Connecting Your Radio – Drivers, Ports & Menu Settings

Squawker PC connects to your radio through a standard Windows COM port — it doesn’t bundle or install any radio-specific drivers itself. If your radio uses a USB cable, Windows needs a working USB-to-serial driver for it to show up as a COM port at all — if it doesn’t appear in the port list when creating a profile, check that your cable/radio’s driver (from its manufacturer) is installed, since this is a Windows-level requirement rather than something Squawker PC manages.

ICOM CI-V Radios

ICOM radios need one extra step on the radio itself before Squawker PC can connect: enable CI-V in your radio’s menu settings. You’ll also need your radio’s CI-V address — common defaults:

• IC-R6: 7E
• IC-R15: B0
• IC-R20: 6C
• IC-R30: 9C
• IC-R8600: 96
• IC-R9500: 72

Enter the matching address in the profile, then use Test Connection to confirm before saving.

Uniden and Whistler Radios

No specific on-radio menu setting is required for these — connect the cable, select the right COM port (or let Refresh Ports/Scan for Whistlers find it), and launch the profile. If a Uniden radio doesn’t connect and seems “stuck,” it may still be in program mode from a previous session; disconnecting/reconnecting the cable or power-cycling the radio usually clears this and for such as the uniden 3600 sds etc press . on the keypad to select Serial Port.

Icom IC-R15 radio menu selection for direct connection

• Find the radios CI-V code Menu-Set-Function- CI-V Address
• CI-V Transceive set to OFF Menu-Set-Function-CI-V Transceive-OFF
• CI-V Echo Back(USB Jack) set to OFF Menu-Set-Function-CI-V echo back(USB jack)-OFF
• USB Connect set to serial port Menu-Set-Function-USB Connect- Serialport