Blind Software Engineer Makes Waves Worldwide - Part 2

This is RAIN Hamcast Podcast #63: Blind Software Engineer Makes Waves Worldwide - Part 2 posted 03-19-22, voiced by Will Rogers/K5WLR. [The running time for this RAIN Hamcast Podcast is 16M31S with an ID break after 08M51S. There is an 8-second pause for timer resets at 2.50, 5.52, 11.46 and 14.40.] Joe Stephen/VK7JS is a blind software engineer who resides on the island of Tasmania, located some 220 miles south of mainland Australia. Today he lives on a 250-acre farm with his wife and four remaining children...at one point he had nine at home. Joe grew up in south central Australia, 15 miles from Adelaide; became a software engineer as a teenager; moved his family to Tasmania in 2017. Joe has gained invaluable experience the past 25 years assisting Freedom Scientific, the U.S. company that developed JAWS (Job Access with Speech) a well-known speech screen reading Windows-based program for the blind. Currently Joe has modified the firmware of a handful of Chinese ham radio handhelds to be completely accessible to the blind ham worldwide. RAIN's Hap Holly/KC9RP spoke with Joe about those HTs. This is the second of two excerpts from their Zoom conversation. Be advised the Boafeng DM1801 and DM1801A talkies are hard to find. At time of publication the GD77 and RD5R are still relatively easy to purchase from Radioddity.com. Don't forget to purchase the appropriate programming cable you'll need to download Joe's modified firmware. If you missed part one of this interview, you'll find it as RAIN Hamcast Podcast 62 on therainreport.com, on the RAIN Report channel on You Tube. Hap Holly/KC9RP, edits and produces this biweekly ham radio hamcast without monetization. Your support and feedback are welcome on therainreport.com. RAIN programming is made available under a Creative Commons license; you are encouraged to download, share, post and transmit the RAIN Hamcast in its entirety via Amateur Radio. YouTube assistance from Tom Shimizu/N9JDI. 73 from RAIN. KEEP ON HAMMING! RAIN Hamcast #64 will post 04-02-2022. ©1985-2022, RAIN, the Radio Amateur Information Network. All rights reserved.