Hi all,

The below message is something I'll be sending to Howard's friend K9EYE, 
once I get his e-mail address.   I got a few requests to either send it 
or post to the list, so here it is.  It's long, it rambles, and proves 
once and for all that i don't know my amp from an ohm in the ground. 
If the RTTY and JAWS subject doesn't interest you, delete now.

73, Steve KW3A

*****


Hi Pierre,

Howard WA9TOP had posted your question about  running RTTY using JAWS to 
the blind hams list.   I'm neither a RTTY nor JAWS expert, but I do 
operate the mode and maybe  some of the following information will help 
you get going.


You have a few options here.  first is to try and use your current setup 
with hyper terminal and TNC.    I haven't done this, but it may be 
doable.  Set up  your radio, tnc, and terminal software.   Tune to a 
rtty signal, hit insert-s until JAWS  says "all". Tune slowly across the 
signal until JAWS starts speaking clear text.  One problem with setting 
insert-s to "all" is that other junk on the screen may also be read, 
confusing things.  If this is a problem       I would try putting a JAWS 
frame around the terminal window where the received text is displayed. 
   If you look up "frames" in JAWS help, you will know as much as I do 
about it.   As you go through the process to make the frame, tell it to 
read the incoming text as it is displayed.

If possible, it's nice to have sighted help just to confirm that  text 
from the radio/tnc is actually getting to the terminal screen.   Or use 
the JAWS cursor to see what is displayed.   If you aren't getting text 
to the screen, there is a problem further up the  chain that needs to be 
addressed.


A second option is to read the article on this site:

www.HamRadioAndVision.com

Look for the link that says "screen reader access to digital modes".

If you don't go entirely this way, you may be able to combine some of 
what he does with your existing set up and get something to work.

Third option is the way I do it.   This would do away with the TNC and 
use software and the pc.  I use the free MMTTY software:

http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmtty.php

This will use your computer's sound card to decode the RTTY signals you 
receive.   For transmit, you can either use AFSK (audio frequency shift 
keying) which uses the sound card to  create the RTTY tones, or FSK 
(frequency shift keying)  where the radio is hard keyed and the  sound 
card isn't used.    I've always prefered using FSK.  This way the sound 
card isn't involved with the transmit side, and you don't have to worry 
about JAWS or other computer sounds going out over the air.  Another 
benefit to FSK is that usually the filtering in the radio is narrower 
which makes it easier to tune in the signal.

I've found  that putting a JAWS frame around the MMTTY RX windo (as 
mentioned above) makes reading   the received text better.

Different radios offer FSK under different names: RTTY, DATA, or 
something else.   Some don't offer this and you put the radio in LSB and 
use AFSK transmission.   My new TS-590 offers ssb data mode which I 
think allows setting narrow filters (better for tuning via JAWS), but I 
haven't played with this yet.

Hope you can get it running.  I've got around 85 countries logged using 
MMTTY and JAWS.   It's not  a simple 1-2-3 process, and may drive you 
nuts till you get it right.   I've always enjoyed the mode and am 
willing to put up with some aggravation and limitations  to get it 
working.     Getting the RX side and JAWS to read is always the hard 
part.   If you can't get your RX side working,no matter which of the 
above options you go with,  there is no sense worrying about the  TX 
side.  If you do away with the TNC, you may need some  sort of interface 
to get this all working, but nobody said this was a cheap hobby.

73, Steve KW3A