Amateur Radio Instructions -- So Complex Yet Incomplete
There was once a well-regarded discipline called technical writer. These fine human beings took the time to write instructions that mortals could follow.
In the basic instructions on my new amateur radio, someone forgot to say something very important. [bold]Here's my feeble attempt[/bold]. I include it only to share the nature of the missing info, not to convey anything truly of value.
Choose the method of accessing the repeater by pushing function, tone, and with repeated tone key depressions, find the icon corresponding to the repeater squelch tone. Then, push func set and the up or down arrows to that squelch method, and rotate the volume knob to the proper frequency. Then, mash the set button. Then, push func mem and the up and down arrows to the memory channel desired. Then, push func mem again, this time holding it down until you hear three quick tones. Release the button immediately.
You'd think someone would explain all this in a manual. It is not even in the advanced manual.This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,
------- Trying to simplify my life...
January 15, 2022, 02:46 AM
Jraz
RT Systems is your friend. John N5WMT
January 15, 2022, 04:47 AM
4MUL8R
Awaiting the arrival of the RT Systems usb cable. $50 well spent. I was hoping not to need to spend it on this basic radio, but use it on the Yaesu FT3DR.
------- Trying to simplify my life...
January 15, 2022, 08:34 AM
Flash-LB
Sounds like they're explaining how to set the CTCSS tone to access a repeater.
January 15, 2022, 10:03 AM
Rey HRH
I learned writing procedures from following procedures. There's a balance between too much writing and not enough writing, between covering essential steps and assuming basic knowledge. A lot of it also has to do with the writer or somebody else testing the procedure if it works.
About 12 years ago, I learned the state of the art in procedure writing went to combining pictures and simple words.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
January 15, 2022, 11:00 AM
4MUL8R
quote:
Originally posted by Flash-LB: Sounds like they're explaining how to set the CTCSS tone to access a repeater.
Actually "they" did not even attempt to explain this procedure. I had to figure out the various steps on my own, and the procedure I wrote above is not at all certain. That's why I bit another bullet and bought the easy-to-use RT Systems software.