Radio for The Deaf.

A new broadcast medium which can give deaf people news, information and entertainment they never get on closed captioned TV. All kinds of programming opportunities are available -- single announcer broadcasts, one-on-one interviews. panel discussions, reports from foreign correspondents, game shows, call-ins from the radio audience, and radio drama. Special interest news about health matters, job openings, real estate and living quarters, government programs, who’s who and all other matters concerning the deaf can be programmed.

What’s remarkable is that the technology for Radio for The Deaf is already in place. Using a simple adapter, deaf people can watch the radio on their TTYs. Hearing and deaf people in the radio studio use face-to-face communication equipment (modified TTYs) to create programming.

The following explains how it works.

TRANSMISSION TECHNOLOGY
Radio for the Deaf

Face-to-face communication equipment creates all kinds of programming opportunities from one-on-one interviews to panel discussions of many people, audience call-in programming, game shows and dramatic presentations. As with radio for hearing people, Radio for The Deaf will generate its own indigenous Writing Art Form in which special visuals derived from existing alphabets and typewritten symbols will be used along with pauses to create special effects.

Two or more people, hearing and/or deaf, use face-to-face communication equipment to share keyboard communications in the Radio Studio . The audible modem tone signal produced by the equipment is piped from the radio studio to the radio station transmitter. The signal is delivered to the top of the radio station antenna. From there, the signal goes out to receivers in the radio audience.

The Radio Station could be a commercial or non-commercial radio station. For test purposes, an actual radio station need not be used, but a transmitter is necessary. A test of programming can be broadcast over a limited distance (within a 2-mile radius) by using a walkie-talkie. At the request of U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (Connecticut), the U.S. Dept. of Commerce investigated and approved Radio for The Deaf with recommendations to Gallaudet University about how the school can secure funding in order to build a radio station at the University. Gallaudet University is the only school for higher learning in the country without its own radio station.

IN THE RADIO STUDIO

TTYs modified for face-to-face communication are arranged around the table for a panel discussion. When anyone types a message on his keyboard, the message appears simultaneously on the displays of all pieces of equipment around the table, and is simultaneously sent to the Radio Station Antenna where it is broadcast to the radio audience. The modem tone signal from all modified TTYs at the table is shared in the Junction Box. A terminal on the Junction Box delivers the signal to the radio transmitter. The broadcast signal emanates from the Radio Station Antenna.

Receiver technology
Radio for the Deaf
A Non-Invasive Use of The TDD as Part of The Reciever Circuitry
A radio station broadcasts a modem tone signal from the radio station antenna.
The signal ispicked up by a reeiver's antenna. The receiver has an earphone jack. Hearing people could plug a headset into the earphone jack in order to hear the radio broadcast. Deaf people plug the Receiver Adapter into the earphone jack, and place the Receiver Adapter into the microphone cup of the TDD. This transmits the modem tone signal to the microphone cup of the TDD. This is the specific cup which receives a telephone caller's TDD modem tone signal. The signal then goes to the TDD modem to produce a printed radio message on the TDD display. screen.

RECEIVER ADAPTER TECHNOLOGY

Radio for the Deaf
A Special Adapter Converts The TTY Into a Component of Receiver Circuitry

A radio station broadcasts an audible modem tone signal from the radio station antenna. The signal is picked up by a receiver’s antenna (such as the pocket radio receiver above). The receiver has an earphone jack. Hearing people could plug a headset into the earphone jack in order to hear a radio broadcast. Deaf people plug the TTY Adapter into the earphone jack, and place the TTY Adapter itself into the microphone cup of the TTY as shown above. Inside the Adapter is a small speaker. The speaker transmits the audible modem tone signal to the microphone of the TTY. The signal then goes to the TTY modem to produce a printed radio message on the TTY display screen.

Commercial and private radio stations offer sub-carrier wave transmission service to foreign language broadcasters (German, Italian, Yiddish, etc.). Hearing members of the radio audience are given special receivers by the radio station which picks up the sub-carrier wave broadcast signal. These receivers can feature an earphone jack to receive the TTY Adapter shown above. Effectively, therefore, the radio receiver problem is solved for the deaf with no special extra cost required to purchase a receiver. A deaf person’s TTY serves as an integral component of the receiver circuitry without even being physically wired to the TTY.adapter. Radio for the Deaf is a development by Morton Warnow.

Gallaudet University is the only school for higher learning in the country without its own radio station. Various departments at the school including the Drama and TV Production Departments, and President I. King Jordan’s office, refuse to consider Radio for The Deaf because the required face-to-face communication equipment for use in the radio studio upsets interpreters and is at odds with university policy to keep this equipment off campus altogether.
Morton Warnow

In the Radio Studio, A PANEL DISCUSSION IS UNDERWAY.

This could be a mix of deaf and hearing people communicating elbow-to-elbow in English – no sign language, no interpreter assistance. They’re using TTYs hooked up together in a conferencing arrangement. The modem tone signal produced by the TTYs is piped to a radio transmitter which delivers the signal to the radio receivers of members in the Radio Audience. The receivers, in turn, pipe the signal to a Receiver Adapter which, in turn, pipes the signal to the modem of the TTY. Voila! THE RADIO AUDIENCE SEES WHAT THE RADIO CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS ARE SAYING ON THEIR TTYs!

MORTON WARNOW WILL INSTALL RADIO FOR THE DEAF IN YOUR CITY

As indicated in these pages, deaf people with TTYs already have an essential component of the radio receiver circuitry in order to enjoy radio broadcasts for the deaf. Therefore, the only major requirement to affect installation of radio for the deaf in your city is the involvement of a local radio station which offers sub-carrier wave radio transmission which most radio stations do offer. The radio station would normally have special receivers for this transmission which will be used by members of the radio audience. The radio station may charge a fee for broadcast time.

Receiver adapters (see illustration) would plug into these receivers to enable members of the radio audience to pick up radio for the deaf transmissions on their TTYs. The only hardware cost involved would be the purchase of a porcelain end cap from a plumbing supply company. This would be configured to contain a small speaker; this assembly drops into the microphone cup of the audience member’s TTY. The end cap would cost under $5.00. I will provide gratis speakers for this assembly and wire the speakers to the radio receiver. Certainly, anyone handy with tools can do this work. It is relatively simple and easy to do.

Contact me for further details if you wish to have radio for the deaf installed in your city.

Morton Warnow, President
Modern Deaf Communication, Inc.