Hi Tom!

I think a watt meter that would report accurate information would be fine.
I'd rather it didn't talk, of course, because I'd rather get the information
in braille. If things must talk, and talk because there's no other way, then
please let it speak in English, and don't emit meaningless squeeks and
squawks  that I might hear without warning and only make me wonder what was
that supposed to mean?

Regarding the thin skins of the legal eyes, I saw an ad recently claiming to
offer to make documents more accessible, promising quick turn around of
quotes that would be competitive. It also mentioned that considerable money
could be saved if the original PDF document was provided for consideration.
With all that in mind, I asked them to give me a quot for making an Icom
receiver more accessible than I found it. I provided the original document
for consideration.

They did phone me within 24 hours as promised to say they could do the job
for $200 but questioned how I had acquired the document.

I'm not commenting on the price they quoted, but if they wanted their ad to
be taken as written, then they shouldn't have accused me of breaking some
law to get the document, when all I did was download the lousy document from
the Icom web site, which anyone could have done. I suspect if I had only
stated my need, they would have grabbed the document themselves to guide
them. 

I concluded they weren't with dealing with and told them so. If they were
willing to do the job, that was the only question. I know accessibility is
expensive, but there was no point in offering a price that most would be
unwilling to pay if they were going to be all hot and bothered about
copyright.

73,
Dave  

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Tom Fowle
Sent: Monday, 12 October 2015 4:14 p.m.
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: TW-1

Well Ron took care of asking LDG for help. actually most small business
people, and big ones too, are pretty paranoid about their products even
those they never plan to make again.  Darned Lawyers!

However, I shouldn't think it very difficult to reproduce a similar unit, it
mostly depends on who has what connections with what kind of manufacturing
setups.

Should those of us with some experience in trying this task get together,
perhaps in a seperate list, and see what we can thrash out?

As long as nobody has proprietary feelings about sharing work, we might be
able to put together various ideas and maybe even, <gasp!> get something
done?

Here's my thinking on what is actually needed. Skip rest if you're bored!

We don't really need a talking watt meter unless running legal limit and
need to be sure not going overboard.

What is really basically needed is an audible accessible vSWR meter. All you
really need to know is that the rig is seeing an swr that makes it happy.
Even with a manual tuner, that's all you need.


so a simple audio VCO design based on a cheap swr meter with an indication
of 2/1 or less VSWR will do for most purposes.

Look back at April 2013 QST for Bill Gerrey's article showing how to add
such a simple circuit to an MFJ meter.

It's simple, easy to reproduce, cheap in common parts  and does the job.

You'll hate it of course, cause everything just has to talk! <GRIN>

Have I stirred up a hornets nest? Or bored you to delete?
BTW, I believe Rob Santello of Hampods is working on a talking watt meter.


tom Fowle
WA6IVG

On Sun, Oct 11, 2015 at 08:24:58PM -0500, Dr. Ronald E. Milliman wrote:
> Brian, I have one of the TW-1 talking SWR/power meters, and have tried to
> obtain the schematic from LDG, and they will not provide it to anyone. We
> have reverse engineered it and are still working on this project. We are
> investigating several different circuits and options. The most expensive
> component is the voice module or chip, which can be pretty expensive,
> depending upon your objectives. 
> 
>  
> 
> Ron, K8HSY
> 
> President, Millitronics, Inc.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> 
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of kd8ase
> 
> Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 6:06 PM
> 
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> Subject: TW-1
> 
>  
> 
> Hello, all, This question is for anyone who owns the tw-1. I am looking
for=
> a schematic/partslist for this device.
> 
> I am talking to a couple engineer/technician friends and we are going to
tr=
> y reproducing this device.
> 
> TNX, Brian McFadden, KD8ASE
> 
>  
> 
> ---
> 
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> 
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
> 
> Retired Professor of Marketing
> 
>  
> 
> President: Millitronics, Inc. (millitronics.biz)
> 
> President: A3 Business Solutions (a3businesssolutions.com)
> 
> President: M&M Properties
> 
> President: South Central Kentucky Council of the Blind (SCKCB.ORG)
> 
>  
> 
>