I see that there are currently two talking wattmeters selling on ebay.  I think these might be popular with mobile operators.  There is an aging ham population whose eyesight is getting worse.

 


Mark J. Senk  |  412-386-6513  |  [log in to unmask] 
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-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lou Kline
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 1:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: tw-1

Hi.

Yes, I think that making a meter that was audio only was a bad move unless they only intended to sell to the blindness market, and that is a small market when you consider that many already have older meters that are serving them well.

But, another thing that can cause a model to be discontinued is in the instance where there is a component that has been discontinued by a third party supplier.
We wouldn't necessarily know something like that, unfortunately.

Also, in good economic times, a company may feel that they can produce products that only make a small amount of money, but when times get hard and they have inventory sitting around, the inventory costs will kill them.  I'd like to think something else will come along to replace it, but I've been around around long enough to know that these products come and go, often with long gaps between them.

I think that we need a change in philosophy amongst design engineers and it is an idea that I've been talking up with manufacturers whenever I get someone's ear.  The though process goes like this:  Most human beings are born with five senses, and nearly everyone has more than one sense.  To really fully interface with a human being, devices should be multi-modal--i.e., they should communicate with their users using more than one sense.  This is not just an accessibility issue, but when well designed, it makes the product appealing for everyone.  For example, consider speech output in a radio.  If you are driving down an expressway at 75 mph, would you rather look at the radio's display while switching frequencies or click the buttons on the mic and listen to the radio's response?  Most people would really rather not take their eyes off the road if they don't have to.  There just needs to be a change in thinking along those lines, and many accessibility issues could be resolved.  In the case of the meter, there are also times when an operator might be ttrying to look at something else that they are adjusting, where it would be handy to hear a change rather than be forced to look at a meter.  If things are routinely designed that way, the costs of accessibility would go way way down.

73, de Lou K2LKK


At 03:48 PM 2/17/2008 -0700, you wrote:
>no one seems to know, other then that LDG has said they're not producing
>them anymore.
>Although, I thought someone had said they will stop production sometime in
>the late summer early fall of this year...so there may be another batch
>before it's all over.
>But, perhaps that is when they expect store stocks will run out or
>something.
>Also, they probably didn't get the market response they were hoping for, and
>can't afford to continue production on these particular devices.  That said,
>they may come out with another device late this year or early next year that
>has more features to appeal to a bigger market.
>Probably something with at least a digital readout on it...most hams, unless
>they're totally blind, aren't going to buy a meter that doesn't even have a
>readout on it, no matter how good the verbal accessibility is.
>They should also implement a USB or serial  port connection to put
>measurement data out to a computer or even a S-vidio out or VGA output would
>be great.
>
>73
>Colin, V A6BKX
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Vincent Wojtusik" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2008 2:45 PM
>Subject: tw-1
>
>
> >
> > does anyone know why the tw-1 is not going to be made any more
> > vinnie ka1gjb?
> >
> >
> >
> > --
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>2:16 PM
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>--
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>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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>5:50 AM

Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
Home e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
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Work Telephone:  (585) 697-5740