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Date: | Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:24:29 -0400 |
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Below is the message I sent to k7bv concerning Yaesu and accessibility. I
will forward any replies I receive from him.
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Sir:
My name is Gary Lee, and I am a blind Extra class amateur.
I recently heard about your new position with Vertex Standard, and would
like your help in trying to change the aparent attitude of this company
toward the blind ham. I will illustrate below.
At the Dayton ham fest this year I stopped by the Yaesu booth to inquire
about the ft-817 tranceiver. I am largely a qrp operator, and this rig
would answer well for a general purpose travel radio.
I asked to speak with someone who was very familiar with this radio. My
purpose was to see about sitting down with that person and the rig to see
if there were work-arounds to allow the blind user to operate it.
I was then routed to Mr. Chip Margelli (pardon the spelling). The response
from both he and the other rep, Carrol, was to use all their efforts to
disuade me from even considering this purchase. Frankly this was a very
disappointing experience, and has only served to convince me even more that
Vertex Standard doesn't care to have our business.
For an amateur radio manufacturer to display this attitude is very
disconcerting. As has been noted in many QST articles the ham population
in the U.S. is steadily aging. With age usually comes reduced vision,
motor dexterity, and other problems. It would seem to me that making
equipment more friendly to disabled users would be an excellent marketing
strategy for the future.
Finally, I will conclude with an illustration of the complete opposite of
this attitude. Several years ago I wrote Wayne Burdick of Elecraft
concerning the use of the k2 by a blind individual. This contact not only
yielded the krc2 with optional access firmware and cw readout of nearly
every item on the k2 display, but the release of the kx1, and the
subsequent public promise from Wayne that all their future rigs would have
at least cw access to all visual display functions. This from a small
american company with obviously smaller development resources than
Vertex. Also, Kenwood and Icom have demonstrated some commitment to access
with many of their recent offerings, and at least for Kenwood, access has
steadily improved since the mid 1980s.
I ask that you please take these comments and observations to the correct
people at Yeasu. In my experience, many blind hams have expressed interest
in Yaesu equipment in the past, but when they have tried to deal with
Vertex Standard on access issues they have consistently encountered
outright resistance to any consideration of accessibility.
I am available, and quite willing to work with anyone at Vertex Standard on
rectifying these problems.
Sincerely,
Gary Lee
kb9zuv
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