TRX-2E Recording, Playback, IF Output & Clock

Summary: How to record transmissions to the TRX-2E’s SD card, play them back, use the discriminator output and look after the clock.

Recording

The scanner records transmissions on selected objects to the SD card in the industry-standard .AU audio format. The guide’s example: a 4 GB card holding a very large 500 MB scanning configuration still leaves room for over 100 hours of recording.

Ways to use it: record everything on talkgroups or channels of interest, record what’s found during unattended searches (with the frequency), or record all objects to have an instant-replay function.

Audio recording is off by default. To use it:

1. Tick Enable Record in Global Settings.
2. Set the Record flag on each object you want recorded.

While recording, the recording icon flashes. When the card is almost full an F appears and recording is suspended; delete or archive old files.

Playback

1. Main Menu, Playback. It opens at the most recent file.
2. Press Play/Pause/SEL to play it, or the up/down keys to choose another file.
3. While playing, up/down set the volume, left and right skip back and forward five seconds, and SKIP ends playback.
4. Press MENU on a file for options: Main Menu, Back, Play From Here, Delete All, Delete Earlier (files before the selected one) and Delete Later (the selected file and everything after it).

EZ Scan on the PC has advanced playback and file management too.

IF Output

The scanner can send its IF/discriminator signal to the headphone jack. It is unsquelched and unfiltered, intended for third-party signal analysis and decoding software or hardware.

1. MENU, Program Menu, Global Settings.
2. Scroll past the Expert section to IF Out.
3. Choose Off, HP (headphone jack) or HP/SP (headphone jack and speaker).

Clock and Time Display

The real-time clock stamps recorded files, so keep it set (see TRX-2E First Power-Up: Bandplan, Clock & Password).

• Time display: the scanner can show a clock while off (disabled by default). Main Menu, Settings, Clock Display, press SEL to tick it, then MENU and SEL to confirm. If the radio is in a vehicle, disable this: with it on the scanner draws power from the vehicle battery even when turned off.
• Backup battery: if the internal clock battery fully discharges, the date and time must be set again. Recharge it by plugging in the AC adapter and powering the scanner on for several hours, or by connecting the USB jack to a PC with the scanner off (the display shows “Charging Backup Battery”), leaving it several hours, then disconnecting both. The scanner does not run on USB bus power alone.