Motorola CLS Series Manual, Specs & How-To Guide (CLS1110 & CLS1410)

Jump to what you need

• Manual, spec sheet & brochure downloads
• Full CLS1110 / CLS1410 / CLS1413 specifications
• Buttons and display icons explained
• How to program a Motorola CLS radio
• Scanning, VOX and VibraCall
• How to clone CLS radio settings
• Factory defaults and how to reset
• Complete 56-frequency chart
• All 121 interference eliminator codes
• Battery life and charging
• Troubleshooting
• Accessory part numbers
• Frequently asked questions

Where can I download the Motorola CLS1110 or CLS1410 manual?

What are the Motorola CLS Series specifications?

All CLS models share the same radio platform, transmitter and receiver. The only differences are channel count, VOX, Scan and VibraAlert.

Specification	CLS1110	CLS1410
Frequency range	UHF 459.5–469.5 MHz	UHF 459.5–469.5 MHz
Channel capacity	1	4
Selectable frequencies	56	56
Channel bandwidth	12.5 kHz	12.5 kHz
RF power output	1.0 watt	1.0 watt
Analog PL (CTCSS) codes	38	38
Digital DPL codes	83	83
Indoor coverage	Up to 200,000 sq ft / 18,580 sq m	Up to 200,000 sq ft / 18,580 sq m
Multi-level coverage	Up to 15 floors	Up to 15 floors
Battery life (5/5/90 duty cycle)	14 hours	14 hours
Dimensions (H x W x D)	4.1" x 2.0" x 1.1"	4.1" x 2.0" x 1.1"
Weight	Less than 5 oz	Less than 5 oz
Scan	—	Yes (up to 4 channels)
VOX hands-free	—	Yes, with compatible accessory
VibraCall vibrating alert	—	Yes (call tone 4)

Transmitter and receiver specifications

Parameter	Specification
RF output (conducted into 50 ohms)	1.0 watt
Frequency stability	Less than 2.0 ppm
Spurs and harmonics	Less than -45 dBc
FM hum and noise @ 12.5 kHz	-40 dB
Modulation limiting @ 12.5 kHz	± 2.5 kHz
Adjacent channel power	60 dBc
Audio frequency response (0.3–3.0 kHz)	+1 to -3 dB
Transmit audio distortion	Less than 2%
Receiver sensitivity (12 dB SINAD)	-122 dBm (0.18 uV)
Adjacent channel selectivity @ 12.5 kHz	65 dB
Intermodulation rejection	60 dB
Spurious response rejection (blocking 1 MHz)	85 dB
Audio output at less than 5% distortion	0.5 W @ 8 ohms
FCC designation	AZ489FT4860
Industry Canada designation	109U-89FT4860

How durable is the CLS Series? Military and environmental ratings

CLS radios are tested to Military Standard 810 revisions C, D, E, F and G across 11 categories, including shock, vibration, high and low temperature, temperature shock, solar radiation, rain, humidity, dust and low pressure.

The radios are rated for a five-foot drop to concrete. Operating temperature is -30°C to +60°C and storage temperature is -40°C to +85°C.

The housings are polycarbonate with built-in anti-microbial properties that inhibit bacteria and mold growth on the radio surface — a detail that matters in food service and healthcare. 

What do the buttons on a Motorola CLS radio do?

The CLS has six controls. 

Control	What it does
Volume knob (top)	Turns the radio on and off, and adjusts volume. Clockwise for on and louder, counterclockwise for off and quieter.
Push to Talk (large side button)	Transmits while held. Also exits a menu or programming mode.
Call button (bell icon, side)	Transmits your selected call tone to alert the group before you speak.
MON (monitor)	Hold to listen to the raw frequency and check whether the channel is clear. On the CLS1410, a short press starts and stops scan.
MENU	Scrolls through menu settings. Hold for three seconds to lock or unlock the keypad.
+ and −	Change channels on the CLS1410 and change values inside menus and programming mode.

What do the icons on the CLS display mean?

The LCD is small and every icon earns its place. Reading left to right and top to bottom, you'll see the signal strength and channel busy indicator, the battery meter, the current channel number in large type, the interference eliminator code indicator, the programming mode indicator, and the scan indicator on the CLS1410.

On the right side of the display you'll find the VibraCall alert indicator, the frequency and interference eliminator code readout, the keypad lock icon, the frequency indicator, and the microphone gain and VOX indicators on the CLS1410.

The light on top of the radio tells you as much as the screen does. It blinks once every three seconds when the radio is on and idle, blinks once per second when there is activity on your frequency, and glows solid red while you are transmitting. When your radio is actually receiving a transmission that matches both your frequency and your code, the display shows a signal strength reading from 1 (weakest) to 6 (strongest) — which is the fastest way to tell that someone is drifting out of range before they drop off entirely.

How do I lock the keypad?

Press and hold MENU for three seconds. The lock icon appears on the display. Hold MENU for three seconds again to unlock. This is worth doing on radios that live in an apron pocket or on a belt, where the + and − buttons get bumped and staff end up on different channels without realizing it.

How do I program a Motorola CLS1410 or CLS1110?

Programming mode lets you change the channel, the operating frequency, the interference eliminator code, the call tone, the microphone gain, and — on the CLS1410 — the number of available channels and the scan list. No computer or cable is required for any of it.

To enter programming mode: press and hold Push to Talk and MON together for three seconds while turning the radio on. The radio beeps, PROG appears on the display, the channel number blinks, and the frequency (FREQ) and code (CODE) readouts alternate.

From there, each press of MON advances you to the next setting in the sequence. The + and − buttons change the value. Press and hold Push to Talk at any point to save and exit.

What you want to change	How to get there	Models
Channel	The first setting after you enter programming mode. The channel number blinks; press + or − to select it.	CLS1410 only
Operating frequency	Press MON until FREQ displays and the frequency number blinks, then press + or − to pick one of the 56 frequencies.	Both
Interference eliminator code	Press MON until CODE displays and the code number blinks, then press + or − to select a code from 0–121.	Both
Number of available channels	Press MON until the channel count displays and blinks, then press + or −. Settings for channels you hide are retained.	CLS1410 only
Call tone / VibraCall	Press MON until the call tone setting displays, then press + or − to hear and choose a tone. Tone 4 turns VibraCall on.	Both (VibraCall CLS1410 only)
Microphone gain	Press MON until the microphone gain setting displays, then press + or −: 1 is high sensitivity for quiet rooms, 2 is medium (the default), 3 is low for loud environments.	Both
Scan list	Press MON until the scan list displays with the channel number blinking, select the channel with + or −, then press MON to include or exclude it.	CLS1410 only

The rule that catches most people: for two CLS radios to hear each other, the frequency and the interference eliminator code must match on both — and on the CLS1410, so must the channel. Two radios on frequency 2 with different codes will sit there silently, each convinced the other is broken. If a new radio can't hear the rest of the fleet, check the code before you check anything else.

Note: you cannot enter programming mode while a VOX accessory is plugged into the radio. Unplug the earpiece or headset first.

Can CLS radios be programmed with a computer?

Yes. Everything above can be done by hand on the radio itself, which is how most small fleets are set up. For larger deployments, Motorola's Customer Programming Software plus the programming cable lets an you configure frequencies, codes and scan lists on a PC and push identical settings across every radio. If you're deploying more than a handful of radios, the faster route for most teams is cloning through the multi-unit charger — no software required.

How do scan, VOX and VibraCall work on the CLS1410?

Scanning

The CLS1410 scans up to four channels.

• Press MON briefly to start; the scan icon appears and the radio cycles through the channels.
• When it detects activity it stops there and displays that channel number, and you can reply on it by pressing Push to Talk within five seconds — no channel change needed.
• After five seconds of silence, scanning resumes.
• Press MON briefly again to stop.

Two tips make scan usable on a busy floor. Scan advance: if the radio lands on a conversation you don't need, press MON to jump to the next active channel. Nuisance delete: press and hold MON to drop that channel from the scan list temporarily — it returns the next time you use scan.

Worth knowing: if you press Push to Talk while scanning rather than while stopped on a channel, the radio transmits on the channel you were on before you started scanning, not the one you were listening to.

VOX hands-free operation

VOX lets the CLS1410 transmit when you speak, with no button press, using a compatible audio accessory.

• Turn the radio off, open the accessory cover, plug the accessory firmly into the accessory jack, then turn the radio back on.
• The VOX indicator appears.
• If it's blinking and this is your first setup, set the sensitivity: press MENU until the VOX sensitivity setting displays, then use + or − to choose off, low, medium or high.
• Lower the volume before putting the earpiece in.

To disable VOX, press Push to Talk or remove the accessory. Expect a short delay between when you start speaking and when the radio actually transmits — start with a half-second pause before your first word so the beginning of your sentence isn't clipped.

VibraCall

VibraCall is the CLS1410's silent alert. Select call tone 4 in programming mode and the radio vibrates briefly when it receives a call tone, provided it hasn't transmitted or received in the last 30 seconds. The VibraCall icon shows on the display when it's active. It's the reason the CLS1410 turns up so often in hotels, theaters, funeral homes and hospital wings — anywhere a chirping radio in a quiet room is a problem.

How do I clone settings from one CLS radio to another?

Cloning copies a source radio's settings to a target radio using the 56531 multi-unit charger. It's the fastest way to bring new radios into an existing fleet, and it needs no cable, no software and no power — the charger doesn't even have to be plugged in, though both radios need charged batteries. You can clone one radio at a time. A multi-channel radio can clone to a single-channel radio, but only the first channel copies across.

1. On the source radio, hold Push to Talk and MON for three seconds while turning it on. The radio beeps and displays PROG.
2. Place the source radio in one of the charging pockets.
3. Turn the target radio on and place it in the pocket paired with the source radio's pocket. The six pockets form three pairs, indicated by the three pairs of charging status LEDs.
4. Press and hold MON on the source radio. It transmits its settings to the target radio.
5. A P (pass) or F (fail) displays on the source radio. On success, the target radio lights up all of its feature icons.
6. Turn the target radio off and back on before using it.
7. To clone another radio, repeat steps 3 and 4. To exit, hold Push to Talk on the source radio until PROG disappears.

What are the CLS factory default settings, and how do I reset a radio?

If a radio has been passed around long enough that nobody knows what's on it, resetting to factory settings is usually the quickest answer. Turn the radio on while holding Push to Talk and MON for three seconds.

Note that the manual lists this same button combination for entering programming mode, so watch the display: if you land on the blinking PROG screen, you're in programming mode rather than reset. Either way, the table below tells you exactly what a factory-fresh radio should be set to, so you can confirm it by hand in under a minute.

Setting	CLS1110 default	CLS1410 default
Channel 1 frequency	Frequency 2	Frequency 2
Channel 2 frequency	Not available	Frequency 8
Channel 3 frequency	Not available	Frequency 5
Channel 4 frequency	Not available	Frequency 6
Interference eliminator code	1	1
Call tone / VibraCall	Off (0)	Off (0)
VOX	Not available	Off (0)
Microphone gain	2 (medium)	2 (medium)

Because both models default to frequency 2 with code 1, a brand new CLS1110 and a brand new CLS1410 will talk to each other straight out of the box on channel 1 with no setup at all.

Hidden power-on settings

A few settings aren't in the menu at all — they're toggled by holding a button while you turn the radio on. These are the ones that solve complaints like "the radio beeps every time someone touches it" or "there's a lag before I hear anyone."

Setting	Hold while turning the radio on	Default
Keypad tones on/off — silences the beep on every button press	−	On
End-of-transmission tone on/off — sends a tone when you release Push to Talk, the audible equivalent of saying "over"	+	Off
Battery save mode on/off — turning it off shortens the delay between a transmission arriving and audio playing, at a cost of roughly 20% battery life	Push to Talk + MON + −	On
Restore factory defaults	Push to Talk + MON	—

If keypad tones are off and the end-of-transmission tone is on, you won't hear the tone yourself, but the radios receiving you will.

What frequencies does the Motorola CLS Series use?

The display shows a frequency number from 1 to 56, not the actual megahertz value. The table below is the full mapping from the user guide, and it's what you need when you're matching CLS radios to an existing fleet, filing an FCC license application, or answering a facilities manager who wants to know exactly what's transmitting in their building. Every CLS frequency is 12.5 kHz narrowband.

Replacing older Spirit GT Series radios? The first eight CLS frequencies and the 38 analog interference eliminator codes are compatible with Spirit GT, so the two can run side by side during a changeover.

What are interference eliminator codes, and what's the full list?

Interference eliminator codes — also known as privacy codes, PL codes, CTCSS, DPL or DCS — are a filter, not encryption. Your radio still transmits on the same frequency as everyone else; the code simply tells your radio to stay silent unless the incoming transmission carries a matching sub-audible tone. It keeps another business on the same frequency out of your earpiece, but it does not make your conversation private. Anyone scanning that frequency without a code set can hear you.

The CLS offers 121 codes: code 0 is carrier squelch, which disables filtering and lets you hear everything on the frequency; codes 1–38 are analog CTCSS tones; codes 39–121 are digital DPL codes.

Analog interference eliminator codes (1–38)

Code	Hz	Code	Hz	Code	Hz	Code	Hz
1	67.0	11	97.4	21	136.5	31	192.8
2	71.9	12	100.0	22	141.3	32	203.5
3	74.4	13	103.5	23	146.2	33	210.7
4	77.0	14	107.2	24	151.4	34	218.1
5	79.7	15	110.9	25	156.7	35	225.7
6	82.5	16	114.8	26	162.2	36	233.6
7	85.4	17	118.8	27	167.9	37	241.8
8	88.5	18	123.0	28	173.8	38	250.3
9	91.5	19	127.3	29	179.9
10	94.8	20	131.8	30	186.2

Digital interference eliminator codes (39–121)

Code	DPL	Code	DPL	Code	DPL	Code	DPL
39	023	60	143	81	315	102	532
40	025	61	152	82	331	103	546
41	026	62	155	83	343	104	565
42	031	63	156	84	346	105	606
43	032	64	162	85	351	106	612
44	043	65	165	86	364	107	624
45	047	66	172	87	365	108	627
46	051	67	174	88	371	109	631
47	054	68	205	89	411	110	632
48	065	69	223	90	412	111	654
49	071	70	226	91	413	112	662
50	072	71	243	92	423	113	664
51	073	72	244	93	431	114	703
52	074	73	245	94	432	115	712
53	114	74	251	95	445	116	723
54	115	75	261	96	464	117	731
55	116	76	263	97	465	118	732
56	125	77	265	98	466	119	734
57	131	78	271	99	503	120	743
58	132	79	306	100	506	121	754
59	134	80	311	101	516

How long does the CLS battery last, and how do I charge it?

The CLS ships with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery rated at 14 hours on Motorola's 5/5/90 duty cycle — 5% of the time transmitting, 5% receiving and 90% on standby. That's a realistic pattern for most retail, restaurant and hotel shifts. A supervisor who transmits constantly will see less; a stockroom radio that mostly listens will see more.

To charge, place the drop-in charger on a flat surface, plug the power cord into the charger and then into an AC outlet, turn the radio off, and drop it in the front charging pocket. The radio fits in the charger with the holster still on. A full charge takes roughly two to six hours, and the radio charges faster switched off than on. The drop-in charger will also charge a spare battery sequentially — the spare doesn't begin charging until the radio's battery is full.

The charging LED is solid red while charging and solid green when charging is complete. For battery longevity, avoid leaving a radio on the charger for extended periods after it's already full; charging over a weekend is fine.

Reading the battery meter

Display	Remaining capacity
3 bars	100%–85%
2 bars	85%–25%
1 bar	25%–10%
Blinking	Final 10%

The two-bar band covers a lot of ground, which is why fleets that run long shifts tend to standardize on end-of-shift docking rather than watching the meter. If you're running more than four or five radios, the 56531 six-unit multi-unit charger solves both the charging and the storage problem in one piece of hardware — and it's the same charger you need for cloning.

Motorola CLS troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
No power	Recharge or replace the lithium-ion battery.
Message not transmitted	Make sure Push to Talk is fully pressed. Verify the transmit light comes on while you speak. Recharge, replace or reseat the battery.
Message not received	Confirm every radio has the same channel, frequency and interference eliminator code. Verify the radio isn't sitting in scan mode (CLS1410). Move location — obstructions and vehicle interiors cut range.
Hearing other conversations on your channel	Another business is on your frequency. Change the frequency, or the code, on all of your radios.
Poor audio quality	Bandwidth mismatch. Other radios communicating with CLS radios should be set to 12.5 kHz where possible.
Limited talk range	Steel and concrete structures, heavy foliage and vehicles all reduce range. Wearing the radio in a pocket or on a belt reduces it further — move the radio and look for clearer line of sight.
Heavy static or interference	The radios are too close together. They need to be at least five feet apart. Or they're too far apart, or obstructed.
Keypad locked	Hold MENU for three seconds to unlock.
Low battery warning with a new battery	Verify the radio is set to the correct battery type. Extreme operating temperatures also shorten battery life.
Charger light doesn't come on	Reseat the radio or battery. Clean the battery and charger contacts. Check that the transformer's charging pin is fully inserted into the drop-in charger.
Can't activate VOX (CLS1410)	The feature isn't set, sensitivity is set to off, or the accessory doesn't support VOX.
Can't enter programming mode	Unplug any audio accessory and try again.

Cleaning and care

Clean the exterior with a soft damp cloth only. Don't immerse the radio in water and don't use alcohol or cleaning solutions on it. If a radio does get submerged, turn it off immediately, remove the battery, dry it with a soft cloth, and leave it until it is completely dry before using it again.

What accessories fit the Motorola CLS Series?

Every CLS accessory works with both the CLS1110 and the CLS1410, so a mixed fleet only needs one accessory inventory. These are the part numbers you'll find in the Motorola documentation — useful when you're reordering something that arrived with the original radios years ago.

Accessory	Part number	Typical use
Swivel earpiece	HKLN4604	Discreet listening for front-of-house staff
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery	PMNN4497A	Spare or replacement battery
Multi-unit charger (6 radios or batteries)	56531	Fleet charging and cloning
Swivel belt holster	HCLN4013A	Replacement for the holster in the box

The full current range, including drop-in chargers, high-capacity batteries and multi-unit chargers, is on our Motorola CLS accessories page.

Do Motorola CLS radios require an FCC license?

Technically, Yes. But a license is not required to purchase radios. The CLS Series operates on business-exclusive frequencies regulated under FCC Part 90. That licensing requirement is exactly what makes the frequencies business-exclusive — it's why a CLS fleet isn't competing with every consumer walkie-talkie in the shopping center, and it's a practical difference between the CLS and an FRS radio.

Applications are filed on FCC Form 601 (schedules D and H) with remittance form 159, and the FCC bundles the forms and instructions as document 000601. Licenses are issued for a ten-year term and cover your organization rather than individual radios, so one license typically covers a whole fleet. Before you apply you'll need to know which frequencies you intend to operate on — which is what the frequency chart above is for.

If licensing is the part of this that's holding up a purchase, contact us. We walk customers through it regularly and it's a shorter conversation than most people expect.

CLS1110 vs. CLS1410: which one do I actually have?

The two radios are physically identical, so the fastest way to tell them apart is the display. A CLS1110 shows channel 1 and nothing else changes when you press + or −, because it's a single-channel radio. A CLS1410 cycles through channels 1 to 4.

Beyond channel count, the CLS1410 adds scan across those four channels, VOX hands-free operation with a compatible accessory, and VibraCall silent vibrating alerts. Everything else — the 1-watt transmitter, 56 frequencies, 121 codes, 200,000 square feet of indoor coverage, 14-hour battery, MIL-STD-810 durability and every accessory — is the same on both.

In practice the deciding question isn't budget, it's whether your teams need to talk past each other. A single restaurant floor or a small retail store runs fine on one shared channel. The moment you have a receiving crew, a sales floor and a manager who all need to hold separate conversations, one channel becomes a traffic jam and the CLS1410 pays for itself in a week.

Motorola CLS Series frequently asked questions

Will a CLS1110 talk to a CLS1410?

Yes. Both models ship set to frequency 2 with interference eliminator code 1, so a new CLS1110 and a new CLS1410 communicate on channel 1 with no setup. To keep them talking after you reprogram anything, the frequency and the code have to match on both radios.

Can a CLS radio talk to a Motorola Talkabout or other FRS walkie-talkie?

No. The CLS operates on licensed Part 90 business frequencies between 461 and 469.5 MHz. Consumer FRS radios operate on a different set of shared public frequencies under Part 95. The two cannot communicate, and that separation is the point — it's what keeps your staff off the same channel as everyone else in the building.

What's the difference between a channel and a frequency on a CLS radio?

A frequency is one of the 56 actual radio frequencies the CLS can transmit on. A channel is a saved slot on the radio that holds a frequency plus an interference eliminator code. The CLS1110 has one slot; the CLS1410 has four. That's why a one-channel radio still gives you 56 frequencies to choose from — you're just choosing one at a time.

Why can I hear another business on my radio?

Someone nearby is on the same frequency. Interference eliminator codes reduce what you hear from them. The fix is to move your fleet to a different frequency from the chart above, changing every radio so they stay in sync.

How far will a CLS radio actually reach?

Motorola rates the CLS at up to 200,000 square feet indoors or up to 15 floors in a multi-level building. Outdoor mileage claims vary widely between listings because outdoor range depends entirely on terrain and obstructions. The indoor figure is the number to plan around, and a 1-watt radio in a steel-and-concrete building will fall short of it — check for line of sight before assuming a radio is faulty.

Is the CLS Series waterproof?

No. CLS radios are dust-protected and splash-resistant and are tested to MIL-STD-810 revisions C through G, including a five-foot drop to concrete, but they are not rated for immersion. A radio that goes into water should be turned off, have its battery removed, and be dried completely before it's used again.

How do I turn off the beeping on a CLS radio?

Hold the '−' button while turning the radio on. That toggles keypad tones, which are on by default. If the beep you're hearing comes at the end of someone's transmission rather than on button presses, that's the end-of-transmission tone, toggled by holding + while turning the radio on.

How many radios can share one channel?

There's no hard limit — a channel is a shared party line, and every radio set to the same frequency and code hears every transmission. The practical limit is conversational: once more than about eight to ten people need to talk regularly, the channel gets congested and it's time to split departments onto separate channels with the CLS1410.

What's the difference between a two-way radio and a walkie-talkie?

Nothing technically — they're the same device. "Walkie-talkie" is the everyday term, more often associated with consumer FRS radios, while "two-way radio" is the term used in commercial and licensed contexts. A Motorola CLS1410 is accurately described by both.

Getting help with your CLS radios

Tech Wholesale has been an authorized Motorola dealer since 1997, and CLS radios have been part of that catalog for most of it. Every specification, chart and procedure on this page was taken from the Motorola CLS user guide, brochure and product spec sheet.

If you're trying to add radios to an existing fleet and you don't know what frequencies you're currently on, or you're not sure whether the CLS is the right fit for your building, contact us before you order. That conversation takes a few minutes and it prevents the most common and most expensive mistake we see: buying radios based on price alone and discovering the coverage gaps after they're deployed.

Shop Motorola CLS radios Talk to a radio consultant

Related reading

• Motorola CLS Series two-way radios: full model comparison
• Motorola CLS accessories: earpieces, batteries and chargers
• Motorola CLS1410 product details and pricing
• Motorola CLS1110 product details and pricing