Martin, you stated in your post:

For folks who are blind, the best way to convey a circuit is to describe it
in text. 

With that statement in mind, I don't know how many of you knew Bob
Gunderson, W2JIO, but many years ago he produced a monthly publication
called the Braille Technical Press in which there were several circuits
described in text each month. Bob was one of the most brilliant people I
have ever known, and he was a tremendous loss when he died, very much in the
league of Tim Crammer. 

It has become extremely difficult for us blind guys to homebrew our own gear
anymore, like we used to do. For that matter, it is extremely difficult for
anyone to homebrew their gear. Parts are not nearly as available as they
used to be, but the parts are so tiny. In Millitronics, we are working with
chips, for example, that are less than 10 mm long with as many as 64 pins
coming out of the bottom, and the pins are only 1/2 mm long which is only
about 0.0196 inches! Now, that is tiny! 

Ron, K8HSY
  

-----Original Message-----
From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Martin G. McCormick
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2015 3:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Cost of ham radio was: Hex Beams, cheap?

	The guy took a bath when he bought all the nice gear, right?

	There are a lot of very expensive hobbies. Amateur radio costs an
arm and a leg or it can cost next to nothing for the people who are smart
enough to build their own equipment or modify existing stuff they acquired
to do what they want to do.

	I would probably fit somewhere in the middle of that range. Remember
the discussion several days ago about light probes? I can build devices like
that and program PIC processors amongst other things but there are plenty of
things I have not conquered such as handling surface-mount parts.

	For folks who are blind, the best way to convey a circuit is to
describe it in text. I remember, as a boy, reading a book on electronics
that had been written in England. They tried to display schematics which
were okay if you just had a few parts but Braille schematics start looking
like a plate of spaghetti very quickly if the circuit is complex. One
doesn't know whether to pour spaghetti sauce on it and eat it or try to
build it.

	One thing I have always wished for but not been able to find is a
pair of gloves made of 1 layer of some fabric that doesn't burn or melt at
soldering temperature but is thin enough to feel through.

	Cotton gloves are perfect but will burn through in a fraction of a
second.

	With such gloves, one could use a standard soldering iron and guide
it in to where it needs to be without cooking other wires and parts near by.

	Anyway, it seems kind of like a game to see how much capability one
can figure out how to acquire for as little dough as possible.

	Things like software defined radios (SDR's) and software development
programs that let one create great things from one's own brain are exciting
since they hold the promise of being able to build like we've never built
before. The challenge will be to learn enough to be able to use these new
tools.

	We might spend $20 or $50 for the SDR and seventy-thousand Dollars
to get a graduate degree in advanced numerical analysis in order to listen
to CB Channel 19.

	In my case, I took 6 hours of Technical Calculous in the eighties,
squeaked by with a B in all but one semester in which I made a C due to not
fully mastering trig identities and felt grateful for that.

	Maybe I will have the time since I am retired to learn a few
numerical DSP techniques but we're talking really tough problems, here.

	Still, to keep on topic, I look for SDR and DSP to be great cost
reducers over time.

Martin

Jim Shaffer writes:
> Well sort of makes sense Colin.  If you don't shower, you need to talk 
> to folks via radio.