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Subject:
From:
"Dan B Dyer Jr,/Danny" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
For blind ham radio operators <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 28 Feb 2015 17:27:24 -0500
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (214 lines)
        (Readers' Note, This document is a cobbling together of notes from 
several people;

One, a very kind, sighted, Volunteer, who gave a "key by key description; 
and at least two blind ham users, who added observations as they used this 
receiver.

While a more complete accessible manual would be helpful,

this should get a blind user up and running:

(Note, as of 2-28-2015, this receiver was still available, new, from 
Amazon.com, and, in my experience, is one of the best performing, simplest 
to use, and most blind friendly and accessible portable communications 
receiver available;

And I have nothing to gain financially by saying so:

Danny Dyer, Wb4idu, Toccoa, GA, USA.)





Description/Keypad/Instructions For Sony ICF-SW7600GR


Part One,
Section A, Front Of Radio.
I will describe the whole layout of the 7600GR

Starting front top right, The first button is the Power ON/OFF button, it is 
slightly bigger than the others and is square.
Going left, the one next to it is the sleep button it is slightly smaller 
and if you press once it will sleep after 60 minutes, if you press it the 
second time 45 minutes, then 30 minutes, 15 minutes, if you press it again 
you hear a beep, which means its back to 60 minutes.
If you dont want it to sleep after that just press the ON/OFF button.
Going left, next is the hold or Lock =utton,/LeftRightSlideSwitch,
it has a rough surface,
When Switch is to the left, Unit Is Unlocked,
When Switch Is To The Right, Unit Is Locked.

Below This Row Of Three Controls,
Is The "Direct Frequency Entry Keypad,"
A Group Of12 Round Buttons,
Laid Out Like A Telephone Keypad,
 of four rows of 3keys each,
With A Dot On TheLower Mid Right Edge Of The 5.
Plus An Additional ThreeSimilar Buttons
Which Are Staggered A Little.

The Keys Are, From Left To Right,
And Top To Botttom,
1, 2, 3,
4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9,
D i r/Star, 0, E x e.
So basically from the power
button right down to the direct button everything is arranged as a 5
by 3 grid. 5 rows and 3 columns.

Now right below the EXE button is the scan button, going left is the
page button. going left more than usual and down a little is the
FM/AM button. Below the scan button is the tuning button for going
up the frequncy in increments of +5 khz for AM and +0.05 Mhz for FM.
Next going left in a curve downwards is a big tuning button, (printed below 
it is Time Diff and there are lines bracketing that button only.)
If you press on the right edge it goes up the frequency in +1khz and +0.05 
Mhz increments, if you press on the left edge it goes down the
frequency in -1khz and -0.05 Mhz decrements;
And if you hold down this button, it will not auto tune for any modulation 
FM or AM unlike the button before and the button after this:

To the left and curving downwards, is the final tuning button, which goes
down the frequency in -5khz or -0.05Mhz decrements.

Then, slightly to the left, there are 3 round small buttons, each of which 
has two functions printed above them. The first button once you go
left is the world time and AM Band button. Go left next is the DST/Daylight 
Saving Time,
and erase button. Go left and the third round small button is the
Local Time Set and Enter button,/Used To Enter Or Store Memories.)
{This button has a small round dent or crater at its' center.} Above the 3 
small round buttons are 2 rectangular buttons, which are used both to set 
standby memories, and for time set and timer set functions.
The left most is labeled A, the right most is labeled B.

There is one more button left on the front panel. You can feel the speaker 
which
has lots of holes on it, from the top left edge if you feel around it you'll 
find the SONY emblem.
when you go left you encounter a drain, which
is the frame of the lcd display and as you come out of the drain
you'll feel the light button. Dont worry is you accidently press it,
the light goes off after a few seconds.
Section B, Right Side Of Radio,

Now for the side buttons and switches. The right side starting from
the top you'll find a wheel, thats the SSB Fine Tune wheel.  If you
spin it up theres a plus arrow printed pointing upwards and
minus arrow printed pointing downwards, also printed is SSB Fine
Tune. Below it is a switch switching up and down two positions. Top
is USB bottom is LSB. There printed also is a line from USB and LSB
going to the next switch below connecting to the SSB and SYNC words.
So below the USB and LSB switch is the AM Mode switch which has
three positions top, middle and bottom. Top means towards the power button
or the SSB find tune wheel. Top is SSB, middle is SYNC and
bottom is NORM. Below this switch is the Tone switch which moves in
two positions top and bottom. Top is Music and bottom is News. Below
it is the Volume wheel spin upwards to increase and downwards to
decrease volume.

Section C, Left Side Of Radio,
On the left panel starting from the top is a 35mm socket i think
printed above it is AM EXT ANT for an external antenna. Next below
theres a wheel if you spin upwards is MIN and downwards is MAX and
printed from MIN and MAX is a line connecting to the next switch
below which is the ATT or Attenuator switch which moves in two
positions top and bottom top is ON, bottom is OFF. You can't work the
wheel without ON-ing the Attenuator switch. Below the anttenuator
switch is the line out socket 35mm and below that is the headphone
jack 35mm and below that is the power jack printed above right the
jack is DC IN 6V, polarities left to right, negative female, male
positive. Above the DC jack going upwards towards the front panel
written from left to right is ICF-SW7600GR, above it in smaller
words are FM Stereo/SW/MW/LW PLL Synthesized Receiver, just for your
info. One more thing just above your external antenna jack is the
strap to carry your 7600GR and if you follow the strap backwords
perpendicularly you'll feel the base of the telescopic antenna.
***********When it is extended
fully, you'll feel 8,  sections, ending in a very short cylinder at the top. 
Also the antenna opens up till
90 degrees and does not bend towards the back of the receiver.

Section D, Back Of Radio.
At the back there is the stand which opens up 85 degrees and printed on
it is a map of the worlds with vertical timezone lines and on the
right on the stand theres a table with popular city UTC +/-
differences. Below the left part of the stand is the battery cover,
you can feel three horizontal lines and and arrow pointing downwards.
The battery cover is opened by pushing it down slowly and it opens
upwards with a hinge at the top, opens 95 degrees. It takes 4 2AA batteries.
The top compartment positive on the left and negative on
the right for both batteries. Bottom compartment negative on the left and 
positive on the right for both batteries.

Part II, Direct Frequency And Memory Entry.

***Section A, Frequency Entry!
(To Directly Input A Frequency Into This Receiver,
1, Press the "Direct/* Key,
2, Enter The Desired Frequency, IE, 3.485,
3, Press Enter/Pound,
And The Radio Tunes To That Frequency.

At That Point You Can Then Enter
Mode, Page, Memory, And Any Other Information.)


Section B, Memory Entry,
There are 100 memories, 10 pages (0-9) with 10 memories per page.
The 7600___GRs' memories ARE___ ___non-volatile,  so you don't have to worry 
about
loosing memory when changing batteries or disconnecting power.  You can
store any frequency (AM/FM/shortwave) in any memory location and mix them up
any way you like.

You store memories by first selecting the page you want to program. The page
button is under the 0 key.  To program memories in page 1 press page then
press 1.  Each page has 10 memories (0-9).  To store memory 0 press and hold
the cratered enter or memory key and press 0.  You'll hear two quick beeps 
to confirm the
memory has been stored.  If you've previously stored any other memory on 
page one, and assuming you are still on page one, you can select its' digit, 
then select zero to return to the memory you'd just stored.

To select memory 3 of page 6 first press page then 6 then 3.  To scan all 10
memories on page 3 press the scan button, which is to the right of the page 
key.
To program a frequency into one of the two standby memories,
Perform steps in section A, then press and hold the Memory key followed by 
either standby memory A or B, you'll hear the 2 quick beeps indicating 
storage of that standby memory.

Part 3, Additional Notes
Note A,
F Y I, the FM range starts at 76 MHz, and covers the old analog channels 5 
(81.75 Mhz) and
channel 6 (87.75 MHz).  Sometimes the FM reception can be improved by
turning down the rf attenuator (thumb control on left side of radio near
antenna input).  If reception seems really bad when you think it should be a
clear signal, remember to check the rf attenuator.  Oh, and remember the 
attenuator
is switched on/off with the little  switch near the thumb control.
Note B,


If the radio ever starts to beep it means you have turned on one of the 
alarms.  There's no way to set the time but you can turn off the alarms by
pressing any key (or press the power button).  Then I think you need to turn
the radio off, then press and hold the alarm key for about 5 seconds, then
release it and tap it once.  Do this for both alarms.  The alarm buttons are
the flat buttons between the display and the 3 little buttons to the left of
the tuning controls.
(This in no way should effect standby memories you have previously 
programmed.
Note C.
There is a "total or "hard reset just a very small hole into which you'd 
insert a paper clip or something similar, thereby wiping out all previous 
settings; Either somewhere on the front, back, or bottom of the radio,
(but  not having had one of these receivers in hand for a couple of years, 
the "where" of that reset hole escapes me.

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