RadioShack Pro 63 Portable Event Scanner Reciever Owners Manual

							Cat. No. 20-561
OWNER’S MANUAL
PRO-63 100-Channel
Portable Event Scanner
Please read before using this equipment.
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INTRODUCTION 
Your new Radio Shack PRO-63 100-Channel Portable Event
Scanner lets you in on all the action — in the pits at the big race,
on the sidelines at a pro football game, or on the streets of your
home town. This scanner gives you direct access to over 24,000
exciting frequencies, including those used by participants and
staff at sporting events and air shows, police and fire departments,
ambulance services, and amateur radio services. You can select
up to 100 channels to scan and you can change your selections at
any time.
The secret to your scanner’s ability to scan so many frequencies
is its custom-designed microprocessor — a tiny, built-in computer.
Your scanner has all these special features.
Ten Preprogrammed Search Bands 
— let you search for trans-
missions within preset frequency ranges, so you can find interest-
ing frequencies more quickly.
Ten Preprogrammed Weather Frequencies 
— keep you in-
formed about current weather conditions.
Ten Channel-Storage Banks 
— let you store 10 channels in
each bank to group channels so calls are easier to identify.
Two-Second Scan Delay 
— delays scanning for about 2 seconds
before moving to another channel, so you can hear more replies.
Channel Skip 
— lets you set your scanner to keep channels you
select from being scanned.
Memory Bank Scan 
— lets you scan frequencies you stored in
any of the scanner’s channel-storage banks. 
„ 1995 Tandy Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Radio Shack is a registered trademark used by Tandy Corporation.
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Direct Channel Access — lets you directly access any stored
channel while you scan the banks.
 Button — lets you lock the scanner’s keys to help prevent
accidentally changing the scanner’s programming.
Priority Channel — you can set the scanner to check one chan-
nel every 2 seconds so you do not miss important calls.
Auto Lock — lets you lock the scanner’s programmed channels
to keep you from accidentally erasing frequencies stored in the
channels.
ATT (Attenuate) Button — reduces the scanner’s sensitivity to
strong local signals, to reduce interference or noise caused by
these signals.
Liquid Crystal Display — makes it easy to view and change pro-
gramming information.
Display Backlight — makes the display easy to read in dimly-lit
areas.
Three Power Options — let you power the scanner from alkaline
or rechargeable nickel-cadmium batteries, or external AC or DC
power.
Flexible Antenna with BNC Connector — provides excellent re-
ception and is designed to help prevent antenna breakage.
Memory Backup — keeps channel frequencies stored in memory
for up to 10 years during a power loss.
For your records, we urge you to record your scanner’s serial
number in the space below. The serial number is located on the
scanner’s back panel.
Serial Number: ________________
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Your PRO-63 scanner can receive all of these frequencies.
• 29-54 MHz (10-Meter Amateur Radio, VHF Lo, 6-Meter
Amateur Radio)
• 108-136.975 MHz (Aircraft/Air Shows)
• 137-174 MHz (Aircraft/Air Shows, Auto Racing, Government,
Motion Picture/Video Industry, Pro Sports Teams, Radio/TV
Remote Broadcast Pickup, Stadiums/Venues,   2-Meter
Amateur Radio, VHF Hi)
• 380-512 MHz (Aircraft/Air Shows, Auto Racing, Government,
Pro Sports Teams, Radio/TV Remote Broadcast Pickup, 70-
Centimeter Amateur Radio, Stadiums/Venues, UHF Lo, UHF
“T” Band)
Your PRO-63 scanner contains the following preprogrammed
search bands.
• 29-50 MHz (10-Meter Amateur Radio, VHF Lo)
• 50-54 MHz (6-Meter Amateur Radio)
• 108-136.975 MHz (Aircraft/Air Shows)
• 137-144 MHz (Aircraft/Air Shows, Government)
• 144-148 MHz (2-Meter Amateur Radio)
• 148-174 MHz (Auto Racing, Motion Picture/Video Industry,
Pro Sports Teams, Radio/TV Remote Broadcast Pickup, Sta-
diums/Venues)
• 380-420 MHz (Military Aircraft/Air Shows)
• 420-450 MHz (70-Centimeter Amateur Radio)
• 450-470 MHz (Auto Racing, Pro Sports Teams, Radio/TV
Remote Broadcast Pickup, Stadiums/Venues)
• 470-512 MHz (UHF “T” Band)
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This owner’s manual also includes the section “A General Guide
to Scanning,” which helps you find frequency ranges to scan for a
wide variety of broadcasters.
Note: Mobile use of this scanner is unlawful or requires a permit
in some areas. Check the laws in your area.
FCC NOTICE
Your scanner might cause TV or radio interference even when it
is operating properly. To determine whether or not your scanner is
causing the interference, turn off your scanner. If the interference
goes away, your scanner is causing it. Try to eliminate the inter-
ference by:
• Moving your scanner away from the receiver.
• Connecting your scanner to an outlet that is on a different
electrical circuit from the receiver.
• Contacting your local Radio Shack store for help.
If you cannot eliminate the interference, the FCC requires that you
stop using your scanner.
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SCANNING LEGALLY
Your scanner covers frequencies used by many different groups
including police and fire departments, ambulance services, gov-
ernment agencies, private companies, amateur radio services,
military operations, pager services, and wireline (telephone and
telegraph) service providers. It is legal to listen to almost every
transmission your scanner can receive. However, there are some
transmissions you should never intentionally listen to. These in-
clude:
• Telephone conversations (either 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 intentional-
ly listening to, using, or divulging the contents of such a transmis-
sion unless you have the consent of a party to the communication
(unless such activity is otherwise illegal).
Radio Shack encourages responsible, legal scanner use.
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CONTENTS
PREPARATION ........................................................................  9
Connecting the Flexible Antenna........................................9
Installing Batteries .............................................................  9
Important Information About the PWR and 
                    CHG Jacks........................................................... 12
Charging Nickel-Cadmium Batteries ......................... 12
 
Resetting the Scanner .................................................... 13
 Using the Belt Clip ..........................................................  14
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER ..................................  15
A Look at the Keypad ......................................................  15
A Look at the Display.......................................................  16
BANDS AND BANKS ............................................................  18
Search Bands ...................................................................18
Channel-Storage Banks  ..................................................19
BASIC OPERATION  .............................................................. 20
Turning On the Scanner and Setting Squelch .................. 20
Searching For and Storing Active Frequencies ...............  21
Limit Search ............................................................. 22
Manually Storing Frequencies..................................  23
Scanning the Stored Channels ........................................  25
Scanning All Channels  .............................................25
Turning Channel-Storage Banks On and Off ............25
Scanning a Channel-Storage Bank  ..........................26
Manually Selecting a Channel .........................................  26
Listening to the Weather Band ........................................  27
ADVANCED OPERATION .....................................................  28
Delay ............................................................................... 28
Skipping Channels........................................................... 28
Priority .............................................................................  29
Using Channel Lock ........................................................  30
Using the Display Backlight .............................................  30
Using the Attenuator........................................................  31
Turning the Key Tone On and Off  ....................................31
Using the Keylock............................................................  32
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OPTIONS ...............................................................................  33
Connecting Optional Power Sources ..............................  33
Using AC Power.......................................................  33
Using Vehicle Battery Power ...................................  34
 Connecting a Mobile or Base-Station Antenna ............... 35
 Connecting an Earphone/Headphones ..........................  37
Listening Safely .......................................................  37
Traffic Safety ............................................................  38
 Connecting an Extension Speaker .................................  38
A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING ..................................... 39
United States Broadcast Band ........................................  39
Typical Band Usage ........................................................  39
VHF Band (30.00-300.0 MHz)  ................................. 39
UHF Band (300.00 MHz-3.0 GHz) ...........................  40
Primary Usage ................................................................  41
VHF Band  ................................................................ 41
UHF Band ................................................................  41
Specified Intervals ...........................................................  42
Band Allocation  ............................................................... 42
Ham Radio Frequencies .................................................. 47
National Weather Frequencies........................................  47
Birdie Frequencies  .......................................................... 48
Frequency Conversion  .................................................... 49
TROUBLESHOOTING ...........................................................  50
CARE AND MAINTENANCE  ................................................. 52
SPECIFICATIONS ................................................................. 53
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PREPARATION 
CONNECTING THE FLEXIBLE ANTENNA
1. Hold the antenna so it stands straight up.
2. Slip the slots in the antenna’s connector over the tabs on the
ANT jack on top of the scanner.
3. Press down and turn the antenna’s base clockwise until it
locks into place.
Note: 
Instead of the supplied flexible antenna, you can connect a
mobile or base-station antenna (not supplied) to your scanner. For
more information, see “Connecting a Mobile or Base-Station An-
tenna” on Page 35.
INSTALLING BATTERIES
You can power your scanner with six AA batteries. For the longest
operation and best performance, we recommend alkaline batter-
ies, such as Cat. No. 23-552. Or, you can use rechargeable nick-
el-cadmium batteries (Cat. No. 23-125).
Note: 
You can also power your scanner from either standard AC
power (using an optional AC adapter) or vehicle battery power
(using an optional DC cigarette lighter adapter). See “Connecting
Optional Power Sources” on Page 33 for more information.
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Follow these steps to install or replace batteries.
1. If the scanner is on, turn 
VOLUME OFF/MAX fully counter-
clockwise until it clicks to turn it off.
2. While pressing and holding down the battery compartment
cover on the bottom of the scanner, slide the cover in the
direction of the arrow to remove it.
3. Remove the battery holder from the battery compartment.
4. Remove any old batteries from the battery holder.
Cautions:
• Always dispose of old non-rechargeable batteries
promptly and properly. Do not bury or burn them.
• Never leave dead or weak batteries in the battery holder.
OFFMAXMIN MAX VOLUME
SQUELCH
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