What I call an accessible radio is one, I can program, and use with out
asking for sighted help can can do everything with out the computer though
semi accessible I'd say I can do it with the computer but like my old Yaesu
FT-51, I can't do much beyond the basics on it with out software.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Louis Kim Kline" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 10, 2004 1:44 PM
Subject: What Constitutes Accessibility?


> Hi to all.
>
> As I was reading through the posts on accessible handhelds, it occurs to
> me
> that a lot of different things constitute accessibility.
>
> In our modern age, we've gotten used to thinking of accessibility as voice
> readout and an auto tuner, and as much as I love my HF rigs that have
> these
> features, I know that there was a time when it wasn't so.
>
> While I was in college in the late 1970's, a good friend of mine who was
> totally blind had a Ten Tec Triton IV, which had the following
> modifications:
>
> A dial skirt with single dots on the five khz marks, two dots on the 10
> khz
> marks and three dots on the zero.  He also had an audio oscillator hooked
> up across the LED for the ALC so that when the LED lit, the oscillator
> beeped.
>
> With those two modifications, he could always adjust the radio for proper
> levels, and he could always get it on frequency.  In that sense, it was
> accessible.
>
> I had a Standard C528A HT in the 1990's.  It was pretty straightforward in
> its command set, with articulating beeps for the various functions, much
> as
> John described on the THF6A.  At the time, I still had my vision, yet I
> hardly ever looked at the display because I got so much feedback from the
> beeps on the radio that it wasn't necessary to look at the display.  So,
> in
> my mind, that radio was truly accessible.
>
> At times, I think that half of the battle in accessibility is in getting
> accessible documentation that explains things from a blind person's point
> of view.  For example, I had a rotten time with the Icom IC-706 Mk II G
> until someone put up a really great key chart on www.icanworkthisthing.com
> and suddenly a bunch of things made sense to me and the radio became much
> more usable.
>
> I think the area of documentation is one area where the industry could do
> better, but I suspect that they do not even realize there is a problem
> there.
>
> Anyway, I thought that Jerry's post was amusing because of the assumptions
> that he started out with.  Incidentally, I believe that the reason why
> there are not HT's with voice boards is not because the industry cannot do
> it, because the technology is readily available to do just that, but
> because there has always been a conscious effort to keep these radios very
> small, lightweight, and above all, to sacrifice anything that would
> degrade
> battery life.  And, even if I was prepared to live with a little shorter
> time between charges, thinking about how tiny my Icom IC-T7H is, I would
> not want to try to install anything into it.
>
> Incidentally, I program it with the Icom Cloning software from my PC.  The
> software works great with JAWS, and I see no reason why it shouldn't work
> with Window-Eyes, so in that sense, my present HT is at least
> "semi-accessible."
>
> 73, de Lou K2LKK
>
>
>
>
> Louis Kim Kline
> A.R.S. K2LKK
> Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> Work e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
> Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5753
>