBLEM SUGGESTION Scanner is on but will not scan Be sure SQUELCH is adjusted properly See Turning On the Scanner Setting Volume and Squelch on Page 14 Be sure MAN is not displayed If it is press SCAN Scanner receives stations poorly or not at all Check the antenna indoor or outdoor Signals may be blocked from being received by the scanner due to metal frames or mater...

Page 29: ...lear 4 When the display reappears release MON CL Note You must release the reset button before you release MON CL otherwise the memory might not clear CARE Keep the scanner dry if it gets wet wipe it dry immediately Use and store the scanner only in normal temperature environments Handle the scanner carefully do not drop it Keep the scanner away from dust and dirt and wipe it with a damp cloth occ...

Page 30: ... MHz 12 5 kHz Steps Channels of Operation 200 Channels and 20 Monitor Memories Sensitivity 20 dB S N 29 54 MHz 0 5 µV 108 136 9875 MHz 1 0 µV 137 174 MHz 0 5 µV 380 512 MHz 0 7 µV Selectivity 10 kHz 6 dB 18 kHz 50 dB Spurious Rejection 50 dB FM at 154 MHz Scanning Rate Up to 25 Channels Second Search Rate Up to 50 Steps Second Delay Time 2 Seconds Intermediate Frequencies IF 1st 10 7 MHz 2nd 455 k...

Page 31: ... Current Drain 300 mA Operating Temperature 32 F to 110 F 0 C to 43 C Dimensions HWD 21 16 81 4 67 8 inches 52 210 175 mm Weight without antenna and batteries 24 oz 680 g Supplied Accessories Telescoping Antenna AC Adapter Specifications are typical individual units might vary Specifications are subject to change and improvement without notice ...

Page 32: ...ou In the event of a product defect during the warranty period take the product and the RadioShack sales receipt as proof of purchase date to any RadioShack store RadioShack will at its option un less otherwise provided by law a correct the defect by product repair without charge for parts and labor b replace the product with one of the same or similar design or c refund the purchase price All rep...