The ScanTeam 6980 product is a dual track Magnetic Stripe Card Reader (MSR) designed to attach to devices with an RS-232 serial interface port. All magnetic stripe decoding electronics are contained in the compact ScanTeam 6980 product enclosure. The ScanTeam 6980 is a bi-directional card reader it can read cards swiped in either direction. A beeper indicates a good read or bad read to the operator. The ScanTeam 6980 is powered by an external power pack device. Other versions are available which accept input power through the DB-9 host connector.