IC-R15 Programmer – Overview & Getting Connected

Summary: Why the IC-R15 works completely differently to Squawker PC’s other supported scanners, and how to get your SD card detected.

An Important Difference From Every Other Scanner Squawker PC Supports

The IC-R15 has no cable-based programming at all. There’s no COM port, no serial connection, and no “Read from Scanner” or “Send to Scanner” button anywhere in this Programmer. Instead, the IC-R15 writes its channel memory to a CSV file on its SD card, and everything in this guide revolves around that file: reading it into Squawker PC to view and edit, then writing it back out for the scanner to import.

In practice, this means you’ll be moving the SD card (or a card reader) between your scanner and your PC. Squawker PC works with whatever SD card is currently readable by your PC – typically via a card reader, or by leaving the card in a reader connected throughout your editing session. The app itself doesn’t walk you through physically removing or reinserting the card, so here’s the practical version: put the card into your PC (via a card reader, or however your PC reads SD cards), do your editing and saving here, then physically move the card back into the scanner when you’re ready to import.

Getting Your SD Card Detected

1. In Connect Settings, create or select your profile with Scanner System set to Icom and Scanner Type set to IC-R15, and tick Enable Programming.
2. On the scanner itself: press Menu, select Set, then Function, then USB Connect, then SD Card Mode, and press Yes when prompted. This is what makes the card’s contents available to read.
3. With the SD card readable by your PC, open Programmer, select your IC-R15 profile, and click Open Editor.
4. Click Detect SD Card. Squawker PC checks your available drives for an ICR-15, IC-R15 or ICR15 folder containing the scanner’s programming files – as soon as it finds one, the status turns green and shows the path it found.
5. If it can’t find one, the status stays orange and reminds you to check the scanner is actually in SD Card Mode – double-check step 2 above, and make sure the card is actually readable by your PC (Windows shows it as a drive) before trying Detect SD Card again.

Matching CSV Formats

The IC-R15 itself has a CSV Format setting (Menu → Set → SD Card → Import/Export → CSV Format) which must match the Scanner CSV Format dropdown in Squawker PC’s “Save to SD Card” panel – see Saving to Your SD Card & Loading It Onto Your Scanner for exactly why this matters and how to set it correctly.