[MIham] Re Michigan Path To Japan?
Duane Fischer, W8DBF
dfischer at usol.com
Thu Nov 22 21:37:52 EST 2007
Hi Hank,
Please do not take this the wrong way, as I definitely appreciate your most
gracious offer to help with a screen reader.
I worked as a third party software developer with Texas Instruments Inc. in
1980-1982 when they developed TTS - Text To Speech. I still have the
original 90K diskette in my bottom desk drawer that has all the program
language in Assembler.
All that 'talks' via synthetic speech is a direct result of this software.
I have used JFW (JAWS For Windows) since it was first released by Ted Henter
who owned Henter-Joyce Inc. in FL. Prior to that I used the DOS screen
reading programs JAWS For DOS $495 and G.W. Micro's Vocal-Eyes for $450. In
fact, I still use them every day!
The problem is that the characters you see on the CRT are not solid, such as
the ones in DOS using ASCII were. What Windows has is GUI (Graphic User
Interface) and the letter "A", for instance, is upper case and composed of
dozens of tiny graphic symbols that have no language sound. That is, the
human voice and English language do not contain auditory sounds for the
graphic characters. Hence, they can not be spoken.
While it looks just fine to you on the CRT, it looks a lot different to the
computer!
When DOS was the OS, the blind - sight handicapped - print handicapped had a
fantastic device! DOS offered almost 'NO' limits! What it could not do, I
could make it do! Windows is exactly the reverse!
The DOS based screen reading programs, and external speech synthesizers,
were the best thing to come along for the blind, as well as other forms and
kinds of physical handicaps, since the invention of Braille. But Windows may
take it all away Hank! Nobody really cares, as the totally blind are a small
percentage of the number of blind, most are legally blind. The market value
for the blind, well it is mighty small, so companies do not want to waste
R&D time and money when they are only going to get back a few million for
their investment of a quarter of a million, when they could do something
else for the same investment and make fifteen to fifty million!
I am in Genesee County east of Flint toward Davison Hank. Perhaps we can get
together here and I can show you how my three dedicated computer systems
work and sound. If you see it, understanding is much quicker and far more
comprehensive.
I use the original Icom 756 transceiver. I bought it used in August of 1998
and love her! I have the UT-102 speech module installed, but all it speaks
is the frequency on demand and the incoming signal strength. It does not
tell me the mode, menu items etc.
I also have the Millennium QSYER external keypad connected. It has one small
cable using 1/8 inch male plugs on each end. One goes to the Millennium
QSYER and the other to the 'data port' on the back of the Icom 756. It
operates off an internal 9 VDC battery.
Although the Icom 756 has a keypad, it is vertical. The keypad is
horizontal! Using the transceiver keypad you must use two hands: one to
press the 'input' button and the other to enter the desired frequency, then
press the 'input' button again. All of this must be done in X seconds or ...
Very tedious! The keypad is a touch tone style pad with four buttons across
and four up/down. Sixteen in all. The four that form the column on the far
right are special functions; memory number, VFO A/VFO B, split on/off and
"Speak". The "Speak" button only works when the speech module, the Icom
UT-102 is installed, and the transceiver or receiver supports it. My
original Icom 756 does not! But the 756 Pro series, the 746 and Pro series,
R-75 and others do. No big deal! I just press the "speak" button on the Icom
and it does the same thing!
I do NOT have a computer in the Ham Shack Hank. On purpose! I am trying to
listen to a Ham talk and I do not want to be distracted by the computer
suddenly starting to speak telling me what is now on the CRT as a line has
scrolled up! (Unlike the program you mentioned for your friend Hank, JFW or
JAWS For DOS or Vocal-EYES 3.0 for DOS or Windows-Eyes all read the screen
any time any thing changes!)
I know we can help your friend get better speech and give him full control
of it Hank! I will be glad to help out if you so desire.
If you explained to me "what" the DX cluster looks like, I may be able to
figure out some way to get enough data from it to enable me to use it.
I was blinded on the ee of my eighteenth birthday in October of 1964 by a
stranger who was Pheasant hunting. He and his buddy, were on my parents
property, and it is zoned residential! You must be so many hundred feet from
houses to hunt, legally. A bird went up, he turned and hip shot from sixty
feet away. He hit me with number six shot from a twelve gauge shotgun from
the chest up. I lost all eyesight instantly.
I was blessed with many talents, including a near photogenic memory. I can
recall almost everything I ever saw still. This is very helpful to me, as I
can visualize in my mind what things look like, their physical placement,
their colors, their size in respect to some other thing etc. I understand
length, width and depth, as well as inches, feet, yards, miles or meters.
Once a sighted person helps me create a visual picture in my 'minds eye', I
can do many things on, and off, a computer that I could not do otherwise.
Thank you very much Hank for your tips and suggestions. I will give them a
try and see if I can work Japan etc.
I was a Short-Wave listener in 1959-1963 and sent airmail letters I bought
at the post office for eleven cents each, I think. I wrote my reception
report on one side, folded it into thirds, wrote the address it was going to
on the other side. It was already stamped Par Avion, airmail, which was
eleven cents then.
One of the most beautiful QSL cards I ever received was from the time signal
station JJY in Tokyo Japan. It came by "boat mail"! They spelled my name
wrong, got the street address wrong etc. But it got here! Now with a nine
digit zip code it would be forever lost! (LOL!)
Back then the QSL cards, Ham or SWL, almost never came in an envelope, just
bare, like a postcard was. They almost never got lost either.
Hank, I used Whites Radio Log which was in Popular Electronics each
December, I think! No mailing addresses, just frequencies, country, station
call etc. So I mailed my airmail letters to Radio Moscow, Moscow, Russia or
Radio Station JJY, Tokyo, Japan. Every single one arrived! Won't happen
nowadays!
The JJY card was a bright yellow with an image of an Oriental doll. The doll
was in full color. The main lettering was in bright red. The regular print
was in black. It was gorgeous! I still have it.
Where do I find a "DX Cluster" Hank? I know that the Icom 756 has a fancy
scope and all sort of DX data displays, but since I can not see it, it does
me no good. I know that some of the Hams I talk with have some way that
they are alerted when a band has an opening or a predetermined beacon, or
whatever, suddenly is audible. I think some of it is from their transceiver
and the other is from some web site their computer is keeping an eye on.
Thank you very much.
Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
dfischer at usol.com
HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
http://www.w9wze.net
HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
hhrp.w9wze.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "hank k8dd" <k8dd at arrl.net>
To: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
Cc: <miham at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 8:40 PM
Subject: Re: [MIham] Re Michigan Path To Japan?
>I don't operate much SSB - Mostly CW. But I do see the DX spots for SSB
> on the DX clusters. I think I have somewhere over 200 countries on
> Phone,
> but I don't keep track of them like I do with CW and Mixed D X C C . I
> would
> believe that the propagation for SSB would be the same as for CW.
> Generally
> 17 through 10 meters would open to JA in the late afternoon to early
> evening
> and on 20 meters it would open in the morning, just after dawn.
>
> The only screen reader I am familiar with is Read Please which won't read
> the
> scrolling lines. When I was working I saw a program called JAWS that was
> used
> as Social Security Administration, but I don't know if it can handle
> the scrolling.
> I also visited a ham in Oak Ridge Tennessee last month who has no sight.
> He
> uses some kind of a hardware board in the PC that he uses for logging that
> speaks every letter that he types and everything he receives - that was
> really
> neat.
>
> I helped my cousin in Wisconsin who has macular degeneration set up Read
> Please and he is quite happy with it. If I run across anything that
> will work with
> the DX clusters, I'll let you know.
>
> 73 Hank K8DD
>
>
>
> On Nov 22, 2007 12:34 PM, Duane Fischer, W8DBF <dfischer at usol.com> wrote:
>> Thank you Hank.
>>
>> I am totally blind, now. I was blinded the eve of my eighteenth birthday
>> in
>> October of 1964 by a stranger who shot me instead of a Pheasant from
>> sixty
>> feet away.
>>
>> Because of being totally blind, and using a software based screen reading
>> program, many times I am not able to 'read' the screens on DX groups etc.
>>
>> I noticed most of your contacts were done using CW, which I can do, but
>> it
>> tends to bother my hearing after a while. Hence, I prefer SSB when
>> possible.
>> Any success there? The days of AM DX are nearly gone! Fun to do though!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
>> dfischer at usol.com
>> HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
>> http://www.w9wze.net
>> HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
>> hhrp.w9wze.net
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "hank k8dd" <k8dd at arrl.net>
>> To: <miham at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 8:51 AM
>> Subject: Re: [MIham] Re Michigan Path To Japan?
>>
>>
>>
>> > Last night, about 9:45 Local, 0245 UTC, I worked E51MMM on So. Cook
>> > Island at 355 degrees on 20 CW
>> > A couple of nights ago I worked VK6HD about 4:45 PM, or 2145 UTC long
>> > path on 80 CW.
>> > JA and BY have been spotted on the DX cluster between 2300 UTC and
>> > 0200 UTC on 20 meters.
>> > I haven't heard much in that direction on 15 meters. The signals that
>> > way from the far east have been decent on 20 meters.
>> > I've also worked the Pacific on 30 meters with a dipole at 60 ft in
>> > the evenings - usually from 8 to 10 pm, or 0100 to 0300 UTC.
>> > You might try connecting to one of the DX packet clusters and listen
>> > to the spots. On some of them you can filter the spots so that you
>> > only get spots from the SE Asia. Or you can filter so that you only
>> > get spots from the midwest. Lots of options!
>> >
>> > 73 Hank K8DD
>> >
>> > On Nov 21, 2007 11:27 PM, Duane Fischer, W8DBF <dfischer at usol.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Hello All,
>> >>
>> >> I realize that we are just emerging from the depths of the sun spot
>> >> sewer
>> >> cycle and propagation paths are a real puzzle. But I am wondering if
>> >> any
>> >> of
>> >> you in Michigan have had any success in working Japan and the South
>> >> Pacific
>> >> as well as India, China, Singapore, Taiwan, Pakistan etc.?
>> >>
>> >> If so, would you please tell me the band, the aprox. frequency of the
>> >> activity and the time of day using UTC?
>> >>
>> >> Did you point the directional antenna directly at the country or use
>> >> an
>> >> over
>> >> the pole path?
>> >>
>> >> I have had absolutely zero success on fifteen and twenty meters so I
>> >> would
>> >> really appreciate your suggestions of the best way to work the
>> >> aforementioned countries. Thank you very much for giving the old blind
>> >> dude
>> >> a hand.
>> >>
>> >> Duane W8DBF
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Duane Fischer, W8DBF/WPE8CXO
>> >> dfischer at usol.com
>> >>
>> >> HHI: Halligan's Hallicrafters International
>> >> http://www.w9wze.net
>> >>
>> >> HHRP: Historic Halligan Radio Project
>> >> hhrp.w9wze.net
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> MIham mailing list
>> >> MIham at mailman.qth.net
>> >> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/miham
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> >
>> > 'Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their
>> > level then beat you with experience.' -anon
>> > --
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>> > http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/miham
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
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>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
>
> 'Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their
> level then beat you with experience.' -anon
> --
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.2/1142 - Release Date:
> 11/20/2007 5:44 PM
>
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