Aaaaaahhhhhh, yeah, sighted help to select the radio would not work for me,
not when I have individual programs that are more accessible for most if not
all of my radios.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 5:57 PM
Subject: Re: Observations on Chirp
> John,
>
> I did look at that article, and one of the things that turned me off was
> the
> statement that you'd probably have to get sighted help to select the type
> of
> radio. In my opinion, if you've got other programs that work adequately,
> you don't need this one.
>
> Steve
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 17:35
> Subject: Re: Observations on Chirp
>
>
>> there was a link on the page about using it with a screen reader,I
>> haven't
>> used it yet though did download it to try it, did you check out using it
>> with a screen reader first? I'm just curious because if you did I may
>> not
>> even bother trying it, I did it more as something to try on a rainy day
>> and
>> I didn't check out that link yet. I have so many radio programming
>> programs
>> around now it's not even funny I just wondered if it was worth adding to
>> the
>> collection.
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 5:15 PM
>> Subject: Observations on Chirp
>>
>>
>>> For those who don't know the background, Tom Behler alerted us to a =
>>> program called Chirp, free software that can edit data stored in the =
>>> memories of several different radios from the "big three" manufacturers,
>>> =
>>> as well as Wouxon, Alinko, and a few more. He expressed interest in the
>>> =
>>> program, but said he didn't have time to look at it, and hoped that =
>>> someone else could, and would report their findings. Since the program
>>> =
>>> got good reviews from www.hamradioandvision.com, and the price was =
>>> right, I downloaded and installed it on my laptop which runs Windows XP
>>> =
>>> Pro with JAWS 12. Here are a few observations:
>>>
>>> 1. Although the program responds to some keyboard commands, it is by no
>>> =
>>> means a standard Windows user interface. For example: although you can
>>> =
>>> activate the Radio menu with Alt+R and read the menu items by pressing =
>>> the arrow keys, once inside the menus you will have to use the JAWS =
>>> cursor to navigate. JAWS will occasionally read items, but most of the
>>> =
>>> time you don't really know where you are, and entering data requires =
>>> using the JAWS keystroke for left-clicking the mouse. It took me almost
>>> =
>>> an hour to figure out how to select the com port and radio make and =
>>> model, which is ok if you only have one radio, but a royal pain if you =
>>> have more than one and want to switch between them.
>>>
>>> 2. Although Help was one of the menu choices, I was unable to access =
>>> anything in the Help system. I looked in the program folder and didn't
>>> =
>>> find anything even remotely resembling either a .HLP or .CHM file, both
>>> =
>>> of which are standard Windows extensions for help files. Since I found
>>> =
>>> no other documentation, I have to assume that you're pretty much on your
>>> =
>>> own when it comes to figuring out how this software works.
>>>
>>> 3. Once I set up the COM port and manufacturer (in my case Kenwood), I
>>> =
>>> was able to use the program's auto-detect feature to find the correct =
>>> model. This would have been more impressive if it hadn't taken so long
>>> =
>>> to figure out how to select the port, etc.
>>>
>>> 4. Once the data was read from the radio, a message popped up advising
>>> =
>>> me that since the TM-V71A operates in "live mode" (whatever the hell =
>>> that is), any attempt to change the data will send the altered data to =
>>> the radio immediately, and that for best results, I should export the =
>>> data to a .CSV file and edit it somewhere else. Incidentally, I had to
>>> =
>>> look around with the JAWS Cursor to find this message (not my idea of a
>>> =
>>> good time).
>>>
>>> 5. The data from the radio was presented in a table with each row =
>>> representing the data from one memory. I didn't try to change anything
>>> =
>>> (see above), so I don't know how easy that would be, but given the rest
>>> =
>>> of my experience with this software, it just didn't seem worth the =
>>> bother. Btw, JAWS couldn't recognize this as a table, which isn't much
>>> =
>>> of a surprise given the non-standard user interface.=20
>>>
>>> I can't speak for programming software from other companies, but the =
>>> programs from Kenwood are far more screen-reader friendly than Chirp, =
>>> despite whatever quirks they may have. Based on my experience thus far,
>>> =
>>> I'd have to say that Chirp is about to be thrown into the bit bucket.
>>>
>>> Steve
>>
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