[Xastir] Festival & Speech

[Curt, WE7U]

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Tom Russo wrote:

> Yes, festival is speech synthesis as opposed to playing canned sounds.  You
> can configure xastir to read out the call-signs of new stations (really
> annoying in busy areas), the fact that you have incoming messages and who
> they're from (sometimes useful), the contents of those messages (sometimes
> useful, especially while driving), and also read out proximity alerts, as in
> "Proximity Alert, KM5VY five miles from station KM5VY-9"

I had my first message read to me by Festival while I was driving,
in my noisy Jeep down the freeway.  I had just mentioned to another
friend on a 2m repeater that I had voice running.  Yet another
friend decided it'd be the perfect time to send me a message.  Was
probably funny watching me try to drive, shift, talk on the 2m, and
listen to the message all at the same time.  For the most part I
don't use Festival, but I like to use it sometimes when I'm driving
to/from hunting or SAR missions.  Keeps me entertained.


> I have found that festival, while occasionally useful and initially
> entertaining, is more often an annoyance that I turn off most of the time.
> Your mileage, of course, may vary dramatically.

The best use of it is for demo's.  The "wow" factor.

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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