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Whistler TRX-1 / TRX-2 · Volume 2

Whistler TRX-1 / TRX-2 — Vol 2: Operations & Programming

The last PSR-800-lineage scanners, with DMR and NXDN, sold new under Goliad Products

2.1 About this volume

This volume covers what is different about operating and programming a TRX-1 or TRX-2:

  • how the scanner follows DMR and NXDN systems, and what that means in the field
  • importing those systems with EZ-Scan
  • the settings the TRX guides document
  • the current EZ-Scan releases and the library service
  • the remote-control protocol
  • international band plans
  • backups

What the TRX shares with the rest of the family. The day-to-day operating model is the PSR-800’s. The TRX uses the same:

  • RadioReference Library on the card
  • location-based and browse-and-import programming
  • objects, scanlists and Scan Sets
  • V-Scanner II configurations (up to 200, created and managed only in EZ-Scan)
  • Spectrum Sweeper, service and limit searches
  • SAME weather
  • recording

Those are explained once in the GRE PSR-800 dive: operation in its Vol 2, and the PC application and card in its Vol 3. The TRX-2’s head, cable and power installation is covered in the WS1095/WS1098 dive.

The TRX-2 quick start guide gives the shortest path to first audio from the keypad:

  1. Set the date and time.
  2. Choose Browse Library, then the country, state or province, and county.
  3. Choose a data type: small towns list police, fire and EMS under “Categories”, larger ones under “Systems”.
  4. Check the wanted services. For a system, check at least one site in range.
  5. Import them into a scanlist and scan.

Location-based ZIP-code programming is the alternative for travel.

2.2 How the TRX follows DMR and NXDN

The single most important operating fact about DMR and NXDN on the TRX is stated in its own user guide:

“The most significant difference between DMR and NXDN systems verses other types of systems is that the scanner does not use the control channel. Instead, your scanner will attempt to scan all sites and all frequencies for each site to determine if there is activity to be monitored.”

P25, Motorola, EDACS and LTR are genuinely trunk-tracked: the scanner decodes the control channel and follows its voice-channel grants.

DMR and NXDN are handled differently. The scanner treats a DMR or NXDN “system” as a list of site frequencies. It sweeps those frequencies quickly, decodes whatever voice traffic it finds, and matches the talkgroup against the programmed talkgroup objects. This covers:

  • conventional DMR
  • Hytera XPT
  • MotoTRBO Capacity Plus, Connect Plus and Linked Capacity Plus
  • NXDN systems

Forum users describe this as talkgroup tracking rather than frequency tracking.

Both descriptions in circulation are true. Whistler’s marketing lists Capacity Plus, Connect Plus, Linked Capacity Plus and XPT as supported, and the scanner does monitor them. The RadioReference wiki says the family “can’t trunk track” DMR, and it does not read those systems’ control or rest channels. No support for Capacity Max (DMR Tier III) is documented.

The practical consequences follow from the sweep:

  • Enable only in-range sites. Every enabled frequency adds time to each sweep, so a system imported with all of its sites is slower and misses more call beginnings. The guide recommends importing or enabling only sites expected to be in range.
  • Multi-site settings do nothing. The guide notes that the Multi-Site Settings options have no effect on DMR systems.
  • Single-site systems work best. Small single-site Capacity Plus systems work well. Some owners report hearing nearly everything a real DMR radio heard. Wide multi-site systems and sites with many frequencies degrade.
  • Keep digital and analog entries separate. Owners report dropouts from the mixed analog/digital “Auto” mode and recommend separate FM and DMR objects for a shared frequency. This is a forum report.

P25 simulcast is a different weakness with the same practical effect in some areas. The receiver is a conventional superheterodyne without the I/Q processing Uniden’s SDS series applies to linear simulcast modulation (LSM). Owners on large P25 simulcast systems report broken audio. The DSP Level Adapt setting (below) is the adjustment owners use for varying P25 levels. It does not turn the radio into a simulcast receiver.

2.3 Importing DMR and NXDN systems

Importing a DMR or NXDN system in EZ-Scan works like any other trunked import, with site selection mattering more. The guide’s steps assume Set Location is off in EZ-Scan’s General Settings, or that the “Preferred” import type is selected.

  1. On the Library Import tab, select the state or province, double-click Counties/Cities, select the county, and double-click Systems.
  2. Identify the system type in the last column. DMR systems are listed as Connect Plus, Capacity Plus, Linked Cap Plus or Hytera XPT. NXDN systems are listed as NEXTEDGE 4800, NEXTEDGE 9600, Icom IDAS (C) or Icom IDAS (D).
  3. Check the system. Use Sites to select only nearby sites, and Talkgroups to load only wanted talkgroups.
  4. Press Import Selected Channels, pick the destination scanlist, and set Import Options.
    • A talkgroup wildcard hears talkgroups not yet in the RadioReference database.
    • A second wildcard monitors radio-to-radio private calls.
  5. Press Import Channels, then write the configuration to the card from the Scanner/SD Card menu.

Wildcards can also be added after import:

  • Talkgroups: on the Trunked Radio Systems tab, open Talkgroup Details and use Add Wildcard.
  • Radio IDs: open Radio ID Details and use Add Wildcard there.
  • Sites: the Site Details tab locks out unwanted sites with the L/O column.

When the database has no talkgroups for a system, or the system is not listed, create it by hand:

  1. On Trunked Radio Systems, press New.
  2. Enter an alpha tag, set the type to DMR or NXDN, set the country, and turn AGC on.
  3. Select “Site 001” and enter the site’s frequencies. The guide advises entering all of them, including control and alternate frequencies, without duplicates.
  4. Add a talkgroup wildcard so that traffic is heard while talkgroup IDs are learned.

2.4 Settings the TRX guides document

The TRX guides’ Global Settings list is longer than the 2011 PSR-800 manual’s. The entries most relevant to digital monitoring:

Table 1 — The TRX guides' Global Settings list is longer than the 2011 PSR-800 manual's. The entries most relevant to digital monitoring

SettingWhat it does
Search Dg AGCApplies digital AGC to digital transmissions found while searching
G AGC Mode / G AGC OnEnables and activates global AGC
Show Radio ID / Use RID AlertShows the transmitting radio’s ID on trunked systems; alerts on Radio ID transmissions
Show VC/CCDisplays the voice and control channel (Simple Display off)
Show TGID / Show Site NameDisplays the talkgroup ID; shows the site name when two or more sites are programmed
CONV TGID / CONV Radio IDShows talkgroup and radio IDs on P25 and DMR conventional calls
PC/IF CCDump, To fileStreams ASCII control-channel data over USB, or stores it on the card (with Limit and Trim Logs options)
M36 Stat BitsUses status bits to track Motorola 3600-baud talkgroup calls
EncMode / EncLevelTreatment of encrypted voice: noise, silence or a tone, and the tone level
IF OutRoutes the IF discriminator signal to the headphone jack
DSP Level AdaptHow fast the DSP adapts to varying P25 levels (default 64; higher is faster)
ADC Gain / DAC GainCODEC input level and decoded-digital audio level (default +0 dB)
BandPlan / FlexStepUSA or Canada band plan; FlexStep permits split-channel frequencies
Auto Power OnScheduled power-on time and mode
Welcome Text 1–5The five lines shown at power-on

Whistler’s March 2017 firmware (CPU 5.2 with PC application 3.3) added a keypad tune mode (Fn+0) and an object search (Fn+9), according to the release notes as posted on the RadioReference forum. Encrypted traffic is shown with an “E” icon and handled according to EncMode; it is never decoded. The Decrypting dive explains why.

2.5 EZ-Scan today

Goliad’s download page (read 2026-09-15) carries these packages:

Table 2 — Goliad's download page (read 2026-09-15) carries these packages

PackageDomestic TRX-1Domestic TRX-2TRX-1E / TRX-2E
EZ-Scan installer3.48.0.7083.48.0.7083.45.0.723
CPU updaterU5.9U5.0U7.4

Recent history of the domestic application:

  • EZ-Scan 3.47 (24 April 2026): the first domestic release in about four years, according to users. Its release note reads “Updated the app to handle future updates to the library database.”
  • May 2026: a Whistler_Support post on RadioReference described “minor changes … in preparation of future database updates” for domestic models. It advised installing to a new folder.
  • EZ-Scan 3.48 (25 August 2026): fixed a rounding error when a band-plan section uses 3.125 kHz steps with FlexStep enabled.
  • International application: 3.45, dated 22 November 2022.

Updater filenames. The TRX-2’s updater is named U5.0 while the TRX-1’s is U5.9. The March 2017 TRX release was already CPU 5.2, so the filenames may be updater builds rather than firmware versions. The firmware actually installed on a given radio is what matters. Holding MENU at the welcome screen shows the CPU and DSP versions, according to owners.

Firmware updates follow the guides’ procedure:

  1. Turn the scanner off.
  2. Connect it by USB. The computer should see the card as a drive; close any auto-run window.
  3. In EZ-Scan choose Check for CPU Firmware Update, then Check for Updates, then Update My Scanner. The update takes several minutes.
  4. Repeat with Check for DSP Firmware Update.

Scanner Master’s advice for new radios is to install EZ-Scan from the web rather than from the copy on the card, then update the firmware promptly. Units have shipped with older DSP builds.

Windows. Goliad has issued no Windows 11 driver package or notes. Reported failures on Windows 10 and 11:

  • the scanner is not recognized
  • Windows Update replaces the COM driver
  • the scanner works only on some USB ports

The fallback in Whistler’s FAQ is to take the card out and update it in a card reader.

2.6 Library updates

The RadioReference library is updated from EZ-Scan: on the Library Import tab, press Update Channels, then Update Channels again on the second screen. An internet connection is required.

  • Frequency: builds have generally been weekly (likely).
  • Accounts: users report that no RadioReference account or Premium subscription is needed (likely).
  • Getting it to the radio: after updating the PC library, the new data is written to the card over USB or through a card reader.

The service went dark with Whistler in late 2024; the last build was 894, in November 2024. It came back under Goliad around 22 February 2025, and builds 923–925 appeared within a week. It has run since then apart from a roughly one-day outage on 23–24 June 2026, which Whistler_Support attributed to a server upgrade. Vol 4 has the full timeline.

A claim that the RadioReference data “went away again” in 2026 could not be traced to any post. It appears to be a misreading of that June outage.

2.7 Remote control and data output

Whistler published a Remote Control Protocol for the family: version 1.7, 1 August 2017, covering the WS1080, WS1088, WS1095, WS1098, TRX-1 and TRX-2. The same document also defines a control-channel dump format and the header of the recorded audio files.

  • Framing: the protocol runs over the USB serial interface and is always active, with no special mode. Each message is <STX><msgCode><msgData><ETX><sum>, where the checksum is the byte sum from the message code through ETX, ANDed with 0xFF.
  • Get Status: returns the operating mode (main menu, scan, sweeper, weather, and so on), squelch and mute state, battery level, RSSI, the ZeroMatic value, the alert LED’s RGB intensities, the current frequency and the receive mode.
  • Get LCD: returns the display contents.
  • Channel information: firmware from June 2017 onward can also report information about the currently active channel.

Whistler provides the specification “as is” and offers no support for it. It is the basis of third-party remote-display and logging programs, and of the CCDump setting above.

2.8 International band plans

A TRX-1E or TRX-2E uses the international EZ-Scan (3.45.0.723) and the E CPU updater (U7.4). The download page offers configuration archives for sixteen locations:

  • Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Israel
  • the United Kingdom, Ireland, Northern Ireland
  • France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain

The band-plan addendum lists eighteen countries, adding Switzerland and Turkey.

Each band plan sets its own ranges, channel steps, AM/FM mode per segment, and service-search groups. The UK plan, for example, has PMR446, UK CB, VHF marine and an amateur group. The addendum states that band plans “are subject to change” and directs users to the online guides for the current version.

Two points are reported rather than documented:

  • The E conversion removes the US and Canada band plans and the weather radio, and can be reversed.
  • Whether a domestic radio bought in the US can be converted by its owner from the download page alone was not established.

2.9 Backups

  • Copy the whole card first. Before any firmware update, library update or major reprogramming, copy the entire card contents to a PC: the configuration files and the V-Scanner II folders. Card corruption is the family’s best-documented failure (see the PSR-800 dive’s Vol 3). No manufacturer publishes a card image to restore from.
  • Keep offline copies of the installers. Save the EZ-Scan installer and the CPU updater for the radio’s exact model. The 2024 shutdown showed that the download host can disappear, and users circulated mirrors while it was offline.
  • Record the installed firmware. Note the CPU and DSP versions and the library build number before and after updates.

Sources

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