Hello Nolan,

Welcome to the blind-hams list and this fascinating hobby.  I've been in it
now since I was a kid of 14, 34 years ago this summer.  It has continued to
prove fascinating throughout that time.

Let me try to address a couple of questions you have.  First, to Alinco
radios.  I am totally blind and have pretty much found them unusable by a
total.  I don't know how much vision you have but if it isn't fairly good, I
would probably steer clear of them.

Many of us got by for years with no speech or other add ons to rigs to make
them accessible.  If you were to find an older transceiver such as a Kenwood
TS-820 or even a TS-120 or anything else of that general age with a crystal
calibrator in it, you can use the calibration markers and counting dial
revolutions to make a fairly close estimate of frequency.

The next newer generation of radios from those such as the Kenwood TS-440,
450, 850, 940; the Icom IC-751 and I think the IC-765 all had speech
synthesizers available for approximately $40 which would read out frequency.
I had a 440 for example which would read frequency but not the memory number
you were in and the like.  This was a tremendous step forward.  The major
problem here is that those radios are now in the neighborhood of fifteen to
twenty years old and getting service is growing much more difficult.  Also,
the speech synthesizers for those rigs are getting scarce.

The newer generation of radios is a mixed bag as far as speech goes.  As
David from the UK told you, probably the most popular rig for access is the
Kenwood TS-570 series.  It and all of the modern Kenwoods have speech as an
option for about $40.  I have the TS-2000 which is a little newer, is all
DSP and also very accessible.  I really cannot speak to the accessibility of
the TS-870 Kenwood but it is very expensive compared to the other two.  I
had an Icom IC-746 which has a speech synthesizer available and it read some
things but still had a lot of menus which did not read at all in speech.  It
is my understanding the 746 Pro and the 756 series all have the option for
the speech synthesizer but do not speak much better.  Yaesu's only radio at
the moment which has the synthesizer as an option is the 847 and, to be
honest, there is a lot you don't get with this radio such as an automatic
built in antenna tuner.

Kevin Nathan, Independent Living Coordinator
Dept. of Services for the Blind
3411 S. Alaska
Seattle, Wa 98118
Voice:  (206) 721-6450
Cell:  (206) 604-4767
Toll Free:  (800) 552-7103
Fax:  (206) 721-6403
Email:  [log in to unmask]



-----Original Message-----
From: Nolan J. Darilek [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 08:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Ham newbie


Hi all. I'm very much a newbie to this hobby--new in the sense that I
haven't even gotten my license yet, haven't even begun to study up,
but I've occasionally listened to shortwave/CB radio transmissions and
am hooked, so I'm thinking of getting started and wanted some info.

First, even though I can't transmit, I'd like to purchase a tranceiver
to listen in. Yes, I know I can probably get a receiver for less, but
I'd rather not spend the money for something which will be redundant
later. Unfortunately, shopping around IRL isn't really an option for
me, since I don't personally know any hams or have very many stores
which I can easily reach, so I've been browsing reviews and shopping
online. It looks as if the Alinco DJ-596T may be what I want. Does
anyone have any experience with these, or Alinco radios in general?
Are these a safe bet as far as usability for blind hams is concerned?

Also, I've occasionally seen references to speech synthesizers on this
list. I'm familiar with them as they apply to computers, but radios?
Seems as if there may be speech synthesis for radios based on a few
things I've read, but I've been confused before and may be again. :)
Anyone care to clarify any of that?

TIA.