Radio Shack 20-135 User manual

Handheld Radio Scanner
Thank you for purchasing your
200–channel Handheld Radio
Scanner from RadioShack.
20-135
PRO-135
Please read this user’s guide before installing, setting
up, and using your new scanner
www.radioshack.com
What’s Included
Scanner
Antenna
Belt Clip (2) Screws
Preprogrammed
Frequency List
User’s Guide
Quick Start Guide

2
C ontents
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.......................9
Using External Power..........................................9
Connecting Headphones.....................................10
Listening Safely................................................10
Understanding Your Scanner..............................10
Birdie Frequencies ..........................................11
Turning on the Scanner........................................12
Programming Frequencies into Channels........12
Searching .................................................. 14
Limit Search..........................................................14
Starting Limit Search......................................14
Programming Search Ranges........................14
Fine Tune................................................................15
Service Bank Search............................................ 16
Storing Frequencies Found During a Search.... 16
Search Skip Memory.............................................17
Search Speeds......................................................18
Signal Stalker I......................................................18
Using Signal Stalker I......................................18
Setting the Signal Stalker I Options..............19
Signal Stalker I Options...................................19
Scanning.................................................... 21
Scanning Stored Channels.................................. 21

3
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.........................................................25
Turning Channel-Storage Banks On or Off........25
Locking Out Channels..........................................26
Setting Priority......................................................26
Using Keylock.........................................................27
Using the Display Backlight.................................27
Setting the Auto Backlight Display.................27
Setting the Power On Backlight.....................28
Setting the Keytone .............................................28
Setting the Battery Save Function..................... 28
Advanced Programming .............................. 30
Transferring Data To or From another Scanner30
Cloning Your Scanner......................................30
Transferring Data From a PC...............................31
Wired Programming.........................................31
Additional Information................................ 32
FCC Notice.............................................................32
Scanning Legally...................................................32
Care........................................................................33
Service and Repair...........................................33
6SHFLÀFDWLRQV.......................................................34
Troubleshooting....................................................36
Resetting your Scanner....................................37

4
Scanner Setup
SCAN MAN SRCH TUNE
MENU
3
2
1
SVC MAR POL AIR
HAM
WX
PSE PRI 4
ALERT 56
L/O 789
CL 0•ENT
PGM
DELAY
KEYLOCK
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.
SVC
Press to put the scanner in service mode.
1/MAR (Marine)
Press after SVC to select the marine band.
2/POL (Police)
Press after SVC to select the police and fire band.
3/AIR
Press after SVC to select the air band.
4/HAM
Select the ham band in service mode.
0-9
Input a number.

5
Scanner Setup
SCAN MAN SRCH TUNE
MENU
3
2
1
SVC MAR POL AIR
HAM
WX
PSE PRI 4
ALERT 56
L/O 789
CL 0•ENT
PGM
DELAY
KEYLOCK
•
/
DELAY
Enter a decimal point. Turn delay on or off.
ENT (Enter)
/
PGM (Program)
Complete the entry of frequencies. Put the scanner in
programming mode.
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.

6
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. If your
antenna’s cable does not have
a BNC connector, your local
RadioShack store carries a
variety of BNC adapters.
Attaching the Belt Clip
Use a Phillips-head screwdriver
and the supplied screws to
attach the clip to the scanner.
Powering Your Scanner
You can power your scanner with batteries or an
AC adapter.

7
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.
Battery Switch
Warning: Only set the Battery Switch to Ni-
MH for use with nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH)
rechargeable batteries.
Never use non-rechargeable batteries when the
switch is set to Ni-MH.

8
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. Non-
rechargeable batteries will get hot and can explode
if you try to recharge them. The scanner displays
Er CHArg if the wrong batteries are detected.
Battery Notes
• When battery power is low, flashes and
the scanner beeps every 15 seconds. When
battery power is depleted, the scanner turns
itself off.
• Rechargeable batteries last longer and
deliver more power if you let them fully
discharge once a month. To do this, use the
scanner until flashes.
• Use only fresh batteries of the required size
and recommended type. Do not mix old
and new batteries, different types (alkaline
or rechargeable), or rechargeable batteries
of different capacities.
• Remove old or weak batteries. If you will not
use the scanner with batteries for a month,
remove the batteries. Batteries can leak
chemicals that destroy electronic circuits.
• Always dispose of old batteries promptly
and properly. Do not bury or burn them.

9
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 (1-800-843-
7422) for information on recycling rechargeable
batteries in your area. RadioShack’s involvement
in this program is part of the company’s
commitment to preserving our environment and
conserving our natural resources.
Using External Power
You can power your scanner using a power source
that supplies 9V DC and delivers at least 300mA.
Its center tip must be set to positive and its plug
must fit the scanner’s DC 9V 300mA jack. You
can use an “Adaptaplug C”
for AC adapters. Using an
adapter that does not meet
these specifications could
damage the scanner or the
adapter.
To use an external power
source:
1. Connect the adapter (not
supplied) to the scanner’s
DC 9V jack.
2. Plug the adapter into the
power source.
3. To disconnect, unplug
the adapter from the
power source first.

10
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.
Listening Safely
To protect your hearing, follow these earphone or
headphones guidelines:
• Do not listen at extremely high volume
levels. Extended high-volume listening can
lead to permanent hearing loss.
• Set the volume to the lowest setting before
listening. Turn on the scanner, and adjust
the volume to a comfortable level.
• After you set the volume, do not increase
it. Over time, your ears adapt to the volume
level, so a volume level that does not cause
discomfort might still damage your hearing.
• Even though some earphones/headphones
let you hear some outside sounds when
listening at normal volume levels, they still
can present a traffic hazard.
Understanding Your Scanner
We use a few simple terms in this manual to
explain the features of the scanner. Familiarize
yourself with these terms and the scanner’s
features, and you can put the scanner to work for
you right away.

11
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. The scanner is
preprogrammed with all the frequencies allocated
to the Ham, Marine, Aircraft, and Police (Fire/
Emergency) services.
When you search and find a desired frequency,
you can store it into a programmable memory
location called a channel. Channels are grouped
into channel-storage banks. Your scanner has 10
channel-storage banks (numbered 0-9) Each bank
contains 20 channels (numbered 0-19). So the
scanner has 200 channels total. You can scan the
channel storage banks to see if there is activity on
the frequencies stored there.
Note: Search for frequencies to find
your local frequencies, after you have
programmed these frequencies into
channels, you can scan the channels.
Use each channel-storage bank to group
frequencies. For example, the police department
might use four frequencies in your town while the
fire department uses an additional four. You could
program the police frequencies in bank 0, and
program the fire department frequencies in bank 1.
Birdie Frequencies
Every scanner has birdie frequencies. Birdies are
signals created by the scanner’s internal circuits.
These stray frequencies might interfere with
broadcasts on the same or similar frequencies. If

12
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. If you are near a NOAA weather
station, you should hear weather information.
Programming Frequencies into Channels
Before the scanner can begin to scan, you must
program a frequency into at least one channel.
To locate and store specific frequencies into
channels for later use:
1. Press MAN.
2. Press ENT/PGM to put the scanner in
programming mode.
PGM appears.
3. Use the number keys to enter both the
channel storage bank and the channel
number you want to assign to a frequency.
Example shows entering bank 1 channel 00.
4. Press MAN.

13
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 Sor Tand repeat Steps 5 and 6.
Notes:
• If you entered an invalid frequency in Step 5,
E
rror appears and the scanner beeps. Enter
a valid frequency.
• If you entered a frequency in Step 5 that
already exists on another channel, the
scanner beeps and displays that channel.
Press CL to clear the display, or press
ENT/PGM to store the frequency in both
channels.
• The scanner automatically rounds the
entered number to the nearest valid
frequency. For example, if you enter 151.473
(MHz), your scanner accepts it as 151.475.
• After a transmission, the scanner
automatically pauses for 2 seconds on this
channel before proceeding to the next
active transmission. Press •/DELAY to turn
the delay function on or off. The scanner
stores this setting in the channel.
If you do not have a list of frequencies in your
area, use a limit search, fine tune, or service
search to find transmissions. A good online
resource is www.radioreference.com.

14
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 Tto search down or Sto search up.
3. When the scanner stops on a transmission,
quickly press PSE to stop searching and listen
to the transmission.
PAUSE appears. To step
through the frequencies during search pause
mode, press Tor S.
4. To release the hold and continue searching,
press PSE.
Programming Search Ranges
To define the search range during a limit search:
1. Press MAN then press ENT/PGM to put the
scanner in programming mode.
2. Press SRCH to go to programming search
bank mode.

15
Searching
3. Using the number keys, enter the lower limit
frequency, and then press ENT/PGM.
4. Press Tor Sto 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. When the frequency you want to start from
appears, press TUNE.
Or, from search pause mode, enter a
frequency using the number keys, then press
TUNE.
Note: If you enter an invalid frequency,
the scanner beeps and displays
Error.
2. SRCH, PAUSE, and -t- appear.
3. Press Tor Sto move up or down one
frequency step. Or press TUNE to start the
fine tune search.
4. Press Tor Sto change search direction.
5. Press PSE to pause the search.

16
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.
Storing Frequencies Found During a Search
To store frequencies you find in limit search, fine
tune, service bank, or Signal Stalker I searches:
1. Press PSE at the frequency you want to store.
2. Press ENT/PGM to enter programming
mode.
3. The screen flashes, alternating between the
smallest empty channel number,
000.000,
and the frequency you want to store.
Note: If there are no empty channels, the
scanner selects the first channel in the
bank.
4. Enter the bank number where you want to
store the frequency.
5. Press Tor Sto change the channel.
6. Press ENT/PGM to store the frequency or CL
to cancel.

17
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. The
scanner stores the locked-out frequency in
memory and automatically resumes the search.
To clear a single frequency from skip memory:
1. Press PSE to stop the search.
2. Press Tor Sto select the frequency.
L/O
appears.
3. Press L/O.
L/O disappears.
To clear all skipped frequencies at once:
1. While searching, press PSE.
2. Hold down L/O until the scanner beeps twice.
Notes:
• If you selected all frequencies to be skipped
within the search range, the scanner beeps
3 times and does not search.
• If you select more than 50 frequencies
to skip, each new frequency replaces a
frequency previously stored, beginning with
the first stored frequency.
• Press Tor Sto select a skipped frequency
during pause.
L/O appears when you select
a skipped frequency.

18
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.
Signal Stalker I might not correctly display
frequency information for transmitters using a
highly directive antenna (such as an amateur radio
beam antenna), if there are many transmitters
operating at the same time in the same area, or if
the transmitter is a broadcast television station.
Using Signal Stalker I
To turn on Signal Stalker I, turn SQUELCH fully
clockwise, then press and hold SCAN/ .The
icon appears. (In Only mode, the icon flashes.)
Every 2 seconds, the scanner searches for active
frequencies in the range you specify in “Setting the
Signal Stalker I Options.”
When the scanner finds a frequency, it alerts you
according to its settings and
“Found” appears.
Press any key to confirm the displayed frequency.
Press Tor Sto resume scanning.
To turn off Signal Stalker I and turn on normal
scanning, press and hold SCAN/ . The icon
disappears.
Note: Signal Stalker I doesn’t run in
weather search or programming mode.

19
Searching
Setting the Signal Stalker I Options
1. Press and hold TUNE/MENU to open the
menu.
2. Press Tor Sto select a Signal Stalker I menu
option. (The icon appears with Signal
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 Tor Sto select
On or OF. Press ENT/
PGM.
5. Press Tor Sto select another option or
press CL to exit the menu mode.
Signal Stalker I Options
•ALErt: Alert. Set to On if you want to
hear an alert when Signal Stalker I finds a
frequency.
•Light: Backlight. Set to
On if you want the
backlight to flash when Signal Stalker I finds
a frequency.
•PGrSCr: Pager Screen. Set to
On if you want
to screen out common pager frequencies.
•Only: Only Mode. Set to
On to turn off
normal scanning while Signal Stalker I runs.
Set to
Off to continue normal scanning while
Signal Stalker I runs in the background.
•Lo bnd: Low Band. Set to
On to search VHF
Low Band (25-54MHz).
•Airbnd: AIR Band. Set to
On to search AIR
Band (108-137MHz).
•Hi bnd: High Band. Set to
On to search VHF
High Band (137-174MHz).

20
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. The scanner
resumes checking signals when the audio
signal ends.