RADIAL - raibc

from the radio on the PC in the form of a backup. It can then
be written back to the radio if required. One big advantage of
using software, is the ability to browse round looking for little
used features. I thought the ARCP software was excellent in
this respect. During my limited explorations I found I could also
assign many common commands to Function keys on my PC
keyboard. For instance, F2 could be made to bring up the
direct frequency input form. F3 and F4 could change between
LSB and USB. F5 could change the mode to CW. F6 could make
the radio voice the frequency etc. I found Memory
management a little more difficult. I was hoping to find a table
allowing me to input all of the Memory Channels in one go. I
am perhaps missing something obvious, but I could only find
ways of laboriously moving from
channel to channel one at a time.
Conclusions. In my opinion, this is
the most accessible rig currently
available. I could find no major
accessibility issues, and indeed,
most settings give good feedback. At last there is a radio on
the market, where a blind operator can learn what SWR the rig
is measuring. I was particularly impressed with the ability to
turn off Automatic Announcements, there are possibly some
improvements to this area, but the feature is welcome, and
demonstrates an understanding that more speech is not always
better. In conjunction with the ARCP software, a blind
operator has access to virtually every setting and feature on
the TS-590S. A remarkable achievement, and Kenwood should
again be highly commended.
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