Radio Shack 20-163 User manual

Thank you for purchasing your Triple Trunking Mobile / Base Radio Scanner
from RadioShack. Your scanner scans conventional frequencies and
trunked systems. Please read this user’s guide before installing, setting up
and using your new scanner.
20-163
Triple Trunking
Mobile / Base Radio Scanner
www.radioshack.com
What’s Included
Scanner Antenna Screw (2)
Mounting bracket DIN sleeve and keys (2) Rubber washer (2)
Lock washer (2) Rubber feet (3) Knob (2)
AC adapter DC cable with fuse User’s Guide
Preprogrammed Frequency Addendum

2
Contents
Your Scanner.......................................................................4
Installing Your Scanner ........................................................7
Setting Up a Mobile Base ............................................................7
Bracket Mounting .........................................................................7
Dashboard Installation .................................................................8
Connecting the Antenna..............................................................9
Powering Your Scanner ..............................................................10
Headphones and Speakers........................................................12
Keytones and Brightness............................................................12
Delay ............................................................................................13
Squelch and Attenuator .............................................................13
Scanner Setup ..................................................................14
Dening a Channel .....................................................................15
Copying a Frequency .................................................................16
Deleting Saved Frequencies......................................................17
CTCSS AND DCS........................................................................17
Scanner Cloning..........................................................................18
Searching .........................................................................19
Seek Search .................................................................................19
Search Banks ...............................................................................19
Zeromatic.....................................................................................21
Programming a Search Range ...................................................21
Signal Stalker II............................................................................22
Locking Out Frequencies...........................................................23
Saving Found Frequencies.........................................................24
Scanning...........................................................................25
Locking Out Channels................................................................25
Priority Scanning .........................................................................26
Weather Alerts ............................................................................27
SAME Standby Mode .................................................................28
Skywarn........................................................................................30

3
Contents
Monitoring ........................................................................30
Trunking Setup ..................................................................31
Dening a Trunking Bank ...........................................................31
Trunking Modes ..........................................................................32
Motorola Trunking Setup ...........................................................32
Base and Offset Frequencies.....................................................34
EDACS Trunking Setup ..............................................................35
LTR Trunking Setup.....................................................................36
Searching for Talk Group IDs .....................................................36
Saving a Talk Group ID ...............................................................37
Deleting Talk Group IDs.............................................................38
Saving Trunking Channels..........................................................39
Trunk Scanning .................................................................39
Trunking Delay ............................................................................40
Locking Out Talk Group IDs.......................................................41
Turning Off Sub-Banks................................................................41
Talk Group ID Hold .....................................................................42
Scanner Maintenance .......................................................42
Text Tags......................................................................................43
Troubleshooting..........................................................................45
Birdie Frequencies......................................................................46
Initializing the Scanner ...............................................................47
Service and Repair ......................................................................47
Scanning Legally .........................................................................48
FCC Notice..................................................................................49
References........................................................................49
Appendix A: Glossary.................................................................49
Appendix B: Search Banks .........................................................50
Appendix C: CTCSS / DCS Codes ............................................54
Appendix D: Signal Stalker ........................................................55
Appendix E: Talk Group Format................................................57
Appendix F: Specications ........................................................58

4
Your Scanner
AC adapter
DC cable w/fuse
DIN sleeve
and keys (2)
Antenna
Mounting
bracket
Knob (2)
Rubber washer (2)
Lock washer (2)
Screw (2)
Rubber foot (3)

5
AC adapter
Squelch
VOLUME
/ OFF
TRUNK — Accesses
trunking functions.
L/OUT – Locks out
channels, frequencies,
or Talk Group IDs.
CLEAR
PROG – Program.
1-9 / A-Z– Numbers
and letters. Zero enters
special characters.
./DELAY – Decimal
point, space, delay
functions.
ENT – Enter.
FUNC — Function.
TUNE – Enters Tune mode.
ATT – Attenuator.
PAUSE
DIM – Dimmer.
WX/ — Weather search and Skywarn.
PRI – Priority.
TEXT – Activates text buttons.
MODE – Changes receive mode.
— Signal Stalker.
SCAN — Starts a scan.
MAN — Manually select a channel or enter a channel number.
SRCH – Search.
 – Navigates functions.

6
EXT SP
Connect an external
speaker.
ANT
Connect the supplied antenna or an external
antenna.
DC 13.8V
Connect power
source.
SCREW HOLE
Use to mount the
scanner in a car.
Seek Search
Activate

7
Installing Your Scanner
You can mount your triple trunking scanner in your vehicle or use it as
a base station.
Setting Up a Mobile Base
You can place your scanner on a desk, shelf, or table to use it as a
base station. Because the speaker is on the bottom of the scanner,
you can use the mounting bracket to elevate your scanner off the
surface for better sound.
To you use the scanner on a at surface:
1. Attach the three protective rubber feet to the mounting bracket.
Do not use them if you are mounting the bracket with
screws.
2. Slide the scanner into the bracket,
aligning the scanner’s side holes
with the holes in the bracket,
and then screw the mounting
knobs into the scanner.
Bracket Mounting
You can mount your scanner under or on top of the dashboard a
desk, shelf, table or other at surface, using the mounting bracket.
1. Use the supplied mounting bracket as a template to mark
positions for the two mounting screws.
2. At the marked positions, drill holes slightly smaller than the
screws.
When drilling holes, avoid obstructions behind the mounting
surface.

8
3. Remove the paper backing from each
washer and stick one inside of each
bracket’s ear, aligning the washer’s hole
with the bracket’s hole.
4. Attach the mounting bracket to your
vehicle’s surface using the supplied
screws and lockwashers.
Dashboard Installation
If you are unsure how to install your scanner in your vehicle, consult
your automobile manufacturer, dealer, or a qualied installer.
To mount in your dashboard, you must connect an external
antenna and speaker.
1. Before installing, conrm your
scanner ts in the desired
mounting area and you have all
the necessary materials. Your
scanner requires a 2 x 71/8x 5 5/16
inch (50 x 180 x 135 mm) space.
2. Remove the four rear screws and
pull off the black case before
installing your scanner.
3. Install the DIN sleeve into the
opening in your dashboard, lip
facing out.
4. Push out the top and bottom tabs to hold the sleeve rmly in
place.
5. Slide the scanner into the sleeve until it locks in place.
x

9
To remove your scanner from the
DIN sleeve, insert the two keys
straight into the scanner’s front
panel and pull the scanner out.
Connecting the Antenna
To connect an external antenna, always follow the installation
instructions supplied with the antenna. Use 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 necessary, RadioShack carries a
variety of adapters.
To attach the supplied antenna:
1. Align the antenna slots with the
tabs on the scanner, and slide
the antenna into place.
2. Turn and push down until the
antenna locks into place.
Warning: Use extreme caution when
installing or removing an outdoor antenna. If the antenna starts to
fall, let it go! It could contact overhead power lines. If the antenna
touches a power line, touching the antenna, mast, cable, or guy
wires can cause electrocution and death. Call the power company to
remove the antenna. DO NOT attempt to do so yourself.

10
Powering Your Scanner
You can power your scanner from a wall outlet, or from your vehicle’s
battery.
You must use a power source that supplies 12V DC and
delivers at least 600 mA. Its center tip must be set to positive
and its plug must t the scanner’s DC 13.8V jack. The supplied
AC adapter and DC power cord meet these specications.
Using a power source that does not meet these specications
could damage the scanner or the adapter.
Wall Outlet
1. Connect the tip of the supplied AC adapter to the DC 13.8V jack
at the rear of your scanner.
2. Plug the AC adapter into your wall outlet.
To prevent electric shock, do not use the AC adapter’s
polarized plug with an extension cord, receptacle, or outlet
unless you can fully insert the blades to prevent blade
exposure.
To avoid injury, do not connect the provided power adapter to
a ceiling outlet.

11
Vehicle (Power Socket)
To power your scanner from a 12V power source in your vehicle, such
as a cigarette-lighter socket, you need a 12V, 600 mA DC cigarette-
lighter adapter (not supplied), available at your local RadioShack
store.
1. Insert the adapter’s barrel plug into the scanner’s DC 13.8V jack.
2. Plug the adapter’s other end into your vehicle’s cigarette lighter
or power socket.
When you use a cigarette-lighter adapter, you might hear
electrical noise from your engine while scanning. This is
normal.
Vehicle (Direct)
1. Disconnect the cable from your vehicle battery’s
negative (-) terminal.
2. Ground the black wire of the supplied DC power cord
to your vehicle’s chassis. The grounding screw must
make complete contact with your vehicle’s metal
frame.
3. Connect the red wire of the supplied DC power cord
to a voltage source that turns on and off with the
ignition switch, such as a spare accessory terminal in
your vehicle’s fuse box.
4. Insert the power cord’s barrel plug into the scanner’s
DC 13.8V jack.
5. Reconnect the cable to your vehicle battery’s negative (-)
terminal.

12
Headphones and Speakers
You can plug headphones or speaker (neither included) into your
scanner.
To use headphones, connect the plug into the headphone jack
on the front panel. Headphones automatically mute the scanner’s
speaker.
To use external speaker, connect the plug into the EXT SP jack on the
rear panel.
Even though some earphones/headphones let you hear some
outside sounds when listening at normal volume levels, they still can
present a trafc hazard.
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.
• Do not wear headphones while driving. This can create a trafc
hazard and is illegal in some areas.
Keytones and Brightness
Your scanner features a backlit keypad and display for easy viewing
and sounds a tone each time you press a key.

13
To set the keytone:
1. Turn on the scanner. “Multi-system Trunking Scanner” appears.
2. While “Multi-system Trunking Scanner” appears, press 1to turn
on the keytone or 2to turn it off.
To change the backlight mode:
Repeatedly press DIM to adjust display backlight brightness from
Dark, Light off, or Light.
Delay
Sometimes, several seconds can pass between transmissions. To
avoid missing a reply, a delay is automatically set for each channel.
The scanner stops for 2 seconds after a transmission stops before it
resumes scanning or searching.
To turn the delay on / off:
1. Press ./DELAY. DLY appears if the delay is on.
2. To turn on the delay, press ./DELAY again. “dly” appears if the
delay is off.
Squelch and Attenuator
The squelch and attenuator control the scanner sensitivity. If you hear
a hissing sound, the scanner will remain on the current channel.
To set squelch:
1. Turn off the scanner and turn SQUELCH fully counterclockwise.
2. Turn on the scanner. You should hear a hissing sound. If you set
the squelch precisely at the threshold where the hiss stops, the
scanner may pick up unwanted or very weak transmissions. To
prevent this, set the squelch past this threshold.
3. Turn the SQUELCH clockwise to decrease the scanner’s
sensitivity, turn counterclockwise to increase its sensitivity.

14
With the attenuator on, the scanner might not receive weak signals.
You can reduce interference using two attenuator modes:
• Global – (Default) The attenuator setting is applied to all
channels, bands, or groups.
• Normal – Lets you set the attenuator in each channel, band, or
group.
You cannot set the attenuator while scanning.
To set the attenuator mode:
1. To set Global mode, press FUNC and then ATT. On the display
“G” appears.”
2. To set the attenuator for each channel, press FUNC and then
ATT. On the display “G” disappears. For each channel:
• On – Press ATT. “A” appears.
• Off – Press ATT again. “A” disappears.”
Scanner Setup
A frequency, expressed in kHz or MHz, is the tuning location of a
station.
Your scanner saves frequencies to channels and groups the channels
into banks. The scanner’s 10 banks each hold 100 channels (1,000
channels total).
The scanner is preset to the most common AM or FM receive modes
for each frequency range. However, some amateur transmissions
may operate in a different mode. If the transmission sounds weak or
distorted, you may have the channel set to the wrong receive mode:
AM – Amplitude Modulation, primarily used for aircraft, military,
some amateur and government transmissions.

15
FM – Frequency Modulation, used for most public safety
transmissions, broadcast, business, and amateur radio
transmissions.
CT – FM transmissions with Continuous Tone Coded Squelch
System (CTCSS)
DC – FM transmissions with Digital Coded Squelch (DCS)
MO – Motorola Trunking System
ED – EDACS Trunking System
LT – LTR Trunking System
If you change the receive mode using MODE key, the scanner
shows the receive mode for small caps (ex. fm, am, ct, or dc). If
you want to change the default setting, press FUNC then press
MODE.
Defining a Channel
Go to www.radioreference.com for the latest frequency references.
To dene a channel:
1. Press MAN.
2. Enter the bank (0-9) and channel number (00-99) where you want
to store the frequency (Example: 101 for Bank 1, Channel 1).
3. Press MAN again. M and the bank and channel number appear.
4. Press PROG. M changes to P.
5. Use the number keys to enter the frequency (including the
decimal point). If you make a mistake, press CL to delete a single
digit or hold CL about 2 seconds to start over.
Your scanner automatically rounds to the nearest valid
frequency. For example, if you enter 151.553, your scanner
rounds to 151.550.

16
6. If necessary, press MODE to change the receiving mode.
7. Press ENT.
If the frequency is already stored in the bank, “Dupl.Freq.
ChXXX” appears. To copy the duplicate frequency anyway, press
ENT or press CL to cancel.
If you made a mistake in Step 5, “Invalid Freq.” briey appears
and the scanner beeps when you press ENT. Go back to step 5
again.
8. Press MAN again. M and the bank and channel number appear.
For information about adding text tags to a channel or bank,
see “Text Tags” on Page 43.
Copying a Frequency
When you copy a frequency, all the channel conditions, including
mode, are also copied.
To copy a frequency:
1. Press TUNE.
2. Tune the frequency you want to copy.
3. If necessary, press MODE to change the receiving mode.
4. Press FUNC then ENT. “Bank 9 Store?” appears.
5. To select a new bank, press the bank number.
6. Press ENT. “Channel Stored!” appears briey.
If the frequency is already stored in the bank, “Dupl.Freq.
ChXXX” appears. To copy the duplicate frequency anyway, press
ENT or press CL to cancel.
7. Press MAN.

17
Deleting Saved Frequencies
To delete a saved frequency:
1. Press MAN.
2. Use the number keys to enter the frequency’s channel number.
3. Press MAN.
4. Press PROG. M changes to P.
5. Press FUNC.
6. Press CL. “0.0000” appears.
To delete all saved frequencies in a bank:
1. Press PROG. M changes to P.
2. Press FUNC.
3. Use the number keys to enter the bank number.
4. Press FUNC then CL. “Clear entire bank?” appears.
5. Press 1to clear all. Any other key aborts.
CTCSS AND DCS
CTCSS and DCS allow multiple users to share a single radio
frequency without hearing each other’s transmissions. Your scanner
features an advanced, CTCSS and DCS decoder that displays CTCSS
or DCS codes when available.
To dene a channel’s CTCSS or DCS code:
1. Press PROG. M changes to P.
2. Navigate to the channel.
3. Enter a conventional frequency.
4. Press MODE until the desired mode (CT or DC) appears with the
default search code value.

18
5. Press FUNC, then MODE.
6. Use the or to select the desired CTCSS or DCS code.
You can enter the code manually. The scanner automatically
lls in the code. See Appendix B for a list of codes.
7. Press ENT.
To save a CTCSS or DCS code:
Press ENT while the code appears.
Scanner Cloning
You can transfer the programmed data to and from another PRO-163
(or PRO-164) scanner using a connecting cable which has 1/8-inch
stereo (TRS) phone plugs on both ends (not supplied).
You can also upload or download the programmed data to or from
a PC using an optional USB cable and application software available
through your local RadioShack store. The application software is also
available online at www.starrsoft.com and www.scancat.com.
To clone the scanner data:
1. Turn on both scanners.
2. Connect the connecting cable to each scanner’s PC/IF jack. **
CLONE MODE ** appears.
3. Press . “Conrm to send data?” appears.
4. Press 1to send the data to the other unit or press any other key
to cancel.
5. To exit the clone mode, remove the cable.
“CLONE MODE Incorrect Model” appears if you connect a
scanner other than a PRO-163 (or PRO-164).

19
Searching
You can search for transmissions using the preprogrammed search
bank, which is divided into eight search bands.
Seek Search
When Seek Search is active, the scanner stops on active frequencies
for ve seconds and then resumes searching automatically.
To activate Seek Search:
1. Press FUNC then 7. “Seek Search ON” appears briey and “S”
appears on the display.
2. To turn off Seek Search, press FUNC then 7again. “Seek Search
OFF” appears briey.
Search Banks
To search preprogrammed search banks:
1. Press SRCH repeatedly to select a bank.
Bank Band
SR0 Marine
SR1 CB
SR2 FRS/GMRS/MURS
SR3 Public Safety
SR4 Aircraft
SR5 Amateur Bands
SR6 Railroad
SR7 Limit search (User changeable)

20
SR3 to SR5 banks contain several groups. To turn off a group,
press the group number; the group number disappears. To turn
the group back on, press the group number again.
2. Adjust the Squelch. After the set delay, the scanner starts
searching. When the scanner nds an active frequency, it stops
searching.
3. To pause while searching, press PSE. The scanner stops
searching and *** PAUSED *** appears. To resume, press PSE
again.
4. If the scanner stops on an unwanted frequency, you can press
L/OUT to lock out the frequency.
In the SR6 Railraod and SR7 Limit search bands, press FUNC then
or to start searching up from the lowest or down from the
highest frequency.
To search banks SR0-SR2:
1. Press SRCH repeatedly to select SR0, SR1, or SR2.
2. To search the entire band, press FUNC then SRCH. “MAN”
(Manual select) or “SRCH” (searches through the band) appears.
The scanner starts searching and “SRCH” appears on the display.
When the scanner nds an active frequency, it stops searching.
Press FUNC then SRCH again to return to the previous mode.
3. To select a channel while “MAN” appears on the display, press a
channel number or use or .
4. Adjust the Squelch.
5. If the scanner stops on an unwanted frequency, you can press
L/OUT to lock out the frequency. For more information, see
Locking Out Frequencies....
6. To pause while searching, press PSE. The scanner stops
searching and *** PAUSED *** appears. To resume, press PSE
again.