Document rob send Tello may have some partial programming done for the ICOM 7000 and the ham pod. You may want to check with him about that.

Sent from my iPhone this time 

> On Aug 25, 2015, at 8:10 PM, Lloyd Rasmussen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> Phil is the expert on the IC-7000, and has gotten a lot of mileage out of 
> it.
> Yet again, I'll state that you can't count all of the Yaesu equipment out. I 
> have had my FT950 for 7 years (it's my only active rig). There are 118 items 
> on menus, and you may need some help, or at least count clicks of the Select 
> knob to get to some of them, but you don't need to use the menus all that 
> much. This rig has real knobs for squelch, mike gain, CW speed, monitor 
> level, main tuning, RF gain, AF gain and VFO B. The Select knob (30 detents 
> per revolution) sets bandwidth, passband tuning, notch frequency, contour 
> frequency, or menu numbers from 1 to 118, among other things. The VFO B knob 
> adjusts the setting for a menu item. There are about 60 other push buttons 
> of various shapes, in clusters that can be learned. I have placed dymo tape 
> with dots on a few of them for faster orientation. I never got the hang of 
> the memories and memory banks, but the last three frequency/mode 
> combinations are memorized for each band, and any frequency from 30 KHz to 
> 56 MHz can be punched in. The FT-950 is no longer in production.
> If I were getting a new rig, it might be the TS590SG. But it might also be 
> the Yaesu FTDX-1200, the successor to the 950. I've never had my hands on 
> either of those radios, but suspect that the 1200 would have good ergonomics 
> and somewhat better receive specs than the FT950. It also, finally, is 
> controlled by a choice of USB or RS-232, whereas the FT-950 is RS-232 only.
> Although it covers bands from 160 meters through 432 MHz, I wouldn't 
> recommend the FT-991, because much of it is controlled by a touch screen. 
> I'm sure it could be computer-controlled, also, but I like having plenty of 
> knobs and buttons, with the beep feedback that tells you a surprising amount 
> about what you did with them.
> I, too, will be interested to see how Phil gets along with the N4PY 
> software. While not essential all of the time, it is useful with a rig like 
> the FT-950 to be able to control some of its functions from accessible 
> software.
> 73,
> 
> Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU, Kensington, MD
> http://lras.home.sprynet.com
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Phil Scovell
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 7:44 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Icom 7000 and speech
> 
> Frank,
> 
> I have been running the Icom 7000 since November of 2008.  I was having some
> neurological problems at the time and about the time I started learning how
> to run the rig, I ended up in the hospital having neck surgery.  It took a
> lot of courage to go back and start from the bottom up with the radio and
> with nothing more than a MS Word copy of the manual to help.  The Icom 7000
> is not a blind friendly radio in my opinion.  You access 90 percent of
> everything by entering menus when pressing a button.  Lot of things beep and
> double beep when pressed so that helps but the speech is restricted to
> frequencies, channels preprogrammed, the modes available, and signal
> strength.  In short, a blind guy better have a pretty good memory or take a
> lot of notes.  However, recently I found Icom software by N4PY that appears
> to be worth the 75 dollars.  I have talked with him personally and he has
> given me a list of hot keys he has built in to the control software.  I have
> not gotten it yet but it is next on my list.  The Icom 7000 receiver turned
> me on big time.  I have been a ham since age 14 in April of 1966 so I have
> run tube rigs all the way up the line to these fancy computerized radios.
> Frankly, I would buy, for a blind ham, one of the Kenwoods like even the
> TS590 you hear guys talking about on here.  I don't think the Icom 7000 is
> made any longer.  I worked 36 states and 3 countries the first year I had
> this rig on 6 meters.  I enjoy the 2 meter band on it as well and for an old
> CW operator, I have never fiddled with a better receiver for the money.  I
> wish this rig would have been available a long time ago because the learning
> curved wouldn't have been so bad if I were younger.  I also bought the QSY
> ER and I can almost control all of what I use on the radio from the separate
> keypad but microphone gain and other such things are hard to get to because
> they are in menus, or submenus, and you have to press different buttons to
> get to those settings, speech doesn't work in the menu settings, and I'm no
> kid any more.  If you can get a use 7000 for like 500 or 600 dollars and
> then buy the QSY ER from, I forget the guy who makes them, and if you want
> to interface using the N4PY control software, you will have a ball.  I'm
> mostly a CW operator so the phone settings and adjustments don't bother me
> so much but a guy or gal does like to know their radio.  Go with whatever
> you can get the most help with while learning.  If you like CW, so much the
> better, and in that case, consider some of the Ten Tec rigs.  Kenwood seems
> to have a corner on the market, though, for the blind ham.
> 
> Phil.
> K0NX