Dave,
Well of course the "holy grail" of this field would be a cheap braille
display, so cheap one could have small ones on watt meters etc.  That's
another kettle of worms, I've run across every way of doing braille displays
that won't work since the invention of hammer and nail, and we ain't there
yet.

As for the copyright issue, if you own the receiver then making the manual
accessible should be a legal 'no-brainer" 
tom Fowle

On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 04:36:46PM +1300, Dave Allen wrote:
> Hi Tom!
> 
> I think a watt meter that would report accurate information would be fine.
> I'd rather it didn't talk, of course, because I'd rather get the information
> in braille. If things must talk, and talk because there's no other way, then
> please let it speak in English, and don't emit meaningless squeeks and
> squawks  that I might hear without warning and only make me wonder what was
> that supposed to mean?
> 
> Regarding the thin skins of the legal eyes, I saw an ad recently claiming to
> offer to make documents more accessible, promising quick turn around of
> quotes that would be competitive. It also mentioned that considerable money
> could be saved if the original PDF document was provided for consideration.
> With all that in mind, I asked them to give me a quot for making an Icom
> receiver more accessible than I found it. I provided the original document
> for consideration.
> 
> They did phone me within 24 hours as promised to say they could do the job
> for $200 but questioned how I had acquired the document.
> 
> I'm not commenting on the price they quoted, but if they wanted their ad to
> be taken as written, then they shouldn't have accused me of breaking some
> law to get the document, when all I did was download the lousy document from
> the Icom web site, which anyone could have done. I suspect if I had only
> stated my need, they would have grabbed the document themselves to guide
> them. 
> 
> I concluded they weren't with dealing with and told them so. If they were
> willing to do the job, that was the only question. I know accessibility is
> expensive, but there was no point in offering a price that most would be
> unwilling to pay if they were going to be all hot and bothered about
> copyright.
> 
> 73,
> Dave  
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Tom Fowle
> Sent: Monday, 12 October 2015 4:14 p.m.
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: TW-1
> 
> Well Ron took care of asking LDG for help. actually most small business
> people, and big ones too, are pretty paranoid about their products even
> those they never plan to make again.  Darned Lawyers!
> 
> However, I shouldn't think it very difficult to reproduce a similar unit, it
> mostly depends on who has what connections with what kind of manufacturing
> setups.
> 
> Should those of us with some experience in trying this task get together,
> perhaps in a seperate list, and see what we can thrash out?
> 
> As long as nobody has proprietary feelings about sharing work, we might be
> able to put together various ideas and maybe even, <gasp!> get something
> done?
> 
> Here's my thinking on what is actually needed. Skip rest if you're bored!
> 
> We don't really need a talking watt meter unless running legal limit and
> need to be sure not going overboard.
> 
> What is really basically needed is an audible accessible vSWR meter. All you
> really need to know is that the rig is seeing an swr that makes it happy.
> Even with a manual tuner, that's all you need.
> 
> 
> so a simple audio VCO design based on a cheap swr meter with an indication
> of 2/1 or less VSWR will do for most purposes.
> 
> Look back at April 2013 QST for Bill Gerrey's article showing how to add
> such a simple circuit to an MFJ meter.
> 
> It's simple, easy to reproduce, cheap in common parts  and does the job.
> 
> You'll hate it of course, cause everything just has to talk! <GRIN>
> 
> Have I stirred up a hornets nest? Or bored you to delete?
> BTW, I believe Rob Santello of Hampods is working on a talking watt meter.
> 
> 
> tom Fowle
> WA6IVG
> 
> On Sun, Oct 11, 2015 at 08:24:58PM -0500, Dr. Ronald E. Milliman wrote:
> > Brian, I have one of the TW-1 talking SWR/power meters, and have tried to
> > obtain the schematic from LDG, and they will not provide it to anyone. We
> > have reverse engineered it and are still working on this project. We are
> > investigating several different circuits and options. The most expensive
> > component is the voice module or chip, which can be pretty expensive,
> > depending upon your objectives. 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Ron, K8HSY
> > 
> > President, Millitronics, Inc.
> > 
> >  
> > 
> >  
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > 
> > From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > On Behalf Of kd8ase
> > 
> > Sent: Sunday, October 11, 2015 6:06 PM
> > 
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > 
> > Subject: TW-1
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Hello, all, This question is for anyone who owns the tw-1. I am looking
> for=
> > a schematic/partslist for this device.
> > 
> > I am talking to a couple engineer/technician friends and we are going to
> tr=
> > y reproducing this device.
> > 
> > TNX, Brian McFadden, KD8ASE
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > ---
> > 
> > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> > 
> > https://www.avast.com/antivirus
> > 
> >  
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > Dr. Ronald E. Milliman
> > 
> > Retired Professor of Marketing
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > President: Millitronics, Inc. (millitronics.biz)
> > 
> > President: A3 Business Solutions (a3businesssolutions.com)
> > 
> > President: M&M Properties
> > 
> > President: South Central Kentucky Council of the Blind (SCKCB.ORG)
> > 
> >  
> > 
> >