Regarding accessible amateur equipment.  Naturally it would be good to
patronize manufacturers who produce the most accessible equipment.  But in
addition to doing this informing the manufacturers that one of the reasons
we do is the fact that equipment is accessible.  I would be interested to
know if the accessibility features were implemented with accessibility in
mind at the design stages or was this a fortuitous circumstance that just
happened and accessibility is just a side benefit.  Example the TH-F6A, the
tones at specific places and the change of pitch may just have been placed
there do to other engineering issues.  It would be interesting to start a
serious dialogue with amateur manufacturers regarding an accessibility
policy.  Maybe establishing an adhoc group of amateurs that can provide
advice and suggestions to manufacturers on an organized basis so that cost
effective and valuable features be placed in equipment at minimal financial
and design cost to the equipment providers at the initial design stages.

Dave Marthouse N2AAM
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