[CW] CW Digest, Vol 109, Issue 28

[Donald Chester]

<<From: "D.J.J. Ring, Jr." <n1ea at arrl.net>

It was a numbers game for ARRL, more numbers for the ranks.  "QST" has gone
from a magazinse with easy to very technical to just easy.  It has local
section news, not now.

There is precious little in it now.  Years ago someone would write a very
innovative piece about a new tube in RF low level amplification and mixing,
or new circuits.  Most were using discrete components - because that way you
could optimize the circuit on your own.  You could change the parameters of
amplifiers, get oscillators keying very smoothly or sequentially keyed.  A
novel way of feeding cross polarized antennas, even Hints and Kinks had some
fascinating insights.

The last such article I read was by a WW2 radioman who worked out phase
quadrature I Q detection for his 40 meter receiver giving a 3 dB increase in
weak signal amplification.>>



Now, the in-depth technical and serious construction articles are mostly
published in QEX, a separate magazine that requires a separate paid
subscription, even from full members. QST has come to closely resemble the
now-defunct Ham Radio Horizons which was the sister publication directed at
newcomers, to the highly technical Ham Radio magazine, also now defunct.

The present day QST is largely filled with human-interest drivel, and its
"technical articles" are typically on the order of a novelty one-transistor
QRP CW transmitter built in a cat-food tin and LED-powered "On The Air"
signs. 


Don k4kyv