RadioShack Pro 74 Vhf Uhf Race Scanner Reciever Owners Manual

							21
UNDERSTANDING BANKS
Memory Banks
To make it easier to identify and select the channels you want to listen
to, the PRO-74’s channels are divided into 10 banks of 10 channels
each. Use each memory bank to group frequencies, such as the police
department, fire department, ambulance services, or aircraft (see
“Guide to the Action Bands” on Page 42). For example, the police de-
partment might use four frequencies, one for each side of town. You
could program the police frequencies starting with Channel 1 (the first
channel in bank 1) and program the fire department frequencies start-
ing with Channel 11 (the first channel in bank 2).
Service Banks
You can search for auto racing, marine, VHF, aircraft, military, amateur
radio, government, UHF, TV, and 800 MHz transmissions even if you
do not know the specific frequencies that are used in your area. And,
you can store any of the frequencies you find into channels.
This table shows each service bank’s name, what it is used for, and its
frequencies.
Name Typical Usage Frequency Range
(in MHz)
CArAuto Racing 150.9950–151.9550
152.8700–153.7250
154.4900–154.6250
460.0000–470.0000
MRN CHMarine Listed in “VHF FM 
Marine Frequencies” 
on Page 40.
LOVHF Lo 29.0000–54.0000
AIrAir 108.0000–136.9750
MILMilitary 137.0000–144.0000
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							22Name Typical Usage Frequency Range
(in MHz)
Your scanner also has 7 preprogrammed weather frequencies.
For example, if you wanted to search for transmissions between a driver
and that driver’s pit crew at an auto race, you could search only the ser-
vice bank where you are most likely to hear the transmissions (
CAr).
Notes: 
• The frequencies in the scanner’s service banks are preset. You
cannot change them.
• “Band Allocation” on Page 43 lists frequency ranges and the
broadcasters you are likely to hear on those frequencies.
HAM2-Meter Ham 144.0000–148.0000
HIVHF Hi 148.0000–174.0000
FEdFederal Government 406.0000–420.0000
HAM70-Centimeter Ham 420.0000–450.0000
UHFUHF 450.0000–470.0000
TVTV 470.0000–512.0000
800800 MHz 806.0000–823.9375
851.0000–868.9375
896.1125–956.0000
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							23
OPERATION 
TURNING ON THE SCANNER AND
SETTING SQUELCH
Note:
 Make sure an antenna is connected to the scanner before you
turn it on.
1. Turn 
SQUELCH fully counterclockwise.
2. Turn 
VOLUME clockwise until it clicks and you hear a hissing
sound.
3. Turn 
SQUELCH clockwise, then leave it set to a point just after the
hissing sound stops.
Notes:
• If you have not stored frequencies into any channels, the scanner
does not scan.
• If the scanner picks up unwanted, partial, or very weak transmis-
sions, turn 
SQUELCH clockwise to decrease the scanners sensitiv-
ity to these signals. If you want to listen to a weak or distant
station, turn 
SQUELCH counterclockwise.
•If 
SQUELCH is adjusted so you always hear a hissing sound, the
scanner does not scan properly.
PRO-74
SQUELCH VOLUMEOFF
PRO-74
SQ UEL CH VO L UM EOFF
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							24
STORING KNOWN FREQUENCIES
INTO CHANNELS
Good references for active frequencies are the RadioShack “Beyond
Police Call,” “Aeronautical Frequency Directory,” and “Maritime Fre-
quency Directory.” We update these directories every year, so be sure
to get a current copy.
Follow these steps to store a frequency into a channel.
1. Press 
MAN, enter the channel number where you want to store a
frequency, then press 
PROG. The channel number appears. 
2. Use the number keys and 
CLEAR/• to enter the frequency (includ-
ing the decimal point) you want to store.
3. Press 
E to store the frequency into the channel.
Notes:
• If you entered an inappropriate frequency in Step 2, 
Error
appears and the scanner beeps three times. Simply repeat
Steps 2 and 3. 
RACEMA NPR OG
BAND
SCAN
HOLDDATA12
31-10
11-2021-30
H/S
S/S45631-40
41-50 51-60PRIORITYL-OUT
DEL78
961-70 71-80 81-90
0
E91-100KEYLOCKCLEARWX
RACEMA NPR OG
BAND
SCAN
HOLDDATA12
31-10
11-2021-30
H/S
S/S45631-40
41-50 51-60PRIORITYL-OUT
DEL78
961-70 71-80 81-90
0
E91-100KEYLOCKCLEARWX
20-513.fm  Page 24  Wednesday, August 4, 1999  2:39 PM 
						

							25
• Your scanner automatically rounds the entered frequency to the
nearest valid frequency. For example, if you enter a frequency
of 151.473, your scanner accepts it as 151.475.
• Your scanner automatically delays scanning for 2 seconds after
a transmission ends before it proceeds to the next channel.
4. To program the next channel in sequence, press 
PROG and repeat
Steps 2 and 3. 
Note: 
If you previously stored a car number in a channel (see
“Storing a Car Number and Frequency” on Page 31), the scanner
clears the number when you store a new frequency into a channel.
FINDING AND STORING ACTIVE 
FREQUENCIES
Searching the Service Banks
Your scanner contains groups of preset frequencies called service
banks. Each service bank is associated with a specific activity (see
“Service Banks” on Page 21). You can search for auto racing, marine,
VHF, aircraft, military, amateur radio, government, UHF, TV, and 800
MHz transmissions even if you do not know the specific frequencies
that are used in your area.
1. Press 
BAND. A service bank’s name, SEARCH, and the frequency
search range appear.
Note:
 The frequency search range does not appear if the 
CAR or
MRN CH service bank is selected.
2. To select a different service bank, repeatedly press s or t until the
desired bank name appears.
3. Press 
BAND. The scanner starts searching the frequencies within
that service bank.
Note: 
To change the search direction, press s or t.
4. When the scanner stops on a transmission, quickly press either:
• t or s to continue searching
•
HOLD to stop searching so you can listen to the transmission.
HOLD appears.
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							26
To release hold and continue searching, press HOLD or hold
down t or s for more than 1 second.
Notes:
• To step through the frequencies while 
HOLD is displayed, press
t or s.
• If you tune to a search skip frequency, 
L/O appears (see
“Search Skip Memory” on Page 27).
• To store a frequency into a channel while the frequency is
paused or held, see “Storing Active Frequencies” on Page 27.
Searching from a Selected Frequency
If you do not have a reference to frequencies in your area, you can
search for transmissions starting with a frequency you select. 
1. Press 
MAN.
2. To start the search from a frequency, enter it using the number
keys and 
CLEAR/•. Or, to start the search from a frequency stored
in a channel, enter the channel number, then press 
MAN.
3. Press t to search downward or s to search upward from the
selected frequency. 
-d-, SEARCH, and t or s appear.
4. When the scanner stops on a transmission, quickly press either:
• t or s to continue searching
•
HOLD to stop searching so you can listen to the transmission.
HOLD appears.
To release hold and continue searching, press 
HOLD or hold
down t or s for more than 1 second.
MHzSEARCH
RACEMANPR OG
BAND
SCAN
HOLDDATA12
31- 1011-2021-30
H/SS/S45631-4041- 50 51-60PRIORITYL-OUT
DEL78
961-70 71-80 81-90
0E91-100K EYL OC K C L EA RWX
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							27
Notes:
• To step through the frequencies while 
HOLD is displayed, press
t or s.
• If you tune to a search skip frequency, 
L/O appears (see
“Search Skip Memory” on Page 27).
• To store a frequency into a channel while the frequency is
paused or held, see “Storing Active Frequencies.”
Storing Active Frequencies
To store an active frequency into a channel, press PROG while the fre-
quency is paused or held. The lowest available channel number flash-
es.
• To enter the frequency into that channel, press
 E. 
• To change the channel, enter the desired channel number, then
press 
PROG. 
The frequency currently stored in that channel (if any) appears for
about 2 seconds, then the new frequency appears. Press 
E to store the
new frequency. 
Notes: 
• If you previously stored a car number and frequency in a channel
(see “Storing a Car Number and Frequency” on Page 31), the
scanner clears the number and frequency when you store a new
frequency into that channel.
• If there are no empty channels, the channel number changes to 
1
and FULL appears. To clear FULL from the display, press CLEAR. 
SEARCH SKIP MEMORY
You can skip up to 20 specified frequencies during a service bank, di-
rect, or weather search. This lets you avoid unwanted frequencies or
ones you have already stored in a channel. You can specify all 20 fre-
quencies to be skipped during one type of search (direct search, for ex-
ample), or you can divide the frequencies you skip among two or all
three search types.
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							28
To skip a frequency, pressS/Swhen the
scanner stops on the frequency during a
search. The scanner stores the frequen-
cy in memory and automatically resumes
the search.
To clear a single frequency from search
skip memory so the scanner can stop on
it during a search, follow these steps.
1. Press
HOLDto hold the search.
2. Press
)or(to select the frequency.L/Oappears.
3. Press
S/S.L/Odisappears from the display.
To clear all the search skip frequencies at once, during a search, press
HOLD,thenholddownS/Suntil the scanner beeps twice (about 3 sec-
onds).
Notes:
• If you skip all the frequencies in the weather band, the scanner willnot start searching. In this case, the scanner sounds three beeps.
 If you program more than 20 frequencies to skip, each new fre- quency replaces one you already stored, starting from the first fre-
quency you stored.
 You can manually select a skipped frequency.
L/Oappears on the
display when you select a skipped frequency.
MANUALLY SELECTING A CHANNEL
You can continuously monitor a single channel without scanning. This
is useful if you hear an emergency broadcast on a channel and do not
want to miss any details — even though there might be periods of si-
lence — or if you want to monitor a specific channel.
RACE MA N
PR OG
BAND
SCAN
HOLDDATA12 31-10
11-2021-30
H/S S/S45631-40
41-50 51-60PRIORITYL-OUT
DEL7 8
961-70 71-80 81-90
0E91-100KEYLOCKCLEARWX
20-513aPAGE29.fm Page 1 Monday, May 5, 2003 1:51 PM 
						

							29
Note: You cannot use this procedure to select a car number. See
“Viewing Frequencies Associated with a Car Number” on Page 33 to
select a car number.
To manually select a channel, press 
MAN, enter the channel number,
then press 
MAN again. Or, if your scanner is scanning and stops at the
desired channel, press 
MAN once.
Pressing 
MAN additional times causes your scanner to step through the
channels. To resume scanning, press 
SCAN.
SCANNING CHANNELS
To begin scanning channels, press SCAN. The scanner scans through
all non-locked channels in all banks that are turned on, from the lowest
to the highest channel number. (See “Turning Memory Banks On and
Off” and “Locking Out Channels” on Page 35).
When the scanner finds a transmission, it stops on it. Two seconds af-
ter the transmission ends, the scanner resumes scanning.
Note: If 
SQUELCH is adjusted so you always hear a hissing sound, the
scanner does not scan properly.
DELETING A FREQUENCY FROM A 
CHANNEL
1. Press PROG.
2. Enter the channel number that contains the frequency you want to
delete, then press 
PROG.
3. Press 
DEL. The frequency is deleted.
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							30
LISTENING TO WEATHER BROADCASTS
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has allocated fre-
quencies for use by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion (NOAA). Regulatory agencies in other countries have also
allocated frequencies for use by their weather reporting authorities.
Your local weather reporting authority broadcasts your local forecast
and regional weather information on one or more of these frequencies.
If your scanner is within a weather reporting authority’s broadcast
range, you can scan these frequencies.
Your scanner has 7 weather service frequencies preprogrammed. See
“National Weather Frequencies” on Page 40 for a list of these frequen-
cies.
To hear your local forecast and regional weather information, simply
press 
WX. Your scanner scans through the weather frequencies. Your
scanner should stop within a few seconds on your local weather broad-
cast.
To manually tune to a specific preprogrammed weather frequency,
press 
WX, then HOLD. Repeatedly press s or t to move forward or
backward through the frequencies.
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