Radio Shack Pro-2032 User manual

OWNER’S MANUAL
PRO-2032
Desk-Top Programmable Scanner
Cat. No 20-409
Radio /hack

INTRODUCTION
Your new Radio Shack PRO-2032 Desk
Top Programmable Scanner lets you
in on all the action! This scanner
gives you direct access to over
31,000 frequencies in ten exciting ra¬
dio bands, including those used by
the police department, the fire depart¬
ment, ambulance services, aircraft,
amateur radio operators, and trans¬
portation services. You can select up
to 200 channels for your scanner to
scan and you can change your chan¬
nel selections at any time.
The secret to your scanner's ability to
scan so many frequencies is its cus¬
tom-designed microprocessor—a tiny,
built-in computer. Your scanner also
has these special features:
Hyperscan - to search through fre¬
quencies at up to 50 channels per
second or scan stored channels at 25
channels per second.
Liquid Crystal Display - shows the
selected channel, frequency, and
other information.
2-Second Scan Delay - delays the
scanning mode for 2 seconds before
moving to another channel, so you
can hear more replies.
Memory Backup - keeps the chan¬
nel frequencies stored in your scan¬
ner’s memory if a power failure
occurs.
Lock-Out Function - keeps chan¬
nels you select from being scanned.
Ten Channel-Storage Banks - lets
you group frequencies so you can
easily identify calls.
Priority Channel - helps keep you
from missing important calls on a
channel you specify.
Direct Search - scans for new and
unlisted frequencies to find interesting
broadcasts.
Monitor Memories - for temporarily
saving up to ten additional channels
you locate during a frequency search.
Your PRO-2032 scanner covers all of
these bands:
30 - 50 MHz (VHF Lo)
50 - 54 MHz (6-Meter Ham Band)
108 - 136.975 MHz (Aircraft)
137-144 MHz (Government)
144-148 MHz (2-Meter Ham Band)
148- 174 MHz (VHF Hi)
380 - 450 MHz (Ham Radio and Gov¬
ernment)
450 - 470 MHz (UHF Lo)
470-512 MHz (UHF T)
806 - 823.9375 MHz (UHF Hi)
851 - 868.9375 MHz (UHF Hi)
896 - 960 MHz (UHF Hi)
2
© 1993 Tandy Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
Radio Shack is a registered trademark used by Tandy Corporation.

A
CAUTION
A
RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK
DO NOT OPEN
CAUTION;
TO REOUCE THE RISK OF ELECTRIC SMOCK.
00 NOT REMOVE COVER |0R BACK)
NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE
REFER SERVICING TO OUALIFIED SERVICE
PERSONNEL.
This symbol is intended to
alert you to dangerous volt¬
age inside this unit that can
cause shock. Do not open
enclosure.
This symbol is intended to
alert you to important oper¬
ating and maintenance in¬
structions in this owner's
manual.
WARNING: TO PREVENT FIRE OR
SHOCK HAZARD, DO NOT EX¬
POSE THIS RECEIVER TO RAIN
OR MOISTURE.
Use of this unit for reception of ra¬
dio communications not intended
for direct reception by the general
public may be subject to licensing
requirements under the Radio Act
of Canada and its regulations. For
licensing information consult the
Department of Communications.
Warning: In some areas, mobile
use of a scanner is unlawful or re¬
quires a permit. Check the laws in
your area. Radio Shack assumes
no responsibility for the use of this
scanner in such areas.
DOC NOTICE
Your scanner might cause radio or TV
interference, even when it is operat¬
ing properly. To determine whether
your scanner is causing the interfer¬
ence, turn off your scanner. If the in¬
terference goes away, your scanner is
causing the interference. Try to elimi¬
nate the interference by:
• Moving your scanner away from the
receiver.
• Connecting your scanner to an out¬
let that is on a different electrical
circuit from the receiver.
• Contacting your local Radio Shack
store for help.
If you cannot eliminate the interfer¬
ence. the DOC requires that you stop
using your scanner.
For your records, record your scan¬
ner’s serial number in the space pro¬
vided. The serial number is located on
the back of the scanner.
Caution: To prevent electrical
shock, match wide blade of plug to
wide slot, fully insert.
Serial Number
3

CONTENTS
PREPARATION .6
Connecting the Antenna.6
Connecting an Optional Antenna.6
Power Sources .7
Connecting to AC Power.7
Connecting to Vehicle Battery Power .7
Using the Feet .8
Connecting Headphones.8
Listening Safely .8
Traffic Safety.8
Connecting an External Speaker.9
Resetting and Initializing the Scanner.9
UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER. 10
A Look at the Display. 1 0
A Look at the Keyboard . 11
UNDERSTANDING CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS . 12
Channel-Storage Banks .12
Monitor Memories. 1 2
OPERATION . 13
Setting the Volume and Squelch .13
Storing Frequencies .13
Searching for and Temporarily Storing Active Frequencies.14
Limit Search. 14
Direct Search . 1 5
Listening to Monitor Memories . 16
Moving a Frequency From a Monitor Memory to a Channel . 16
Scanning Channels . 16
SPECIAL FEATURES. 17
Delay . 17
Scanning and Search Speeds. 17
Locking Out Channels . 17
Turning Channel-Storage Banks On and Off. 18
Priority . 18
Manually Selecting A Channel.18
4

A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING .19
Birdies . 19
Reception Notes.19
Guide to the Action Bands.19
TROUBLESHOOTING.21
CARE AND MAINTENANCE .22
SPECIFICATIONS .23
5

PREPARATION
CONNECTING THE
ANTENNA
fTi f ■ ■ It)
To attach the supplied telescoping an¬
tenna, simply screw it into the hole on
the top of the scanner.
Antenna length controls the sensitivity
of the scanner. The table below
shows how to adjust the length of the
antenna to specific frequencies.
30- 174 MHz Extend Fully
380-512 MHz
Extend 2 segments
806 - 960 MHz
Collapse Fully (1
segment only)
CONNECTING AN
OPTIONAL ANTENNA
The telescoping antenna is adequate
for strong local signals. For best re¬
sults, attach a multi-band outdoor an¬
tenna (not supplied) to the scanner.
Your local Radio Shack store sells a
complete line of outdoor antennas.
Follow these steps to install an out¬
door antenna.
1. Select a location as high as possi¬
ble.
2. Mount the antenna following the in¬
structions that come with the an¬
tenna and its mounting hardware.
3. Plug the antenna cable into the
scanner’s ANT (antenna) jack on
the rear of the scanner using 50-
ohm coaxial cable (RG-58. RG-8/M
or RG-8 not supplied). For lengths
over 50 feet, use RG-8/M or RG-8
low-loss, coaxial cable.
Note: This scanner uses a BNC an¬
tenna connector. You may need an
antenna adapter to use another an¬
tenna.
Warning: When installing or re¬
moving an outdoor antenna, use
extreme caution. If the antenna
starts to fall, let it go! It could
contact overhead power lines. IF
THE ANTENNA TOUCHES THE
POWER LINE, CONTACT WITH
THE ANTENNA, MAST, CABLE,
OR GUY WIRES CAN CAUSE
ELECTROCUTION AND DEATH!
Call the power company to re¬
move the antenna. Do not at¬
tempt to do so yourself.
6

POWER SOURCES
You can power your scanner from
these sources:
« A standard AC outlet
• Your vehicle’s battery (using an op¬
tional DC adapter)
Connecting to AC Power
Connect the scanner's AC power cord
to a standard AC outlet.
Caution: The power cord is equipped
with a polarized AC plug (one blade is
wider than the other). The plug fits
into an outlet in only one way. Do not
attempt to defeat this safety feature.
The memory backup circuit begins to
function a few minutes after you plug
in the scanner. If a power failure oc¬
curs or if the power cord is discon¬
nected, this circuit holds information
in the scanner's memory for about 3
months.
Connecting to Vehicle
Battery Power
You can power your scanner from
your vehicle's cigarette lighter socket
by using a DC Adapter (not supplied).
The vehicle must have a 12-volt,
negative ground electrical system.
Connect the DC power cable's small
barrel plug into the DC 13.8V jack on
the scanner’s back panel. Then plug
the other end of the DC power cable
into your vehicle's cigarette lighter
socket.
Note: Mobile use of scanners might
be unlawful or require a special per¬
mit in certain areas. Check with your
local authorities for current regula¬
tions.
7

USING THE FEET
To more easily view the keyboard and
display, elevate the front of the scan¬
ner by unfolding the front feet.
CONNECTING
HEADPHONES
For private listening or in a noisy envi¬
ronment, plug headphones with a 1/8-
inch 3.5 mm plug (not supplied) into
the jack on the front of your scanner.
Note: Plugging in headphones auto¬
matically disconnects the internal
speaker.
Listening Safely
To protect your hearing, follow these
guidelines when you use head¬
phones.
• Do not listen at extremely high vol¬
ume levels. Extended high-volume
listening can lead to permanent
hearing loss.
• Set the volume to its lowest level
before you begin listening. After
you put on the headphones, adjust
the volume to a comfortable listen¬
ing level.
• Do not increase the volume once
you establish a comfortable listen¬
ing level. Over time, your ears
adapt to the volume level, so a vol¬
ume level that does not cause dis¬
comfort might still damage your
hearing.
Traffic Safety
Do not wear earphones while operat¬
ing a motor vehicle or riding a bicycle.
This can cause a traffic hazard and is
illegal in some areas. Even though
some earphones are designed to let
you hear some outside sounds when
you listen at normal volume levels,
they still present a traffic hazard.
8

CONNECTING AN
EXTERNAL SPEAKER
In a noisy area, an extension speaker
positioned in the right place might
provide more comfortable listening.
Plug the speaker cable’s Vfc-inch (3.5
mm) mini plug into the EXT SPKR
jack on the back of the scanner. This
automatically disconnects the internal
speaker.
RESETTING AND
INITIALIZING THE SCANNER
If the scanner’s display locks up or
does not work properly after you con¬
nect the power source, you might
have to reset the scanner's display or
initialize the scanner.
Follow these steps to reset the scan¬
ner.
1. Push VOLUME to turn on the scan¬
ner.
2. Press RESET at the rear of the
scanner using a pointed object,
such as a bail-point pen. If this is
not effective, initialize the scanner
as directed below.
Follow these steps to initialize the
scanner.
Caution: Initialize the scanner only
when you are sure the scanner is not
working properly. This procedure
clears all information in the scanner’s
memory.
1. Push VOLUME to turn on the scan¬
ner.
2. Press and hold CLEAR. Press RE¬
SET at the rear of the scanner us¬
ing a pointed object such as a ball¬
point pen. Release RESET and
then release CLEAR after the dis¬
play reappears.
Note: You must release RESET before
releasing CLEAR in order to clear the
memory.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR SCANNER
A LOOK AT THE DISPLAY
The display has several indicators that show the scanner’s current operating
mode. A quick look at the display will help you understand how to operate your
scanner.
MANUAL
MONITOR 123456789 10
DELAY
SCAN
BANK “ — — —
SEARCH at o O o o n n n n n
PROGRAM
PRIORITY P U U LI ch U U UU U U O MHz LOCK-OUT I
MANUAL - comes on when the scan¬
ner is in the manual channel-selection
mode.
MONITOR - appears when you listen
to a monitor memory.
Numbers 1—10 - represent the ten
memory banks and the ten monitor
memories.
delay - appears when the scanner
is set to a channel programmed with
the delay feature. See “Delay".
BANK - appears with bars to the right
to show which channel-storage banks
are turned on for the scan mode. See
“Understanding Channel-Storage
Banks."
SCAN - appears when you scan
channels.
SEARCH - appears during a limit
search (when -L- also appears) or a
direct frequency search (when —d—
also appears).
PROGRAM - appears while you pro¬
gram frequencies into the scanner's
channels.
PRIORITY - appears when you turn
on the priority channel feature.
P - appears when you listen to the
priority channel.
ch - digits that precede this indicator
show which of the 200 channels the
scanner is tuned to.
MHz - digits that precede this indica¬
tor show which of the 31,000 possible
frequencies the scanner is tuned to.
LOCK-OUT - appears when you
manually select a locked-out channel.
10

A LOOK AT THE KEYBOARD
SCAN
UMTT
SPEED
1-20 21-40
41-60
CD
CD
CD
cm
cm
cm
MANUAL
£
PRIORITY 61-80
81-100 101-120
CD
1 _ 1
CD
cm
cm cm
LOCKOUT V
CLEAR
121-140
141-160
161-100
1 _ 1 1 _ 1
CD cm cm cm
DELAY
I I
MONITOR
1 _ 1
PROGRAM
cm
181-200
cm
cm
ENTER
1_1
Your scanner's keys might seem con¬
fusing at first, but a quick glance at
this page should help you understand
each key's function.
SCAN - scans through the pro¬
grammed channels.
MANUAL - stops scanning and lets
you directly enter a channel number.
LOCK OUT - lets you lock out a se¬
lected channel.
DELAY - programs a two second de¬
lay for the selected channel.
LIMIT - used during frequency
searches. See “Searching For and
Temporarily Storing Active Frequen¬
cies.”
▲ - searches up from the currently
displayed frequency.
▼ - searches down from the currently
displayed frequency.
MONITOR - accesses the 10 monitor
memories. See “Moving a Frequency
from a Monitor Memory to a Chan¬
nel."
SPEED - changes the scanning or
search speed from low to high or high
to low.
PRIORITY - sets and turns on and off
priority for a particular channel.
CLEAR - clears an incorrect entry.
PROGRAM - programs frequencies
into channels.
Number Keys - each key has a sin¬
gle-digit label and a range of num¬
bers. The single digit is the number
entered when you enter a channel
number or a frequency. The range of
numbers (21-40, for example) indi¬
cates the channels that make up a
channel storage bank. See “Under¬
standing Channel-Storage Banks."
ENTER - enters program frequencies
into channels.
11

UNDERSTANDING CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS
You can store up to 210 frequencies
into your scanner's memory. You
store each frequency into either a
permanent memory, called a channel,
or a temporary memory, called a
monitor memory. There are 200 chan¬
nel memories and 10 monitor memo¬
ries.
CHANNEL-STORAGE BANKS
To make it easier to identify and se¬
lect the channels you want to listen
to, channels are divided into 10 chan¬
nel-storage banks of 20 channels
each. Use each channel-storage
bank to group frequencies, such as
the fire department, ambulance serv¬
ices, or aircraft (see “A Guide to the
Action Bands").
For example, the fire department
might use four frequencies, one for
each side of town. You could pro¬
gram the fire frequencies starting with
Channel 1 (Bank 1) and program the
ambulance services starting with
Channel 21 (Bank 2). When you
want to listen to only fire calls, you
can turn off the other banks.
MONITOR MEMORIES
The scanner also has 10 monitor
memories. You can use these memo¬
ries to temporarily store frequencies
while you decide whether or not to
save them in channels. This is handy
for quickly storing an active frequency
when you search through an entire
band. You can manually select these
memories, but you cannot scan them.
See “Searching for and Temporarily
Storing Active Frequencies.”
When you are in the monitor mode,
the 10 numbers at the top of the dis¬
play indicate the 10 monitor memo¬
ries. MONITOR appears on the display
when you are using monitor memo¬
ries and the bar indicates the cur¬
rently active monitor memory.
12

OPERATION
SETTING THE VOLUME AND SQUELCH
1. Push VOLUME to turn on the scan¬
ner.
2. Turn VOLUME to about 2 and
SQUELCH to 10.
3. Slowly turn SQUELCH counter¬
clockwise until you hear a hissing
sound.
4. Adjust VOLUME to a comfortable
sound level.
5. Slowly rotate SQUELCH clockwise
until the hissing stops.
Note: If the scanner picks up un¬
wanted, partial, or very weak trans¬
missions, rotate SQUELCH clockwise
to decrease the scanner’s sensitivity
to these signals.
STORING FREQUENCIES
Follow these steps to store frequencies into channels.
1 .
Press MANUAL. Enter the channel
number you want to program.
□ CD CD;CD CD CD;
E22 C?D Q!CD CD ID I
CD CD CD)! CD CD CD I
CD CD CD : CD • CD'CD*
2 .
Press PROGRAM. PROGRAM appears
on the display.
CD O CD CD CD CD
CD CD CD CD CD CD
CD O CD CD CD CD
CD CD Is? CD CD CD
3. Enter a frequency.
CD
CD
CD; CD CD
CD;
CD CD cd;cd
CD
CD 1
CD CD cd:cd CD
cd;
CD CD CD ; CD CD
CD
Press ENTER to store the frequency.
If you made a mistake in Step 3, Er¬
ror appears on the display. Press
CLEAR and repeat Step 3.
O □ CD CD CD CD
CD CD CD CD CD CD
o cb ED CD CD CD
i - * CD < i CD G3
Repeat Steps 1-4 to program more
channels.
If you want to program the next chan¬
nel in sequence, repeat Steps 2-4.
CD CD CD CD CD CD
CD CD CD CD CD CD
i > CD CD CD CD lL)
CD CD C2 CD CD CD
13

SEARCHING FOR AND TEMPORARILY STORING ACTIVE
FREQUENCIES
If you do not have a reference to fre¬
quencies in your area, use these pro¬
cedures to search for a transmission.
See also "Guide to the Action Bands'
in this manual.
Note: Press DELAY to make the scan¬
ner pause 2 seconds after a transmis¬
sion ends before proceeding to the
next frequency.
Limit Search
Limit search lets you search within a range of frequencies you select. -L- ap¬
pears on the display during a limit search.
1.
Press PROGRAM, then LIMIT Lo will
appear on the display.
• « jnnnn.
CO JuUUUu Hti;
2 .
Enter the lower limit of the frequency
range.
r
i _ iuunnn
LO ill UUU MM/
3.
Press ENTER, then LIMIT. Hi will ap¬
pear on the display.
H o c rtnnn n
• JOUUUUuUK:
Enter the upper limit of the frequency
range.
H,
•OC. nnrt
i iqouu m:
5. Press ENTER.
Hi IHSuuuO MM/
14

6. Press ▲ to search up from the lower
limit, or press ▼ to search down from
the upper limit.
When the scanner stops on a trans¬
mission, press MONITOR to store the
frequency in the current monitor mem¬
ory, or press ▼ or A to continue the
search.
Note: As you store frequencies in monitor memories, the bar under the memory
number indicates the current monitor memory.
Direct Search
When you are listening to a channel, you can search up or down from the current
displayed frequency, -d- appears on the display during a direct search.
1.
To select a channel into which you
have programmed a frequency, press
MANUAL and the channel number.
3cn S3 MHt
2. Press MANUAL or PROGRAM to enter
the channel number.
Sutfi wSC.CuCoiffe
3. Press A to search up from the chan-
nel’s frequency or press ▼ to search
down.
«OtfTO>
1—* -6- Iscotesm,
E
When the scanner stops on a trans¬
mission, press MONITOR to store that
frequency into the current monitor
memory.
■ ““ * -O- ~%G8uQam,
15

LISTENING TO MONITOR MEMORIES
To listen to a monitor memory, press MANUAL. MONITOR, and then the number of
the monitor memory you want to listen to.
MOVING A FREQUENCY FROM A MONITOR MEMORY TO A
CHANNEL
1. Press MANUAL. Enter the channel
number you want to store the fre¬
quency in; then press PROGRAM.
2 . Press MONITOR and the number of
the monitor memory that has the fre¬
quency you want to store.
3.
Press ENTER. The scanner stores the
frequency into the channel.
8u<* W5c^65i?5Mte
If you want to return to a limit search after this procedure, press LIMIT and either
▼ or ▲ to continue.
SCANNING CHANNELS
To begin scanning, press SCAN. The scanner scans through all non-locked chan¬
nels in the activated banks. Set SQUELCH so you do not hear the hissing sound
between transmissions.
16

SPECIAL FEATURES
DELAY
Many agencies use a two-way radio
system that might have a pause of
several seconds between a query and
a reply. To program a delay into that
channel to keep from missing a reply,
select the channel and press DELAY
so DELAY appears on the display.
The scanner pauses for two seconds
on a channel programmed with a de¬
lay.
When your scanner pauses at an ac¬
tive channel which has been pro¬
grammed with a delay, it waits for two
seconds after the completion of each
transmission on that channel before it
resumes scanning.
SCANNING AND SEARCH
SPEEDS
Your PRO-2032 has 2 different scan¬
ning speeds:
• 8 channels per second
• 25 channels per second (Hyperscan)
It also has 2 different search speeds:
• 8 steps per second
• 50 steps per second (Hyperscan)
While you are in the scan mode,
press SPEED to select the scanning
speed. While you are in the search
mode, press SPEED to select the
search speed.
Whenever the unit is turned on. the
speed is automatically set to high.
LOCKING OUT CHANNELS
You can increase the effective scan¬
ning speed by locking out specific
channels that you have not yet pro¬
grammed. To do so, manually select
the empty channel and press LOCK
OUT so LOCK-OUT appears on the
display. This is also handy for locking
out channels you have programmed
that have a continuous transmission.
You can still manually select locked-
out channels.
To unlock a channel, manually select
the channel and press LOCK OUT so
LOCK-OUT disappears from the dis¬
play.
Note: There must be at least one ac¬
tive channel in each bank. You cannot
lock out all channels.
17

TURNING
CHANNEL-STORAGE
BANKS ON AND OFF
You can turn each channel-storage
bank on and off. When you turn off a
bank, the scanner does not scan any
of the 20 channels in the bank.
While scanning, press the number
key corresponding to the bank you
want to turn on or off. If the memory
bank indicator is on, the bank is
turned on and the scanner scans all
channels within that bank that are not
locked out. If the indicator is off, the
scanner does not scan any of the
channels within that bank.
You can manually select any channel
in a bank, even if the bank is turned
off. You cannot turn off all banks.
One bank is always active.
PRIORITY
You can scan through the pro¬
grammed channels and still not miss
an important or interesting call on a
specific channel. To program a stored
channel as the priority channel, press
PROGRAM, the desired channel num¬
ber, and then PRIORITY. You can only
select one channel as the priority
channel.
To turn on the priority feature, press
PRIORITY during scanning. PRIOR¬
ITY appears on the display. The
scanner now checks the priority chan¬
nel every two seconds, and stays on
the channel if there is activity. P ap¬
pears to the left of the display when¬
ever the scanner is set to the priority
channel.
To turn off the priority feature, press
PRIORITY until PRIORITY disap¬
pears from the display.
MANUALLY SELECTING A
CHANNEL
You can continuously monitor a spe¬
cific 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 only
a locked-out channel.
To select a channel, just press MAN¬
UAL. Enter the channel number, and
press manual again. Or, if the scan¬
ner is scanning and stops at the de¬
sired channel, just press MANUAL
one time. Pressing MANUAL addi¬
tional times makes the scanner step
through the channels.
18

A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING
BIRDIES
Birdies are frequencies your scanner
uses when it operates. These operat¬
ing frequencies might interfere with
broadcasts on the same frequencies.
If you program one of these frequen¬
cies, the scanner locks up and you
hear only noise on that frequency.
If the interference is not severe, you
might be able to turn SQUELCH clock¬
wise to cut out the interference. The
most common birdies to watch for are
listed below.
Birdies Frequencies:
Low Band
(MHz)
Air Band
(MHz)
High Band
(MHz)
UHF Low.'T
(MHz)
30.735 108.800 138.945 409.800
31.255
112.725 140.800 415.400
32.000 115.200 143.430 419.975
32.265 117.800 143.72S
424.000
33.275 121.600 144.935 430.925
35.290
121.825 14S.19S 436 2125
36.295 128.000 146.195
443.0375
37.305 134.400 147.200 447.0625
38.400 148.960
452.350
40.980 150.230 463.425
41.460
152 990 476.5125
44.365
153.255 480 3625
44.800
153.600 492.050
51.200
154.260
155.270
156.280
160 000
161.325
163 920
165 840
166.400
169 095
172.800
512 000
RECEPTION NOTES
Reception on the frequencies covered
on your scanner is mainly line-of-
sight. That means you usually won’t
be able to hear stations that are lo¬
cated beyond the horizon.
During summer months, you might be
able to hear stations in the 30-50
MHz range located several hundreds
or even thousands of miles away.
This is due to summer atmospheric
conditions. This type of reception is
unpredictable, but often very interest¬
ing.
GUIDE TO THE ACTION
BANDS
With a little investigation, you can find
active frequencies in your community
to monitor exciting events. We can
give you some general pointers, and
you can take it from there. Please use
caution and common sense when you
hear an emergency call. Never go to
the scene of an emergency. It could
be very dangerous.
Find out if there is a local club that
monitors your community’s frequen¬
cies. Perhaps a local electronics re¬
pair shop that works on equipment
similar to your scanner can give you
channel frequencies used by local ra¬
dio services.
19

As a general rule on VHF, most activ¬
ity is concentrated between 153.785
and 155.98 MHz and then again from
158.73 to 159.46 MHz. Here you find
local government, police, fire, and
most emergency services. If you are
near a railroad or major railroad
tracks, look around 160.0 to 161.9 for
signals.
One very useful service is the Envi¬
ronment Canada Weather Radio’s
continuous weather broadcasts.
These broadcasts contain weather
forecasts and data for the area
around the station, plus bulletins on
any threatening weather conditions.
These stations use three frequen¬
cies—162.40, 162.475, and 162.55
MHz. In most areas of the country,
you can receive one or more of these
frequencies.
You can hear commercial aircraft
transmissions between 118 and
136.975 MHz. Military aircraft oper¬
ate between 225 and 400 MHz.
In some large cities, the UHF bands
are used for emergency services.
Here, most of the activity is between
453.025 and 453.95 MHz and be¬
tween 456.025 and 467.925 MHz.
In the UHF band, frequencies be¬
tween 456.025 and 459.95 MHz and
between 465.025 and 469.975 MHz
are used for mobile units and control
stations associated with base and re¬
peater units that operate 5 MHz lower
(that is, between 451.025 and 454.95
MHz and between 460.025 and
464.975 MHz). This means if you find
an active frequency inside one of
these spreads, you can look 5 MHz
lower (or higher) to find the base sta¬
tion/repeater for that service.
A newer technology is now available
that uses the 800 MHz band for many
services. Trunked radio, introduced to
business systems in 1975, is now
used by public safety agencies. With
up to twenty channels available, the
transmitter automatically selects an
unused frequency each time it is acti¬
vated- Several agencies can share
such a system without interfering with
each other. This system can provide
secure communications for selected
units, with unselected units unable to
hear the message.
Frequencies in different bands are ac¬
cessible only at specific intervals. In
the VHF-Lo, HAM, Government, and
VHF-Hi bands, frequencies are avail¬
able in 5 kHz steps. In the aircraft
band, frequencies are available in 25
kHz steps. In all other bands, fre¬
quencies are available in 12.5 kHz
steps. Your scanner rounds the en¬
tered frequency down to the nearest
valid frequency. For example, if you
try to enter 151.473, the scanner ac¬
cepts this as 151.470 MHz.
20