I hear May QST is the "Advertiser's edition?"

[kf6pqt]

On a mailing list I read that someone went to their library and found the latest issue was "dedicated to our advertisers" and had just about zero content, other than ads.

Anybody have a look yet?

My renewal notice has been sitting neglected for a couple of weeks on my desk... its only a couple feet from the shredder.

-Jason kf6pqt

[WD8BIL]

Give us a clue.... how can one tell ??

[N5RLR]

I read it for the articles.

[Bridge, anyone? ]

[Pete, WA2CWA]

It might be better referred to as the "Dayton Hamvention" issue. Vendors who attend the Hamvention run "special" sale ads, manufacturers run teaser ads for new products that most likely will be introduced there, and sample issues generally are handed out by the magazine vendors there. Even the small vendors take advantage of the May issue if they plan on attending the Hamvention.

In May QST, there is a "Special Advertising Section" in the back. It's called Dayton 2007 - Pull Out & Bring to Dayton"

Even I bought ad space in two mags.

[k4kyv]

On a mailing list I read that someone went to their library and found the latest issue was "dedicated to our advertisers" and had just about zero content, other than ads.

Anybody have a look yet?

It's like that every month.  They put all the content in QEX that even full members have to pay extra for.

[WA3VJB]

Yeah, really, who knew ?

[Sam KS2AM]

On a mailing list I read that someone went to their library and found the latest issue was "dedicated to our advertisers" and had just about zero content, other than ads.
-Jason kf6pqt

If you heard it on an Internet mailing list or on a bulletin board such as this one, it must be true !  People who post things such as this always check their facts very, very carefully, have extensive data to back up their assertions and have no axe to grind with anyone.   No need to check any further, I'd take it as gospel.   

[WA1GFZ]

3 bird cages one page a day sounds like you are good till June issue arrives.
I just get QEX, QST is a useless waste of trees.

[W3SLK]

I've always known that every edition is an Advertiser's edition. Did you ever take notice how many pages MFJ advertises on? Did you ever see a bad write-up about MFJ?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I've always known that every edition is an Advertiser's edition. Did you ever take notice how many pages MFJ advertises on? Did you ever see a bad write-up about MFJ?

I picked two random ARRL product reviews on MFJ stuff:

1991 Antenna Tuner - reviewer said: meter was sticking, had to disassemble, fix, and reglue. Manual errors and incomplete

1994 Antenna - reviewer said: Tuning poor; had to disassemble each time to tune; safety issues with protruding sharp wires and rods.

I'm sure with a little effort, I could probably find more not so glowing reviews about other MFJ products and other manufacturer's products too. No manufacturer wants to put out a product that may have issues with the design. Using the ARRL's intense review and testing process early on, helps the manufacturer make design changes before a lot of "bad" product gets into the hands of the consumers. I'm willing to bet that most manufacturers welcome the intense scrutiny the ARRL puts products through in their product review process. I'm sure the ham consumers do.

[W3SLK]

Pete, no doubt you found them. But did they say they wouldn't recommend purchasing them? Rich Measures, (whom has no love for the ARRgghhL either), likes to talk about MFJ's 'Legal Limit' tuner that cooked on the bench with only 800 Watts. But I will grant you this: When I received QST, I would bitch about all the ads and such. It was then that an elder ham pointed out, "This debate has been raging for years. Where else is a company going to hawk their wares?" After that I adopted that philosophy and attempted to overlook their over-abundance of ads. When the (be)League(d) and QST had nothing more to offer for my 'dues', I dropped them like a bad habbit!

[Tom WA3KLR]

I'm not here to defend the ARRL, and I'm not real happy to see QST slowly become an MFJ catalog.

BUT a simple and old fact of business is that almost all magazines (and our beloved broadcash stations) existance is due to their advertising revenue.  We have stated many times before in these threads that the ARRL is a technical publishing house.  Comprenez?

On a different but related note -
I do have to admire that Korean chap's business acumen at MFJ.  How many of us would still be working at a previous electronics employer had the Marketing and Sales department been more alive and down to earth?

[W3SLK]

Tom said:

BUT a simple and old fact of business is that almost all magazines (and our beloved broadcash stations) existance is due to their advertising revenue.  We have stated many times before in these threads that the ARRL is a technical publishing house.  Comprenez?

Yep Tom, you are correct in that aspect. Pick up any magazine, like GQ for example. You will go thru three full pages of advertising before getting to the 'Table of Contents'. Then any article that you read is interupted by different full page ads. All these ads and you pay $5 for the mag/issue.  But I would no longer consider it a "Technical Publishing House".

[k4kyv]

But look back at early issues of QST when the news-stand price for a single copy was 35¢, or 50¢.  The content/ads ratio was much higher than it is now.

I enjoy looking over those old ads and drooling over what was available back then that is unobtainium now.  Most of the ads even gave the prices of the products advertised. The ads in a back issue of QST, CQ or RADIO probably contribute as much to your snapshot of the state of amateur radio at the time as the content.

That's just as true to-day.

[Tom WA3KLR]

Don,

When you refer to the "early issues of QST" you are referring to the days when The Old Man was in charge!  Things would be different in today's ARRL if T.O.M. still was at the reins.

The earliest issues were 10 cents.  T.O.M. and Clarence Tuska were paying for the flegling magazine out of their own pockets.

[k4kyv]

I think I first recall it at 35 cents an issue.  About the time I became licensed it was 50 cents an issue.  The ads hawked a lot more parts, including WW2 surplus, and a lot less appliances than there are now.  I'll look through my back issues and see when the prices changed.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I'm not here to defend the ARRL, and I'm not real happy to see QST slowly become an MFJ catalog.

BUT a simple and old fact of business is that almost all magazines (and our beloved broadcash stations) existance is due to their advertising revenue.  We have stated many times before in these threads that the ARRL is a technical publishing house.  Comprenez?

On a different but related note -
I do have to admire that Korean chap's business acumen at MFJ.  How many of us would still be working at a previous electronics employer had the Marketing and Sales department been more alive and down to earth?

I think both MFJ and QST win here.

Let’s say a Company has a 20 page catalog that they want to get into the hands of hams.
On their own to print catalogs, 20 pages X (~$.25 per page)=$5.00 per catalog; let’s say they already have a mailing list of 150,000 hams (if not then they have pay someone to develop one or buy one), so $5.00X150,000=$750K
Now to mail these one time, at a bulk rate of ~$.35, .35X150,000=$52.5K
So $52.5K + $750K = $802.5K to do a one time mailing

Putting the catalog in QST:
Let’s say the 20 page electronic version of the catalog still costs $5.00 (only need to it one time).
Let’s say ad rate per page is ~$2K per month, so 20X$2K= $40K per month and it goes to ~150,000 ARRL members. If they run the catalog in QST every month for 12 months, $40KX12= $480K
Note, for the Company to do a one-time mailing, the cost is $802.5K.

QST gets ad revenue from one advertiser to the tune of almost $.5M per year and Company gets product(s) exposure to 150,000 members 12 times a year. If the Company tried to do a mailing 12 times a year (barring no other prices increases), Company has to shell out ~$802.5KX12=$9.63M

Periodic changes to particular ad pages, i.e. new products, will affect the costs above, but the overall saving to Company, and the consistent revenue stream to QST is still maintained.

[W3SLK]

Pete said:

I think both MFJ and QST win here.

Yeah, but the member loses. Like I said in a previous post, it is a place for co.'s to show their products, but there is a saturation point where those, (such as myself), P&M about how they are paying for advertisements instead of substance. I modified my way of thinking about it but how many others did? Besides, the (be)League(d) shares their mailing list with MFJ/Ameritron. If you are a member, you're going to get their catalog anyway.

[WA3VJB]

I don't subscribe to the ARRL for a variety of reasons, chief of which is their deliberate effort to neglect coverage of the AM community in their publications as well as in their club's political and regulatory activity.

But regarding QST and the advertising issue, I'll draw your attention to a magazine called "Lucky," that my wife Pam subscribes to. It is intended to be a shopping guide for all manner of fashion and beauty products.



It succeeds at being such a showcase, and each month it's nearly an inch thick, with perfume and lotion inserts, coupons, and just about anything else that will fit.

There are no "articles" or anything that the advertising supports, as with other publications where ad sales help pay for material of primary interest. The main focus is the advertising.

Maybe what the broader amateur community should realize is that this is what QST has become: An advertising vehicle. The few articles or product reviews are filler.

"Bottom" line, my interests are elsewhere.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

All that said, there was a nice technical article in the May issue. It discussed a nice way to make a coax dipole have a low SWR on both 80 and 75 meters. In short, cut the dipole for 80 and then place a coax stub at the appropriate place in the feedline to "retune" the system for 75 meters.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Besides, the (be)League(d) shares their mailing list with MFJ/Ameritron. If you are a member, you're going to get their catalog anyway.

Do you know this for a fact?? To my knowledge, I've never received a direct mailing from MFJ.

I became a member to support the ARRL not to get a subscription to their magazine. Even now, I generally just scan the monthly Table of Contents to see if there are any articles of interest plus I read several of the columns including correspondence, new products, silent keys, and world above 50MHz. I do review the ads primarily for the business side of my activities.

Similarly, I joined AARP the 1st year I was eligible. Great organization to support but their bi-monthly mag and monthly rag paper bulletin generally suck for articles and both mags are roughly 70% ads to 30% articles. Once in a awhile, some article might catch my interest (new government rules for old farts, tax issues, etc.), but generally both mags make it to trash very quickly. The point being, I wanted to join their organization because I believe in the work that they do. I didn't join to get a magazine subscription.

[W3SLK]

Pete said (with some of my attribution):

I became a member to support the ARRgghhL not to get a subscription to their magazine. Even now, I generally just scan the monthly Table of Contents to see if there are any articles of interest plus I read several of the columns including correspondence, new products, silent keys, and world above 50MHz. I do review the ads primarily for the business side of my activities.
 

Pete I joined because the same thing. Then I saw that I was like a "sheep being led to the slaughter" and that the (be)League(d) was way out of line with my thinking. As for the MFJ/Ameritron catalog, I never subscribed to them. Everytime I renewed my membership, I always got one about 4 times a year. I haven't received one since I've boycotted the (be)League(d).

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Hey, they don't call it the 'Amateur Radio Retail Lobby' for nothing! 

Seriously Jason, I am biased from experience, and I do believe your money could be spent better elsewhere. The ARRL made it very clear to me and others years ago, that no matter how many members they have, QST will be what it is today. I wasn't aware that they had moved the corntest results online and no longer included the full results in QST. Imagine the extra space they have to sell.

I've always associated the big shift with the mid 70s, when they made the format change to a larger magazine.

[KF1Z]

Pete said (with some of my attribution):

I became a member to support the ARRgghhL not to get a subscription to their magazine. Even now, I generally just scan the monthly Table of Contents to see if there are any articles of interest plus I read several of the columns including correspondence, new products, silent keys, and world above 50MHz. I do review the ads primarily for the business side of my activities.
 

Pete I joined because the same thing. Then I saw that I was like a "sheep being led to the slaughter" and that the (be)League(d) was way out of line with my thinking. As for the MFJ/Ameritron catalog, I never subscribed to them. Everytime I renewed my membership, I always got one about 4 times a year. I haven't received one since I've boycotted the (be)League(d).

Yes, It is true....

They DO share your info.....

UNLESS you check the little box, telling them not to....

It's right there in the membership info.....


I've never received email or snailmail from ANY radio company....

[WA3VJB]

no longer included the full results in QST. Imagine the extra space they have to sell.

Curiously Todd, when advertisers discontinue an account with a magazine, the publisher either has to fill that slot, or commensurately cut back on material that is not advertising.

It's typically not the other way around, where, if they cut an article, they have to sell an ad to take its place.

Here's how it works -- each page of the magazine has four faces, divided by the crease. (front/back, front/back in the layout, take the staple out sometime and see how  page 3 is physically part of page 58). If two of the advertisers cancel and those two faces cannot be filled, then the other two faces have to go away too. The whole sheet of paper is gone, regardless of whether it's yet another article on AM or something about a digital ham lawn mower.

They can also relocate pet articles (like the ones on AM) to pages that are paid for (the other faces held by ads), and dump the ones on "the League goes to Washington" or whatever.

It's why the page count each issue varies.  When a merchant buys a last-minute, new space, the publisher rounds out with articles off the shelf if they're "evergreen," that is, they don't go out of season. I suppose they could  shift the mix of ad and non-ad page coverage to suit business condx too.

Also they can run bonus (free) ads for pet clients to make up for a merchant who has canceled their account.

But after a while, sliding ad sales eventually force a cut in the page count of the magazine.

Such a decline in advertising may explain the ARRL's earlier decisions to discontinue traffic handling tallies, section news, contest results, and other recurring columns. There wasn't enough advertising to support the page count.