Voice Announcement
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I think a word of caution might be in order here. I am not sure if Elecraft will add voice announcement or not. It is a good feature and found on many rigs today.
However, the K3 would not be my choice for a blind ham or a soon to be blind ham. I believe an older rig where all the knobs and buttons are for single use purpose would be a lot better. Not to mention a rig where there are not menus or not many menus might be more appropriate. I had enough trouble figuring out how to operate a K3 (especially using the menus and memory ) and I can still see. I would not know for sure what to recommend for a blind ham, but it sure would not be the K3. Toby W4CAK ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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Blind person often use a PC with a "reading software" (OT 'to read to
someone' - no single word for that ?) combined with a braille display. Creating an application using the available software - simple GUI, readable by the reading software, assessable by function/cursor keys - and abstracting the K3 to their ability could be a 'solution'. Anyone interested to start a conversation about that ? 73 de Thomas, DM7TN PS: Doesn't have to be limited to the K3 ... one GUI for many TRX ... just dreaming ;o) -----Original Message----- From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Toby Pennington Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 2:51 PM To: [hidden email] Subject: [Elecraft] Voice Announcement I think a word of caution might be in order here. I am not sure if Elecraft will add voice announcement or not. It is a good feature and found on many rigs today. However, the K3 would not be my choice for a blind ham or a soon to be blind ham. I believe an older rig where all the knobs and buttons are for single use purpose would be a lot better. Not to mention a rig where there are not menus or not many menus might be more appropriate. I had enough trouble figuring out how to operate a K3 (especially using the menus and memory ) and I can still see. I would not know for sure what to recommend for a blind ham, but it sure would not be the K3. Toby W4CAK ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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Thomas and everyone,
I wrote a small C program to do basic things that might also be easy to use for someone without sight. It could be used with text-to-speech software. (The dollar sign below is the command line prompt.) $ k2 -A VFO A: 14001.900 kHz $ k2 -B VFO B: 14003.470 kHz or $ k2 -a 14020 tune VFO A to 14.020 MHz $ k2 -s 2 14020 sets up a split for "up 2" $ k2 -c ab3ap sends the cw "AB3AP" $ k2 -t lo does a low power ATU tune I'm not sure, but seems to me a GUI would not be necessary or appealing for a blind operator? My software is a quick hack, but with some thought a better text interface might be created. Along those lines, http://hamlib.org has a rigctl command that might be an even more general solution to the problem. 73, Mike ab3ap On 04/18/10 09:58, Thomas Norff wrote: > Blind person often use a PC with a "reading software" (OT 'to read to > someone' - no single word for that ?) > combined with a braille display. > Creating an application using the available software - simple GUI, readable > by the reading software, assessable by function/cursor keys - and > abstracting the K3 to their ability could be a 'solution'. > > Anyone interested to start a conversation about that ? > > 73 de Thomas, DM7TN > > PS: Doesn't have to be limited to the K3 ... one GUI for many TRX ... just > dreaming ;o) Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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In reply to this post by Tobyp
To all:
At the present time, there is a pc program, k3voice, which gives limited access to the k3 display and settings. Elecraft plans to add access to all practical menu options in the future. As for operating a k3 while blind, I have been doing so for two years. The switchtone option is extremely helpful. While I have not yet figured out some things like psk and rtty decoding, noise reduction settings, and agc settings, the rig works well, and I only expect it to get better. Wayne and Eric have publicly promised access to all their rigs in the past, and I am confident they will come through. Where is KenYaecom with their million dollar engineering staffs with full access? I've only seen two, and rigs, and no promises, both rigs from kenwood. Yes Tobey, you are spot on that older rigs without menus are much easier to operate. However these are becoming like hen's teeth. I recently found an icom 751A with voice synth and external keypad. I, of course, snapped it up. Good discussion, let's keep it going if the list approves. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Toby Pennington" <[hidden email]> To: <[hidden email]> Sent: Sunday, April 18, 2010 8:51 AM Subject: [Elecraft] Voice Announcement >I think a word of caution might be in order here. I am not sure if >Elecraft will add voice announcement or not. It is a good feature and >found on many rigs today. > > However, the K3 would not be my choice for a blind ham or a soon to be > blind ham. I believe an older rig where all the knobs and buttons are > for single use purpose would be a lot better. Not to mention a rig where > there are not menus or not many menus might be more appropriate. > > I had enough trouble figuring out how to operate a K3 (especially using > the menus and memory ) and I can still see. > > I would not know for sure what to recommend for a blind ham, but it sure > would not be the K3. > > Toby W4CAK > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[hidden email] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus > signature database 5038 (20100418) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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In reply to this post by Tobyp
Toby et al,
Like Gary Lee, I'm a blind ham and have been using the K3 quite successfully for the past two years. As stated by others, Elecraft has promised improved access to the K3 for such things an the config menus. After some initial sighted help to set a few of the menu settings, I've managed to utilize most of the features including the NB NR CW and voice memories, all split functions and diversity RX. I operate 99% CW on the low bands chasing DX. Also, the FW upgrades are a breeze with the K3 utility. Previously, I've owned many other rigs with menus that were much more difficult to use with out sighted assistance. Some of those include: FT-1K-MP, MP Field, IC-756 Pro and by far the most difficult and questional performance was the FT-2000. In summary, I'm delighted with the K3, its performance is outstanding, the support from Elecraft is great and I'm sure they will continue to improve the access for us blind hams. 73, Bob K3UL K3: 1572 and 3004 ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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I must add a few words about my blind Topband buddy K3UL. Bob is an excellent operator and one of the top low band DXers on worldwide with over 300 confirmed on 160. He even goes on occasional DXpeditions to ZF2UL. Bob also does some of his own tower work even though he's totally blind. Here's an interesting comment from Earl K6SE (now SK) from a few years ago:
http://lists.contesting.com/archives//html/Topband/2004-03/msg00213.html "If you follow these rules, you can very accurately design a shunt feed system. Of the many requests I've had, one I remember best is Bob's, K3UL. He asked me what the parameters might be for his tower (shunt wire spacing, tie point and value of gamma capacitor), so I modeled his structure and e-mailed the details to him. Bob installed the shunt feed on his tower and e-mailed back to me that it was right on the money. What was so gratifying about this is that Bob is a blind amateur and did the work himself. He now has one of the biggest signals on Topband from the east coast here on the west coast." The next time you think you can't do something...just remember Bob! 73, Bill W4ZV
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Administrator
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In reply to this post by Mike Markowski-2
We also have the ' K3voice' PC program on our web page.
73, Eric _..._ "Mike Markowski" <[hidden email]> wrote: >Thomas and everyone, > >I wrote a small C program to do basic things that might also be easy to >use for someone without sight. It could be used with text-to-speech >software. (The dollar sign below is the command line prompt.) > > $ k2 -A > VFO A: 14001.900 kHz > $ k2 -B > VFO B: 14003.470 kHz > >or > > $ k2 -a 14020 tune VFO A to 14.020 MHz > $ k2 -s 2 14020 sets up a split for "up 2" > $ k2 -c ab3ap sends the cw "AB3AP" > $ k2 -t lo does a low power ATU tune > >I'm not sure, but seems to me a GUI would not be necessary or appealing >for a blind operator? My software is a quick hack, but with some >thought a better text interface might be created. Along those lines, >http://hamlib.org has a rigctl command that might be an even more >general solution to the problem. > >73, >Mike ab3ap > >On 04/18/10 09:58, Thomas Norff wrote: >> Blind person often use a PC with a "reading software" (OT 'to read to >> someone' - no single word for that ?) >> combined with a braille display. >> Creating an application using the available software - simple GUI, readable >> by the reading software, assessable by function/cursor keys - and >> abstracting the K3 to their ability could be a 'solution'. >> >> Anyone interested to start a conversation about that ? >> >> 73 de Thomas, DM7TN >> >> PS: Doesn't have to be limited to the K3 ... one GUI for many TRX ... just >> dreaming ;o) >______________________________________________________________ >Elecraft mailing list >Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft >Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >Post: mailto:[hidden email] > >This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[hidden email] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html |
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