RAIBC

Icom IC-703

Accessibility Evaluation of Icom IC-703 by M0AID – February 2010

A Club 703 arrived today from RAIBC stock. I’ve spent the afternoon evaluating it for use by a blind op, with G4JZL.

First off, it’s a great radio for an M3. I’ve had several contacts around the country with good reports. The ATU tunes well. My aerials are resonant on the bands I use, but the worst I could find was 12m on my dipole. This showed 6-1, and the tuner tuned it fine. The front panel can be detached, and I could imagine any disabled person being able to operate this from a bed or chair.

The voice chip is an optional item and it reads Frequency and mode, and through setting a menu option, will add signal strength. The volume of the synthesizer was very quiet. In fact, I could only hear it properly when switching RX to dummy load. The manual refers to an internal pot for adjustment, but we did not attempt this.

As suspected, the biggest problem I found for a blind operator, was the lack of direct frequency input. There is no number pad, and the radio does not support a keypad microphone. I’ve just checked with Icom, and neither the 703 or 706 allow direct input via microphone keypad.

The only way of a blind operator finding a frequency, is via the band up & down, followed by laborious VFO spinning, and checking the voice output. The Multi-Channel control, the one that clicks as you turn it, can be set for 1kh steps, but going from 3.5 to 3.8 takes 300 clicks!

In my opinion, it is too difficult for a blind op to use the memories. The Mem to VFO function is a button found in the Menu system, as is the locating of memory channels, and the memory write. There is no voice feedback for any of this and it is easy to get lost.

Perhaps I’m being over cautious, but in my experience, I’m directly entering frequencies all day long. It is though feasible many of our blind operators simply tune up and down on one band, without the regular need to find a specific spot. I hear the difficulties experienced by blind operators, on our Nets, all the time. Netting on the exact frequency, even when given the figures, can be a real challenge. It’s a case of nudge and check the voice, nudge and check the voice, and so on.

Kelvin M0AID February 2010