Blind Hams. Advice please

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paulears
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Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by paulears »

I sell radios to hams, business and marine on my website and via ebay and I’ve had a nice guy call me twice now, and I’m a bit stuck. He’s blind, and has one eye, and that with a magnifying glass has some sight. However, he can’t read screens so the internet is out. He wants to talk to people in other countries and also has had a couple of strokes so his speech is also tricky on the phone. He tells me he wants to be a ham. I’ve explained about the different classes but even that he’s struggling with. I’ve suggested joining the local radio club, and maybe investigating the UK radio groups for blind people, but I don’t think I’m doing a good job. He is about an hour away and wants to come to me to buy one.

Frankly, my feeling is that with virtually no sight, DMR is impossible and programming from the radio limits it to analogue and probably not the now common multi menu radios as reading the little symbols is vital.

Has anyone got friends who are blind who have taken an exam, got licenced and found suitable equipment? I’d like to help him, but his expectations are high and his technical level is very low.
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bigpimp347
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by bigpimp347 »

he just wants a couple of single, double or four channel PMR radios set up on each band in use,
so 4mtr, 2mtr 70cms, maybe simplex or repeaters.
without sound rude or callous he's pretty much buggered..
ye she can get Kenwood HF sets with voice boards as well as a voice board for a CB
but anything else is going to be difficult..
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Alan Pilot
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Alan Pilot »

DMR TG91 talk world wide.
Just a thought as i heard a blind operator on there last night.
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Werthers
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Werthers »

DMR would be difficult unless the radio had talk back menu.

You wont be talking to the world on 2 or 70 unless the repeaters had echo link but that side of things has gone to DMR now and working DX into Europe on 2 or 70 is not an often occurrence.

4 meters is dead unless there are some nets in his local area.

An old fairly basic HF set should be fine for a blind person although not all blind people are the same. I knew a blind ham who had an HF set and he learned how to use it.

It doesn't necessarily mean that because somebody is blind that they are screwed it just means they have other ways of using things.

A four channel radio VHF or UHF would be a good start with a local repeater channel, a calling channel then two simplex channels.
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Alan Pilot »

The Retevis rt3s i have talks when you turn the channel knob as in 1 2 3 and so on.
It was just a thought as i have just set this up but only stay on the 1 TG well so far lol.
paulears
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by paulears »

Yep much as I tried to explain. I sat in the office surrounded by the radios I’ve bought for me to use over the years and I can come up with a few that could be programmed by somebody else and then put into memory mode, they’d be nigh on impossible to actually program. DMR really means computers, and I don’t know if somebody with virtually no sight can make much progress. The DMR menus are very deep, and everything is a reaction to what you see, even down to yes/no choices. I suppose you could organise the memory’s to have memory or channel or zone 1 to have something recognisable in it, so you’d then remember talk group 8 is six clicks further on the dial? You could use a continuously on channel, a pager, or a local digital channel that rumbled on all the time, or an air band atis if the radio does air band. I know blind people can use iPhones to send texts and emails with little overlays on the screen to denote where the buttons are under the glass but ham radio seems very difficult
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Alan Pilot »

It is a difficult one.
I only suggested DMR as i have just set it up for the first time myself.
Only put TG91 in so far and that is a world wide TG and been on it for 4 days now lol but it is active 24/7.
There is a guy localish to me just lost his sight so i will ask him for any tip's.
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by GanjaSnake »

My friend Simon K6DXN is blind and on DMR, the GD-77 radio from Radioddity.com can be upgraded with the OpenGD-77 firmware to allow better accessibility. Plenty of blind hams out there using this gear on DMR. Take a look at https://blind-hams.groups.io/g/main

There's TG's for blind hams on Brandmeister and TGIF, I'm sure you can find a lot of help there.
paulears
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by paulears »

Useful info, most appreciated. I’ll pass it on.
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by 26mb04 »

There are some radios that have a voice announce addon, I can't remember specifically which ones but they do exist. See here for example.

Alternatively, they could have a dedicated rig for each band. Maybe use a handheld with a physical channel/zone knob, so they can feel which channel they're on by the number of clicks on the knob. Loads of ex-PMR gear has actual channel/zone knobs which can be configured in this way. I think this is one area of the hobby which can be made very accessible for people who can't see very well, I really hope they get something sorted.

Something like an Icom F3062/4062 is big enough to feel what it is and has a large-ish clicky channel knob on the top, with an end stop. It's possible to get large, tactile knobs too. They're designed to be used under clothing for concealed handhelds etc, but they'd be good for people who need to feel their way around the equipment.
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Chanty Wrassler
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Chanty Wrassler »

For HF, it's a pity the Clansman 320 is so long in the tooth, as the rotary click-select would be pretty good for a blind person.
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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

Post by Metradio »

Chanty Wrassler wrote: 02 Jan 2022, 00:45 For HF, it's a pity the Clansman 320 is so long in the tooth, as the rotary click-select would be pretty good for a blind person.
Tuning around on a 320 would certainly cause blisters on your fingers :(

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Re: Blind Hams. Advice please

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