ER Not The Mag It Was

[flintstone mop]

I do not want to come across bashing a fellow Ham's effort to provide a magazine focused on what we do with Tube electronics, BUT I have found the last 'many issues' to be almost boring with very LONG articles, pages and pages, taking up so much space. It's not what it used to be..................to me.
All knowledge about A.M. has been published???

What do you think???

Fred

[WQ9E]

Like other specialty hobby magazines, ER is dependent upon freelance authors contributing interesting material.  Finding people with the combined willingness, time, and talent to do this cannot be easy.  Probably some of the early heavy hitters (people like Jim Hanlon for example) have begun to run low on time and material.

I am certainly guilty of only supporting the magazine through my subscription.  I have partial manuscripts on the restoration of my Pierson KP-81 receivers and a short short write-up on the restoration of my SX-88 from Bob Denniston's estate but they are not finished.  I think it would be fun to do a short article comparing my Drake R-7/TR-7A combination with my Kenwood R-820/TS-820S combo.  But in my "real" job I am in the middle of writing a series of three books, publishing articles in academic journals, and finishing up a couple of conference presentations.  By the time I have spent most of the day on this, writing a decent article on anything else is the last thing I want to do. Most of us are in similar time constrained circumstances.

So my resolution that I intend to keep: I will finish up an article on the restoration and use of the Pierson KP-81 receiver by the end of March.  I have several publication deadlines coming up in the next 2 weeks so after that I have a little time away from academic publishing for awhile.

Hopefully a number of us can find time to help the new owner/publisher with content.

Rodger WQ9E

[W3RSW]

Roger, your forthcoming articles sound pretty neat.  About the only gripe I have with the TR7 compared to newer rigs is the VFO drift and limited digital readout...  i.e. it's great for most operation but not so hot on PSK32 
Otherwise I love its ruggedness, easy repairability, availability, conversion possibilities and longevity.

Yes Fred, I too have noticed some long winded ER articles advising us in detail how to solder but then have thoroughly enjoyed the extensive write up and promise to improve the Heavy Metal Rally.  (I'd've turned in a log 'cept y'all shamed me 'bout working a dead guy.    -so  then I couldn't trust any of it.)

After writing BC 610 type stuff ad nauseum, there are probably not too many common boat anchors left that don't have two or three articles written about them.  I understand the publishers frustration in getting articles.  I enjoy the "manufacturer" series, the latest being Gonset.  The Hallicrafters articles complete with pix of the old plant 'n stuff was very enlightening too.

There does seem to be a convergence of content of the AWA's journal and ER though, particularly in old timers' recollections.  One OT in particular had a very rich father (by the standards of depression days) who owned a hardware store, told his kid, the author, to hand basically a purchase requistition to the store's manager to buy everything the kid wanted.

Articles of supercritical restoration are my favorite; they enlighten me exactly about what not to do...  don't worship the machine,  don't use any cap over three years old, no sir, not even new old stock orange drops...    And for G's sake don't ever attempt to restore /repair a (gasp) Collins withoug identifying every new solder joint with a green or red marker.    Those articles really belong in the Smithsonian curators' journals.   But those are not ER's fault; they make the mag. just that more intersting..

On a lighter note; you could have Wayne Green editorials...
Long live ER.

[W9GT]

Hopefully a number of us can find time to help the new owner/publisher with content.

Rodger WQ9E

I have written numerous articles for ER in the past and I also hope to send in some new material in the near future.

Believe it or not, there are a number of boatanchors that have not been covered / reviewed in ER.  An example is my 1947 John Meck T-60-1 transmitter.  I plan to submit an article about that little gem soon.

I really enjoy Electric Radio mag, however, my time for tinkering and writing about my exploits has been quite limited the past few years.  Hopefully, someone will enjoy reading a few things that I have to share as soon as I get going on some projects.

There certainly is a wealth of knowledge and talent among the folks that post on this site.  Rodger, we will look forward to reading your material!  Rick, you seem to have a talent for expressing youself, why not submit an article or two?  Fred,  hang in there!  Why don't you put something together too?  I'm sure we would enjoy reading something from you as well.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[Bill, KD0HG]

Hey, Fred, reading ER is like participating in an Old Buzzard QSO with someone like Rick, K8MLV or W5PYT. It's almost a lost art, and you almost always learn something. At least how to properly align an AR-88 or fix a Johnson 500 between breaks.

Dude!

 

[Carl WA1KPD]

Fred,

Articles too long? Maybe the attention span aint what it used to be
The buzzardly years are approaching..

I still like it, but I wish the centerfolds were better

73 for now- Time to take an Ex Lax and go to bed.....  I like to live dangerously

Carl
/KPD

[WB2YGF]

Do they have the back issues online?  Otherwise, it doesn't sound like something I would want to subscribe to in it's current format.

[WQ9E]

You can buy the complete run of ER to date for $395 from the website.  I started subscribing in 1994 and almost immediately purchased a complete set of the magazine prior to my subscription date.  For anyone interested in vintage ham gear/operation a complete set of ER will give you MANY hours of enjoyable reading and a lot of very useful restoration information.  The only drawback to ER is that you will add more vintage gear to your want list as you learn about it.

I actually think the current content is fine.  I have the Jan. and Feb. issues sitting by the computer and a sampling of articles from the two issues includes a detailed article about British AM transmitters; a bench top dummy load/power meter; a history of the Gonset company; a beautiful transmitter restoration article by Bruce W1UJR; some military gear articles (BC-669, SCR-211); the Yaesu FR-50B receiver; and as they say on TV, "and much, much more!"  There are lots of well done photos of vintage gear and operators and a classified ad section. 

I subscribe to ER and usually buy CQ during one of my many trips to Barnes/Starbucks every month; I like both of these and dropped my subscription to another ham mag a few years ago when it got to the point of having no articles of interest to me.  The only thing better than ER for vintage buffs are some of the better magazines from the 30's and 40's such as Radio News, QST, and Radio Craft.

Rodger WQ9E

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Do they have the back issues online?  Otherwise, it doesn't sound like something I would want to subscribe to in it's current format.

The entire Electric Radio Magazine Index is here:
http://www.radiolabworks.com/ersearch.html

Subscribe or Back Issues are available here:
http://www.ermag.com/index.cfm

[W3SLK]

You know, I don't know why I stopped subscribing. I dropped it back sometime ago after having been a subscriber for about 10 years. My XYL bought me a subscription for Father's Day. It was ok but I didn't think it was the periodical that Barry Wiseman produced. I wish I could put a finger on it but I can't. The earlier issues were gleaned over time and time again, until the next latest issue arrived.

[KL7OF]

I cent a arktikal to ER maguzine on a brodkast transmitor kunversun but they did not publis my arktikal...

[k4kyv]

The only thing better than ER for vintage buffs are some of the better magazines from the 30's and 40's such as Radio News, QST, and Radio Craft.

Also RADIO and R/9.  Both, west coast publications from the 20's and 30's.  Starting in 1936, R/9 and Radio merged into one mag.

I found the comments in the current issue about soldering interesting, but I disagree with one of the author's points: the claim that you must make a firm mechanical connection before applying solder. That has long been one of my pet peeves. I think it's perfectly adequate to poke the wire through the hole in the solder lug or hook it round the lug, holding it just firmly enough in place to keep it immobile while the solder cools.  A properly soldered connection will hold together long after the wire itself has broken from metal fatigue as it is wiggled back and forth, or from pulling on the wire to the point of exceeding its breaking strength.  I despise to de-solder something that  has been "firmly connected" prior to soldering, sometimes impossible to accomplish without damaging the wire insulation, component being de-soldered and nearby components.  The absolute worst case is when the wire has been threaded through the hole and wrapped through again, several times, a technique often seen in military equipment. I suspect the "firm mechanical connection before solder is applied" is a technique designed for production lines, where one person assembles the components in place and someone else down the line solders all the connections.  Unnecessary when a single person hand assembles a circuit one component at a time, soldering as they go.

The author is correct about one thing, allowing the wire to shift while the solder is cooling, giving the connection a dull, grainy appearance, makes a poor joint.  He also makes a good point, that good soldering technique is something acquired through practice.  Judging from some of the stuff I have picked up at hamfests over the years, there is plenty of room for the recurring appearance of instructions on how to solder in amateur radio publications.  We need more information like that and less "human interest" drivel.

[K6JEK]

I think ER is great.  I never fail to find something worth reading in it.  I even find myself pouring over articles on topics that don't normally interest me.

It often kindles a desire to get my hands on some radio or other written up in its pages. Later Hallicrafters never had much allure for me but after that article on the SR-400 I'm completely vulnerable should one cross my path.

I like articles about gear I've worked on especially ones that allow me to commiserate in absentia. For example, I was pleased to read that David, WA6VVL, was bedeviled by the NC-270's patented ferrite filter as I was.

And remember that article a few issues back by the guy who did gorgeous metal work -- an inspiration.

Last year or was it the year before I got sick as a dog.  ER got me through it.   I have every issue and I just lay there reading issue after issue.

My only complaint is that with a few exceptions we all sound better than we look.  At least the pictures are in black and white.

[WQ9E]

Don,

I agree completely about the mechanical connection before soldering and the U.S. military came to the same conclusion back in the 1950's.  There was an article about this in Radio in TV news in the early 1950's and a special study group within the military concluded that with "modern" solder making a mechanically secure connection first was not necessary, led to damaged components during installation and subsequent repair, and would "hide" poorly made solder joints during initial inspection.  The exceptions to this were for heavy components such as the tank circuits in transmitters.  I will post an excerpt from this article if I can find it.

Rodger WQ9E

I found the comments in the current issue about soldering interesting, but I disagree with one of the author's points: the claim that you must make a firm mechanical connection before applying solder. That has long been one of my pet peeves. I think it's perfectly adequate to poke the wire through the hole in the solder lug or hook it round the lug, holding it just firmly enough in place to keep it immobile while the solder cools.  A properly soldered connection will hold together long after the wire itself has broken from metal fatigue as it is wiggledback and forth, or from pulling on the wire to the point of exceeding its breaking strength.  I despise to de-solder something that  has been "firmly connected" prior to soldering, sometimes impossible to accomplish without damaging the wire insulation, component being de-soldered and nearby components.  The absolute worst case is when the wire has been threaded through the hole and wrapped through again, several times, a technique often seen in military equipment. I suspect the "firm mechanical connection before solder is applied" is a technique designed for production lines, where one person assembles the components in place and someone else down the line solders all the connections.  Unnecessary when a single person hand assembles a circuit one component at a time, soldering as they go.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

If it's about getting the information out to the largest audience, putting it on the Web is the way to go. Further, you can utilize far more sophisticated graphics, animation, video and sound. You can include software, spreadsheets or modeling files for download. Print offers none of that.

With all due respect to ER, print is dying. It's slow, allows for little feedback and can't easily be corrected or updated. You can publish your technical knowledge in an instant here or on The AM Window and reach an audience orders of magnitude larger than with ER.

[flintstone mop]

Steve....KL7OF..............press the spell check button on your computer.......hi

Fred

[wa2dtw]

I for one enjoy ER and just renewed my subscription.   Back issues are an indispensible reference.  While it is true that most of the boatanchors have been written about in the past, many of the current articles are both useful and enjoyable.   In my opinion, ER is still probably the best of the print ham magazines.

[K6JEK]

If it's about getting the information out to the largest audience, putting it on the Web is the way to go. Further, you can utilize far more sophisticated graphics, animation, video and sound. You can include software, spreadsheets or modeling files for download. Print offers none of that.

With all due respect to ER, print is dying. It's slow, allows for little feedback and can't easily be corrected or updated. You can publish your technical knowledge in an instant here or on The AM Window and reach an audience orders of magnitude larger than with ER.

Steve,
I think you've put your finger on it. I submit it's not "about getting the information out to the largest audience ..."  It's about something else, doing something enjoyable if not efficient like say listening to you guys on an SX-28.

Maybe it's because I spent 35 years in the computer industry or because I use computers and the web all the time that I really enjoy getting the magazine printed on paper in the mail.

[k4kyv]

Or like the difference between smelling, holding and reading hands-on a 1930's vintage paper copy of QST,  versus sticking into the computer one of those CD's they were selling.

[Bill, KD0HG]

If it's about getting the information out to the largest audience, putting it on the Web is the way to go. Further, you can utilize far more sophisticated graphics, animation, video and sound. You can include software, spreadsheets or modeling files for download. Print offers none of that.

With all due respect to ER, print is dying. It's slow, allows for little feedback and can't easily be corrected or updated. You can publish your technical knowledge in an instant here or on The AM Window and reach an audience orders of magnitude larger than with ER.

The large mass-market commercial print media is indeed dying. But I believe that printed media as used for specialty publications is not going anywhere.

Another problem with internet publication is that with few exceptions, no one has ever been able to figure out how to make a profit from it.

[Carl WA1KPD]

With all due respect to ER, print is dying.

Steve,

I don't know about that. That presumes that the act of reading a magazine is only about the transfer of knowledge. The internet is just another form of information exchange. Clearly there are those of us who enjoy it in different forms

For example, remember in our life time that TV was going to kill radio and VCRs were gong to kill movie theaters and books on tape were going to destroy the printed novel

Carl
/KPD

[W3RSW]

I've done a lot of thinking about this...   uh, oh.

Until computers along with their respective GUI's achieve the thiness and physical flexibiltiy of a typical book, the rapid thumb-though, speed page finding of your super evolutionary fingers, and the other attributes Don ascribes to 'hands on,' most people will prefer books.  Go ahead, roll up your computer and stick it in your back pocket.  Sure these things are coming, witness new flex-silicon electronics... but until then, why, they're Steve's Vaporware!

The big evolutionary jump was the intelligent transfer of the mind's thoughts through arabic, alphabetic writing to printing, reading and understanding, such printing coupled with two dimensional drawing.  

The next big evolutionary jump was the printing press and its derivitives. Distribution of ideas via the printed word was now unstoppable.

Both those big jumps utilize the mind, eye and hand coordination.  Such processes are a joy to warm blooded creatures.

When we can plop, say an 8 1/2 x 11" computer pad in our laps, flip 'pages' as fast as a book (despite book's limited, unlinked readout,) along with all the other pleasing aspects of physical interaction then the internet enhanced computer might suplant magazines and books.

Part of a magazines enjoyability is seeing, enmass, new advertisements, new radios, all that stuff in what's proven for hundreds of years to be a durable medium.  Will your computer book be able to read itself in a few years, decades.. what?  Will you be able to 'read' today's witicissims tomorrow? There is a lot still unsettled in the digital logic world.  "TMI,' 't'wern't invented for nothing.  A good book, good magazine will never overload the senses; it's intimately (uh oh, again) linked to your five senses.  

Sure, a lot of this argument can be thought of as Luddite head in sand, 'afraid of technology' thinking and a lot of it will be superceded.  That's the beauty of advancing technology, but it the case of books, the crossover point has yet to be reached.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Please note that I said print was dying, not dead. I gave no date for it's death. The point was that no one needs to feel chained to ER and complain about the lack of content when there is a wealth of content elsewhere.

People are making millions on the Web. But I don't care about profit. If I want to share something I've learned or done in amateur radio, profit is the last thing on my mind. Getting it out to the widest audience is, and the Web is vastly superior to submitting to any printed outlet, ER included.

As an aside, every magazine I subscribe to is offering a "digital" version. It's just a matter of time until the printed option goes away.

[W3RSW]

Please note that I said print was dying, not dead.

Vast 'tombs' of dusty authors, quietly modering away on the world's myriad of shelves are thanking you for this..
 

People are making millions on the Web. But I don't care about profit. If I want to share something I've learned or done in amateur radio, profit is the last thing on my mind.

I've made millions on the web too.   Millions of ideas found, developed, fleshed-out (UOAG),* all kinds of fun.  Where else can you get this kind of interaction? 


*^{see, 'uh oh, again,' previous post}

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

All knowledge about A.M. has been published???

What do you think???

To quote the old saying, "You're either part of the solution or part of the problem". So, what articles have you sent or will you be sending to address the areas of AM you feel need covering, Fred? 

As Bill and Rodger have said, this magazine is only as good as we make it. I have a couple articles promised to Barry back in the mid 90s still sitting here waiting to be finished. Also a couple more discussed with Ray in the last year or two. That 'life' thing just keeps getting in the way.

Part of a magazines enjoyability is seeing, enmass, new advertisements, new radios, all that stuff in what's proven for hundreds of years to be a durable medium.  Will your computer book be able to read itself in a few years, decades.. what?  Will you be able to 'read' today's witicissims tomorrow? There is a lot still unsettled in the digital logic world.  "TMI,' 't'wern't invented for nothing.  A good book, good magazine will never overload the senses; it's intimately (uh oh, again) linked to your five senses.  

That's one of the areas I'm in no hurry to find an answer for. Jen loves her iPhone, but books and magazines are just more user-friendly to me. Whether reading in bed at night, on a plane or in the terminal, at the workbench while troubleshooting - nothing compares. I will say that the computer/CD approach is light years ahead in tracking something down by a specific index, page, etc. If you need a quick answer, nothing comes close. But if you need it in hand for working on something, you inevitably end up printing it out for ease of reference.

ER is still my favorite read - even when it includes articles of no interest, truly boring, bragging, whatever. I look forward to each issue, not for the speed of access, but the curiosity of what awaits inside the covers. And a dozen+ years down the road, I need to get off my ass and contribute.