What I used

When I was first licensed back in late 2017 the only accessible handheld radio I knew of (at the time) was the Baofeng BF-F8HP. While this was a good radio for the price, it was not completely accessible. For example, pressing menu 13 would announce that you had reached the CTCSS option. Pressing the menu key a second time to edit this value would not provide any spoken feedback to the user.

What I currently Use

Fast forward a few years to the OpenGD77 Project. This added voice prompts to a few cheap Chinese radios, such as the Radioddity GD-77, GD-77S, and Baofeng RD-5R. (for a full list of supported radios, you can check the User Guide or the forums linked in the paragraph above.)

What I hope to acquire

I have heard consistent praise for Kenwood products when it comes to the accessibility of their hardware. Although they are both discontinued, I would like to experiment with the Kenwood TH-D74A and TS2000. The TH-D74A is an analog and D-Star handheld transceiver. The unit also does APRS as well.

This video provides a demo of the radio in action.

Update: as of mid to late May, 2023 there have been rumors going around about a Kenwood THD75A. This radio offers more descriptive voice prompts. You can hear the speech around the 4 minute mark.

The TS2000 is a more modern cousin to my TS 430 HF transceiver. Unlike the 430, though, this unit can actually be outfitted with a speech synthesis module. The computer interface means that (in the event that my speech fails, or if I just want to operate my radio remotely) I have the flexibility to do what I want.