Carl wrote, in part:
>I just received the REA 1970 to 1979 QSTs on CD Rom and they are great!
........stuff snipped.....
>Funny though how much better QST was back then.
I am curious to know the typical page count in QST during those years.
The page count has decreased some 23% across just the past three
years, at least in comparing February issues. Over 200 pages typical in
1996, in 1999 around 40+ fewer. This was caused, per the ARRL
HQ, by decline in membership and fewer advertisers. Many fewer
pages carrying ads in 99 vs 96; and about the same decrease
in editorial/article pages which carry no ads, other than
the page bottom filler new product free-of-cost announcements, etc.
There has been a large decrease in our numbers holding privileges
below 50 MHz in just the recent past, and a great increase in
the no-code ranks; here are numbers through Nov. '98:
June, 1997..............November, 1998
Extra......73,737...................74,496
Advanced..107,024..................103,526
General...116,629..................111,498
Tech +....139,608..................134,719
Technician 174,924..................190,510 (!)
Novice.....66,551...................58,034
Totals....678,473..................672,783
Delta, a net loss of 5960 licensed amateurs in the US
despite an increase of 15,586 added no-code
license holders. Thus, a drop of 21,546 license
holders with privileges below 30 MHz in just
18 months time!
The ARRL problem is loss of member subscribers, and
the fact that fewer and fewer Tech class license holders
are ARRL members, while still the most rapidly increasing
license class as a group. Per ARRL, some new Tech holders
do join, but few renew after the first year. But with there huge
numbers we will continue to see all the HT ads and product
reviews within QST.
It is the economics that is the problem for QST/ARRL.
Less money, less editorial content in QST. Fewer of us
with the technical skills/knowledge and interest to submit
good articles a la the "old days". The staff at ARRL does
not write most of the content within QST; much comes
from we license holders who submit and have
neat articles published. Also the ARRL sort criteria is fairly
rigorous; I have submitted stuff, only two items were
ever printed, one a Public Service piece following
a ship rescue in 1992; the other a fairly lengthy
piece about improving CW skills. This wound up
in one of the ARRL's education printed pubs; and also
was included in CQ(!) in the Contesting Column in the
Fall of '96. These ideas are still carried on the internet,
if interested, see:
http://www.dutch.nl/wilbwk/index1.htm
Click on CW Links, then scroll down to the lines, "You
can become a high speed CW operator, read this
summary of info by AH6NB, Jim Reid" (my call
before the Vanity program came along).
73, Jim, KH7M
On the Garden Island of Kauai
And still in love with my "new" Omni VI+ !
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/tentecfaq.htm
Submissions: tentec@contesting.com
Administrative requests: tentec-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-tentec@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|