Message-Id: <20020725174648.ZZKV1211.imf08bis.bellsouth.net@[209.214.148.38]> Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 13:46:54 -0400 Buddy wrote: >On Thu, Jul 25, 2002 at 08:55:06AM -0400, Ten-Tec Inc. Amateur Radio >Sales wrote: >[snip] >> There are not alot of menus but there are some. We try to make >>it as easy and understandable >> as we can. There are no audible cues to the functions at least >>in the software coming out >> with the first Argonauts. >Then I submit that you haven't made the menus as easy to use as you >can. Making the radio beep when rotoring through the first or last >menu option would be an extremely small change but would make the >menus easier for *everyone* to use. Say you're dialing through a >menu off in la-la-land and not paying attention as you ought while >menu text scrolls across the display. If the radio beeped at some >known point in the menu, you'd know (without looking) where you >were and could easily get to where you want to be from that point. >This isn't just something useful to blind ops like myself. Must agree with BUddy here. I"m considering a second hf radio now to serve a couple purposes: FIrst and foremost, backup for the rig here at the shack. SEcondly, mobile and portable operation with this radio. My xyl is sighted, and speech or cw output of display text would be a boon to her as well. WE both are licensed amateurs. >> No, there is no keypad available for the Argonaut. >I would suggest that one be made available as an option. Could not >the one built for the Pegasus be drafted into service somehow? A keypad is another handy item. For mobile ops one can program frequencies directly into the radio, keeping one's eyes on the road where they belong. I've always thought highly of Ten-tec products and heard good things about the customer service. Also I'd rather buy a transceiver built in the good ol' U.S.A. HOwever, it looks as if I'm going to be looking Kenwood, and possibly Icom depending on the radio for my next new transceiver buy. The blind are a sizable population in the amateur radio community in this country. Also there are many mobile ops whose primary use of radio is while mobile. the added safety these users would derive from many accessibility features is priceless. ten-tec is known for building high quality equipment, and with some small feature changes many more amateurs would be singing your praises. Please consider implementing them in your next product revision. Again, as the rig stands right now it would not be among my considerations for a purchase, and sometime this fall a new radio is coming to this shack. I'm also a real America booster and would much rather be serving the public and communicating on a radio made in the U.S. I have many friends who have earlier products and they all have good things to say about your service after the sale. IN one cased you swapped circuit boards with a man two or three times until you found one that was good for him. You even shipped the replacement before he'd shipped the defective circuit board back to you. That's service worth paying for, especially when you can support American industry and American workers at the same time. Thanks for responding to my friend in a timely manner, and please pass our communications on to the folks in the engineering department. THanks again and 73 de kb0ruu/5 P.O. box 13162 New Orleans La. 70185-3162 Phone: (504) 895-6711 Richard Webb Electric Spider Productions "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." --- Benjamin Franklin November 1755 braille: support true literacy for the blind!