IC-R15 Loading Frequencies From Squawker PC & Squawker Online

Summary: How to load frequencies into an IC-R15 with Squawker PC’s Scanner Programmer or Squawker Online’s IC-R15 export, and how to connect the receiver to Squawker Connect.

Three Ways to Use Squawker With an IC-R15

• Squawker PC Scanner Programmer – reads and writes the receiver’s memory as a CSV file on its microSD card. There’s no cable programming session: no COM port and no “send to scanner” button.
• Squawker Online export – download an IC-R15 CSV from the website and load it onto the card.
• Squawker Connect – follows the frequency the IC-R15 is on for live logging, using CI-V over USB.

Squawker PC: The IC-R15 Programmer

Squawker PC is UKAFG’s Windows app. The IC-R15 Programmer works on the receiver’s CSV files, and mirrors the receiver’s category, group and channel structure (groups of up to 100 channels, names of up to 16 characters). Steps:

1. In Connect Settings create a profile with Scanner System Icom, Scanner Type IC-R15, and tick Enable Programming.
2. Put the receiver in SD Card Mode so the PC can read the card: MENU, SET, Function, USB Connect, SD Card Mode, YES (with a card inserted and a data-capable USB cable connected). Alternatively, take the card out and use a card reader. (See IC-R15 microSD Card: Backup, CSV Import/Export & SD Card Mode.)
3. In the Programmer, choose the profile, Open Editor and Detect SD Card. Squawker PC looks for an IC-R15 folder on your drives.
4. Import the receiver’s current CSV (export it first from the receiver: SET, SD Card, Import/Export, Export, Memory CH), then edit, or use Quick Fill or Program Group with Data to build channels from UKAFG’s data.
5. Save as a new file or replace one. File names must be 20 characters or fewer (the receiver can’t display longer names). The Scanner CSV Format in Squawker PC must match the receiver’s CSV Format setting.
6. Safely eject in Windows (and leave SD Card Mode), put the card back if you removed it, then import the file on the receiver (SET, SD Card, Import/Export, Import, Memory CH, choose the file, YES) and restart the receiver.

Squawker PC saves an automatic backup before replacing a file. The full walk-through is in these guides: IC-R15 Programmer – Overview & Getting Connected, IC-R15 Programmer Screen at a Glance, Filling Channels: Quick Fill & Program Group with Data, Editing, Sorting & Deleting Channels, Saving to Your SD Card & Loading It Onto Your Scanner and Backing Up & Restoring.

The CSV Format Setting

The receiver’s SET, SD Card, Import/Export, CSV Format, Separator/Decimal offers Sep [,] Dec [.], Sep [;] Dec [.] and Sep [;] Dec [,], and Squawker PC’s dropdown offers the same three (default Sep [,] Dec [.]). They must match. Set the receiver once and it remembers it. Because the choice changes what a number like 118.100 means, a mismatch can misread frequencies.

Squawker Online: The IC-R15 Export

Squawker Online (search at ukafg.co.uk/squawker-online-search) has an Icom IC-R15 button. It writes a semicolon-separated CSV with comma decimal marks and category, group and channel columns (Category No, Name and Icon, Group No and Name, CH No, Name, Frequency, Dup, Offset, TS, Mode, AF Filter, Favorite, SKIP, TONE and TSQL Frequency and so on). Names are cut to 16 characters, and it doesn’t add a UTF-8 byte-order mark, which Icom’s software rejects.

• Set the receiver’s CSV Format to Sep [;] Dec [,] before importing this file.
• The export puts everything in one category and group by default (Air / Aircraft, group 00). A group holds up to 100 channels, so for large lists use Squawker PC’s Programmer, which splits data into categories and groups for you.
• Copy the file onto the card (in SD Card Mode or a card reader) into the receiver’s IC-R15 > Csv > MemoryCh folder, where the receiver keeps its own CSV files, and import it as above. Keep the file name to 20 characters or fewer.

More about the Icom exports: Exporting to Icom Radios and Exporting to Scanner Software.

Squawker Connect (Live Logging)

To use Squawker Connect with the IC-R15 create a profile with Scanner System Icom, Scanner Type IC-R15, the COM port and CI-V address B0 (the default), then use Test Connection. On the radio set (MENU, SET, Function): USB Connect = Serialport, CI-V Transceive = OFF and CI-V Echo Back (USB Jack) = OFF. Note that this is a different USB Connect setting from the Programmer’s: use Serialport for Connect and SD Card Mode when reading or writing the card. See Connecting Your Radio: Drivers, Ports & Menu Settings and Supported Radios & Scanner Systems.

Tips for a Good Result

• Save your settings first (SET, SD Card, Save Setting) and keep a backup of the card’s IC-R15 folder.
• Check coverage: the receiver covers 108-500 MHz. Frequencies outside it (for example UK 70 MHz or FM broadcast used as a channel) can’t be received on the A and B bands.
• Set the mode and step: airband should be AM, using the 8.33 kHz step; other voice channels are FM or FM-N.
• Other UKAFG tools: Common Scanner Frequencies, WTR Business search and Amateur Repeater search.