B757 FLT CREW; DEPARTING RNO; SETS 344 DEGREES IN COURSE WINDOW TO FLY IRNO LOC ON SOUTH DEPARTURE. THIS RESULTS IN DEVIATION LEFT; TCAS TA WITH ARRIVING ACFT; AND QUERY FROM ATC.

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ON DEP WE WERE CLRED TO FLY THE IRNO LOC S. THE CAPT WAS PF. I WAS PLT MONITORING. HE BRIEFED THE DEP THOROUGHLY AND DECIDED HE WOULD FLY RAW DATA (IN THIS CASE THE LOC NEEDLE) AND I WOULD BACK HIM UP WITH THE FMS MAP DISPLAY. THE BRIEFING PAGE FOR THE ENG OUT DEP HAD THE SAME DEP (FLY IRNO LOC S). AS HE REVIEWED THE PAGE HE NOTED THAT IT APPEARED TO SAY TO PUT 344 IN THE COURSE WINDOW OF THE ILS HEAD. WE DISCUSSED WHETHER THIS WAS CORRECT. THERE WAS SOME DISCUSSION AS TO WHETHER WE SHOULD PUT THE FRONT COURSE OF 164 IN (AS IT TURNS OUT 164 WAS THE RIGHT ANSWER). THE CAPT DECIDED 344 WAS CORRECT SINCE THAT WAS WRITTEN IN BOLD NUMBERS ON THE BRIEFING PAGE. THE BRIEFING PAGE IS VERY CONFUSING ON THIS SUBJECT. AS WE DEPARTED HIS NEEDLE WAS OFF TO THE L. AT FIRST IT DID NOT SEEM ODD SINCE ONE OFTEN SEES A DISPLAY LIKE THIS IN THE 'CONE OF CONFUSION' NEAR THE STATION. HOWEVER; AS WE CONTINUED IT WENT FURTHER L (IT WAS REVERSE SENSING) AND THE CAPT STARTED A SLIGHT L TURN. AT THAT POINT I WONDER IN MY MIND WHAT HE WAS DOING SINCE MY MAP INDICATED HE SHOULD PROCEED STRAIGHT AHEAD. BEFORE I COULD SAY ANYTHING DEP (ATC) CALLED AND DIRECTED US TO TURN BACK S AND PROCEED OUT THE IRNO 164 S. NEXT OUR TCAS WENT OFF WITH A TFC ALERT FOR AN ACFT ON DOWNWIND (AN RA DID NOT SOUND). THEN ATC QUESTIONED OUR CLRNC. I TOLD THEM WHAT THE CLRNC WAS AND THAT WE HAD MISTUNED OUR NAV RADIOS AND WERE CORRECTING. DEP THEN INDICATED THERE WAS NOT ANY FURTHER PROB. THE REMAINDER OF THE FLT WAS UNEVENTFUL. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 774812: ON OUR DEP FROM RNO; WE HAD PDC INSTRUCTIONS TO 'FLY IRNO LOC S CRS;' SO I WAS SET UP FOR TKOF ON MY NAV DISPLAY; AS I HAD BRIEFED; TO FLY THE RAW DATA LOC IN 'EXPANDED LOC.' AT APPROX 500 FT AGL MY LOC CDI BEGAN TO DRIFT OFF TO THE L; SO I MADE SEVERAL SMALL; INCREMENTAL L TURN CORRECTIONS TO RECAPTURE IT. AT AROUND 2000 FT AGL; AS I BEGAN REALIZING THAT MY COURSE CORRECTIONS WERE ONLY TAKING US FURTHER AWAY FROM THE CDI; DEP CTL REQUESTED WE TURN BACK TO THE R TO INTERCEPT THE LOC; WHICH I ACCOMPLISHED. THE CTLR HAD INBOUND TFC ON DOWNWIND AND WANTED US TO VERIFY OUR CLBOUT INSTRUCTIONS. WE VERIFIED OUR PDC INSTRUCTIONS AND STATED WE HAD THE TFC IN SIGHT. PERPLEXED AS TO WHY MY LOC CDI KEPT DRIFTING OFF WITH AN APPROPRIATE CORRECTION APPLIED; I TOLD THE FO TO CHANGE THE ILS COURSE SET IN THE ILS CTL PANEL TO THE RECIPROCAL OF THE COURSE CURRENTLY SET IN (FROM '344' TO '164'). I HAD SET THE COURSE TO '344' DURING MY DEP BRIEFING (WE WERE TO DEPART ON RWY 16R) BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT OUR BRIEFING PAGES SEEMED TO INDICATE TO ME AND BECAUSE IT SEEMED LOGICAL SINCE WE WERE TO FLY THE RWY 16R LOC TO THE S BUT WE WOULD BE PAST THE FIELD AND 'BEHIND' THE LOC TRANSMITTER. AFTER THE FO CHANGED THE LOC COURSE SETTING TO '164;' THE CDI AND BANK STEERING BAR ROTATED 180 DEGS AND BEGAN INDICATING CORRECTLY. AS WE PASSED WELL ABEAM OF THE SIGHTED INBOUND ACFT; WE WERE ACTUALLY SLIGHTLY ON THE OPPOSITE R SIDE OF THE LOC FROM THE ACFT; AND THE CLBOUT CONTINUED UNEVENTFULLY. WE DID GET A TCAS TA FOR APPROX 5 SECONDS AS WE WERE TURNING BACK TO THE R. THIS PROB WAS CAUSED BY A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING ON MY PART OF THE MECHANICS OF THE LOC BEAM ON THE OPPOSITE (OUTBOUND) SIDE OF THE LOC TRANSMITTER AND CONFUSION ON HOW TO SET-UP THE EFIS FOR SUCH A DEP. DO YOU SET IN THE FRONT OR BACK COURSE? DO YOU SELECT 'LOC' OR 'BACK COURSE' FOR FLT DIRECTOR GUIDANCE? OUR PAGES DO NOT CLEARLY ADDRESS THESE ISSUES. IN FACT; IN MAKING A CONSCIENTIOUS EFFORT IN MY PRE-DEP PLANNING TO CORRECTLY FLY THE DEP; I MISINTERPED OUR BRIEFING PAGES GUIDANCE.