Voice prompts

[vk7js]

Hi Roger,

Not sure if you still check the Github issues or just this forrum. I want to thank you for adding the speaking of mode on sk1 in the Jan update, however I'd like to please please request that if you haven't already done so, plese make the mode announcement after the channel announcement or after the vfo frequency announcement at prompt level 3, rather than prior. If you want to arrow through channel names quickly at prompt level 3, which is my default prompt level, I have to wait for the mode to be spoken before I hear the channel name, which makes it impossible to rapidly find a channel. I do like the mode announcement, but please make it after the channel name or vfo frequency. Also, remove the word Mode and just say fm or dmr after the channel name or vfo frequency. Also, on another note, I'd really like to help you with such trivial changes and let you concentrate on bigger issues. Would you please contact me if I can help out in this way? I note the dev branch is still way behind the current version and I'd be willing to sign an nda if it was a matter of the ebay issue preventing others from getting access to the latest source code in order to contribute. I'm just trying to help out on this Open source project. I've had 30 plus years experience both as a software developer, as well as being totally blind and having a lot of feedback both as a user and as a member of the blind ham community.
Thanks for your consideration.

Joe
vk7js

[F1RMB]

Very impressive change-list, thank you again.

However, one problem remains causing me to stuck with the last 2020 release. I've already commented it in reaction to OK1ICQ's post here: http://opengd77.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t ... 084#p13084
Also VK7JS reported that in this thread few posts above.

The trx mode announcement before announcing the channel name stops me from using my ht effectively so I had to downgrade despite all the amazing stuff introduced this year.

Please, do you consult the major changes to the voice prompts with some users which are depending only on the VP feature (typically the blind and drivers), or do you just guess the best workflow on your own?

Seriously ?

[vk7js]

Dear Daniel,

Please take the blind community seriously. I think you underestimate the impact of announcing the mode prior to the channel name. Please try use the radio with voice prompts set to 3 without looking at the screen for a day. I think if you have to change channels a few times, you'll quickly discover how inefficient it is to have to wait for the mode to finish its announcement before hearing the channel name. I do like the mode being announced, but it absolutely must be after the channel name in channel mode, or after the frequency in VFO mode or it makes changing channels or frequencies using arrows painfully slow. Typically people name their channels rather than using the physical number.
Thanks for your consideration.

Joseph

[vk7js]

Hi Daniel/Roger,

This is how strongly some of the blind folk have expressed their views on the issue of mode announcement prior to channel name. They'd rather have you remove the mode announcement altogether if you don't want to make it after the channel name. The thing is, they can tell what mode the channel is in anyway since if the DMR contact is indicated after the channel name, the channel is in DMR mode.
Personally, I like the mode announcement but could also quite comfortably use the radio with just the DMR contact indicated after the channel name for DMR channels.
Please either make the mode announcement after the channel name/frequency, or remove it when arrowing through channels/frequencies altogether.

Thanks
Joe

[F1RMB]

Hi,

Dear Daniel,

Please take the blind community seriously. I think you underestimate the impact of announcing the mode prior to the channel name. Please try use the radio with voice prompts set to 3 without looking at the screen for a day. I think if you have to change channels a few times, you'll quickly discover how inefficient it is to have to wait for the mode to finish its announcement before hearing the channel name. I do like the mode being announced, but it absolutely must be after the channel name in channel mode, or after the frequency in VFO mode or it makes changing channels or frequencies using arrows painfully slow. Typically people name their channels rather than using the physical number.
Thanks for your consideration.

Joseph

Please, stop this, now.

Don't even suggest I (or Roger) don't listen to blind users, not after all the hours we spent on voice prompts implementation.

Unlike what you think, I DO use voice prompts, when driving, and I drive often, a lot.

But telling us how the firmware is unusable because the mode is not spelled, for you both, at the correct time, is at most, a joke.

You, guys, have to bear in mind we do all of this on our spare time, I mean, all our spare time, and in the current state of voice prompt support, it is NOT a priority, and it's NOT a bug.
We won't stop working on other stuff, or stopping fixing bugs, just to please you or grant your wishes. Sometimes, you have to be patient, period.
Another thing you need to consider it the now complexity of the firmware code. A small change can have huge impact on almost everything else. Voice prompt is not an exception.

---
Daniel

[vk7js]

I am not whining. I have offered my help as a programmer. I also know you do this in your spare time. If you just simply acknowledge the request we'd all be satisfied and wait patiently for the fix. It is not about not using the firmware. It is about the user experience as either going backward or forward. While you do not consider it a bug, as a user experience, it is going backward, makes the radio far less efficient to use, and we'd all appreciate it if it was changed. I do not speak for myself only. I speak for several hundred users, many of which can't use the forum.
Thanks
Joe

[vk7js]

My last comment on this. Imagine you released a version of the firmware which took 1 to 2 seconds to update the screen each time you pressed the up and down arrow keys, so that it took that long for you to see what channel you had arrowed to. Would any of your sighted users be happy? Would they not perceive that this was a bug? No, technically it is not a bug, but it sure is an inconvenience and bad experience. Now, for those of us who rely on voice prompts at level 3, that is effectively what has happened. I hope you can now see why this should be a priority to change.
Thanks
Joe

[F1RMB]

My last comment on this. Imagine you released a version of the firmware which took 1 to 2 seconds to update the screen each time you pressed the up and down arrow keys, so that it took that long for you to see what channel you had arrowed to. Would any of your sighted users be happy? Would they not perceive that this was a bug? No, technically it is not a bug, but it sure is an inconvenience and bad experience. Now, for those of us who rely on voice prompts at level 3, that is effectively what has happened. I hope you can now see why this should be a priority to change.
Thanks
Joe

Again, please, stop this.
VP L3 is ultra (over) verbose, by design, and I bet my bottom dollar that is mostly used by OpenGD77's beginners. Once they get used, they're lowering the verbosity level.

And once again, it's not a bug, it's not critical neither, at all, it's just something that YOU don't like, but you are NOT the only feedback source of the blind Ham community, despite what you think.

Once again, that change will probably happen, but you need to be patient, like it or not.


Thanks.
---
Daniel

[ok1icq]

Hi.
Just to agree with Joe and OK1TE and all other blind hams who'd like to have the mode FM or DMR to be spoken after the channel. Or if this isn't anyhow possible, you can in some time start to work on the verbosity level 2, I described it in some other post here on this forum. I don't hurry up, I' just be happy if we can look forward to a fix of this in some time. Thanx anyway for your work, I appreciate it very much, you're making the best accessible transceiver firmware so far.
73, Tom OK1ICQ

[OK1TE]

Just to mention that Roger Clark VK3KYY has been nominated for the ARRL Technical Innovation Award for what he and his group has done for the blind amateur radio community regarding the GD77.

We are grateful in deed. It's just a pity when such a big effort is then de-valuated by flaws like the one discussed here.