TRX-1 Overview, Features & Package Contents

Summary: A tour of the Whistler TRX-1 EZ Scan digital handheld scanner: what it can receive, what’s in the box and its main features.

What the TRX-1 Is

The Whistler TRX-1 is a handheld digital scanner with a backlit LCD, a keypad and a Micro SD card. Whistler calls its style of programming Object Oriented Scanning: everything you can scan or monitor (a conventional frequency, a trunked talkgroup, a radio service, a defined search) is a scannable object programmed and managed in the same way. See TRX-1 Objects, Scanlists & the Library.

It carries the RadioReference database for the USA and Canada on its SD card, together with the EZ Scan PC software. The library, Set Location (City, County, ZIP), the USA/Canada bandplan and the weather/SAME/SKYWARN features are North American. Elsewhere you’ll normally enter your own conventional frequencies (see TRX-1 Loading Frequencies From Squawker PC & Squawker Online).

What It Receives

• Conventional: AM, FM and narrow FM, with CTCSS, DCS and P25 NAC squelch codes.
• Trunked: Motorola, EDACS (wide and narrow), LTR, APCO P25 Phase I, P25 Phase II and X2-TDMA.
• Digital voice: DMR (MotoTRBO Tier II) and NXDN.
• Encryption: the scanner detects and masks encrypted voice audio.

What’s in the Box

• Handheld scanner
• Antenna
• USB cable
• Micro SD card (installed in the scanner), with the PC software included on it
• Swivel belt clip
• Protective TPU case with two inserts
• User guide and quick start guide

Main Features

• Functional keypad and backlit LCD display
• USA/Canada RadioReference database on the SD card
• Quick location-based programming by City, ZIP code or County
• Decodes Radio ID and Talkgroup ID data
• Upgradeable CPU firmware, DSP firmware and database library
• USB 2.0 (or earlier) interface and EZ Scan PC software to customise settings
• 200 scanlists (plus 20 scan sets), multi-system trunking
• Spectrum Sweeper, service searches and limit searches
• Signal strength meter
• Weather radio functions (NOAA channels, SAME alerts, SKYWARN)
• Programmable Alert LED and programmable audio alarms
• V-Scanner II storage system for multiple configurations
• Audio recording to the SD card, with playback
• Built-in clock/calendar
• Discriminator (IF) output to the headphone jack
• Headphone jack

Powering It

The TRX-1 runs from four AA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable Ni-MH) or from a USB power source. See TRX-1 Setup: Antenna, Batteries, Headphones & Power.