Exactly my thoughts, John. Of course, then I had to try it just to see if I
could. Still, it was kind of a warning that I was in for trouble. It's
just too much work for too little gain.
Steve
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 18:46
Subject: Re: Observations on Chirp
> Aaaaaahhhhhh, yeah, sighted help to select the radio would not work for
> me,
> not when I have individual programs that are more accessible for most if
> not
> all of my radios.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 5:57 PM
> Subject: Re: Observations on Chirp
>
>
>> John,
>>
>> I did look at that article, and one of the things that turned me off was
>> the
>> statement that you'd probably have to get sighted help to select the type
>> of
>> radio. In my opinion, if you've got other programs that work adequately,
>> you don't need this one.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Miller" <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 17:35
>> Subject: Re: Observations on Chirp
>>
>>
>>> there was a link on the page about using it with a screen reader,I
>>> haven't
>>> used it yet though did download it to try it, did you check out using it
>>> with a screen reader first? I'm just curious because if you did I may
>>> not
>>> even bother trying it, I did it more as something to try on a rainy day
>>> and
>>> I didn't check out that link yet. I have so many radio programming
>>> programs
>>> around now it's not even funny I just wondered if it was worth adding to
>>> the
>>> collection.
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Steve Dresser" <[log in to unmask]>
>>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 5:15 PM
>>> Subject: Observations on Chirp
>>>
>>>
>>>> For those who don't know the background, Tom Behler alerted us to a =
>>>> program called Chirp, free software that can edit data stored in the =
>>>> memories of several different radios from the "big three"
>>>> manufacturers,
>>>> =
>>>> as well as Wouxon, Alinko, and a few more. He expressed interest in
>>>> the
>>>> =
>>>> program, but said he didn't have time to look at it, and hoped that =
>>>> someone else could, and would report their findings. Since the program
>>>> =
>>>> got good reviews from www.hamradioandvision.com, and the price was =
>>>> right, I downloaded and installed it on my laptop which runs Windows XP
>>>> =
>>>> Pro with JAWS 12. Here are a few observations:
>>>>
>>>> 1. Although the program responds to some keyboard commands, it is by
>>>> no
>>>> =
>>>> means a standard Windows user interface. For example: although you can
>>>> =
>>>> activate the Radio menu with Alt+R and read the menu items by pressing
>>>> =
>>>> the arrow keys, once inside the menus you will have to use the JAWS =
>>>> cursor to navigate. JAWS will occasionally read items, but most of the
>>>> =
>>>> time you don't really know where you are, and entering data requires =
>>>> using the JAWS keystroke for left-clicking the mouse. It took me
>>>> almost
>>>> =
>>>> an hour to figure out how to select the com port and radio make and =
>>>> model, which is ok if you only have one radio, but a royal pain if you
>>>> =
>>>> have more than one and want to switch between them.
>>>>
>>>> 2. Although Help was one of the menu choices, I was unable to access =
>>>> anything in the Help system. I looked in the program folder and didn't
>>>> =
>>>> find anything even remotely resembling either a .HLP or .CHM file, both
>>>> =
>>>> of which are standard Windows extensions for help files. Since I found
>>>> =
>>>> no other documentation, I have to assume that you're pretty much on
>>>> your
>>>> =
>>>> own when it comes to figuring out how this software works.
>>>>
>>>> 3. Once I set up the COM port and manufacturer (in my case Kenwood), I
>>>> =
>>>> was able to use the program's auto-detect feature to find the correct =
>>>> model. This would have been more impressive if it hadn't taken so long
>>>> =
>>>> to figure out how to select the port, etc.
>>>>
>>>> 4. Once the data was read from the radio, a message popped up advising
>>>> =
>>>> me that since the TM-V71A operates in "live mode" (whatever the hell =
>>>> that is), any attempt to change the data will send the altered data to
>>>> =
>>>> the radio immediately, and that for best results, I should export the =
>>>> data to a .CSV file and edit it somewhere else. Incidentally, I had to
>>>> =
>>>> look around with the JAWS Cursor to find this message (not my idea of a
>>>> =
>>>> good time).
>>>>
>>>> 5. The data from the radio was presented in a table with each row =
>>>> representing the data from one memory. I didn't try to change anything
>>>> =
>>>> (see above), so I don't know how easy that would be, but given the rest
>>>> =
>>>> of my experience with this software, it just didn't seem worth the =
>>>> bother. Btw, JAWS couldn't recognize this as a table, which isn't much
>>>> =
>>>> of a surprise given the non-standard user interface.=20
>>>>
>>>> I can't speak for programming software from other companies, but the =
>>>> programs from Kenwood are far more screen-reader friendly than Chirp, =
>>>> despite whatever quirks they may have. Based on my experience thus
>>>> far,
>>>> =
>>>> I'd have to say that Chirp is about to be thrown into the bit bucket.
>>>>
>>>> Steve
>>>
>
|
