[GrahamN]

Sorry for the long post, but Chas has asked me to publicise the following letter as he is struggling to finish the latest issue of The Radiophile.

(If you don't want to read the whole thing - I can summarise as follows:- Please don't telephone Chas except in exceptional cases, as every phone call he gets delays the magazine publication even more!) When I have any information regarding publication dates, I will post details here, on the website, and on Facebook.

Thanks

Graham

Letter from Chas follows:

PLEASE BE PATIENT!
A Special Request from Chas

Any reader who can recall the great days of
Vincent-H.R.D. will doubtless remember that its
advertisements naming it as the Fastest Production
Motorcycle in the World always were suffixed by the
Phrase “this is not a advertising claim but a statement of
fact”. In the same vein, I would implore you to consider
that the following remarks are neither claims nor
complaints but are only too factual. Actually, I
commenced writing this piece yesterday but due to
circumstances beyond my control I was unable to
complete it, so this is how I previously began it:
I can’t tell you exactly how many times a week the
telephone rings and the caller asks, could I tell him when
the next Radiophile will be published, but I do know that
it is too many times, and that, except in very special
circumstances. the truthful answer is “no, I don’t.” The
special circumstances obtain when we have actually
complete and as I typed in the letter “c” the telephone
rang and although the subsequent conversation was
mercifully short, my concentration was gone and before I
could even start to regain it I received yet another query,
causing me to lose about ten minutes more. Let’s try
again:
The special circumstances obtain when we have
actually completed an issue, a proof has been printed and
checked and it is in the hands of our printers. We may
then be reasonably confident in predicting that the
magazine will be published in four or five days’ time,
depending on whether a weekend will intervene.
Otherwise, to try to guess when the next issue will he sent
out is on a par with attempting to forecast what the
weather will be like three months hence. Matters would
be very different if I could be guaranteed an uninterrupted
four months to give undivided attention to each issue but
as it is I cannot rely upon having even an uninterrupted
single day because there are so many other jobs requiring
my attention, which brings us to the subject of the
Radiophile Auctions. It’s possible that some of you may
be unaware that these events, as well as providing an
excellent service to readers, are essential to maintaining
the publication of the magazine, the profitability of which
remorselessly has been eroded over the years by rising
prices, especially in respect of posting it to subscribers.
The cost of the stamps has been escalating ceaselessly —
especially since the deplorable privatisation of “Royal”
Mail — to the extent that at the end of 2016 it was only
just profitable. Then our allegedly business—friendly
Government struck another hammer blow by imposing
VAT, on the postal costs. V.A.T. is supposed to be an
abbreviation for “Value Added” Tax, which must be the
greatest misnomer of all time because its true effect is to
reduce the value of anything that comes into its rapacious
grasp. It is, moreover, specifically designed to hit hardest
the least well-off firms and individuals and thus makes a
mockery of the principle that to be acceptable taxation
should he based firmly on the ability to pay. In our case
it has meant that the magazine now has to be subsidised by
the income from Radiophile Auctions and other activities
and it is for this reason that much if my time has to be
devoted to them. At this point I would like to thank all
those good folk who give their time generously to keep the
Auctions going and thus to maintain the publication of
The Radiophile. I must also emphasise that producing the
magazine would be infinitely more difficult — in fact
impossible — had I not the invaluable assistance of
Graham Newman to look after administration matters and
the input of as fine a team of contributors as any editor
could hope for. The problem is that all the work done by
the writers ultimately falls upon a single pair of shoulders
— mine — and the effect is comparable to a number of
people simultaneously pouring liquid into a small-bore
funnel from which it can emerge only at a fixed rate. To
continue the analogy, if the number of funnels could be
increased, the passage of the liquid would be much
accelerated, which is just another way of saying that if
there were more people in the editorial office, magazine
issues could be produced in a fraction of the time it now
takes. Unfortunately, this much-to-be-desired solution
just isn’t going to be achieved because although there are
many individuals willing to help, none of them lives close
enough to Woodseaves to make this practicable. Thus, all
I can do is to soldier on as best ¡ can and beg for your
forbearance and your co-operation in helping me to make
the best use of my time. To this end I have had to cease
offering servicing literature (I have in fact sold my large
library of manufacturers’ data to Rob Rusbridge) nor can
I supply valves or components; but most importantly, I
must ask readers to refrain from ringing up to ask when
the next issue will appear or to enquire after the state of
their subscriptions. I have already dealt with the first
subject and as for the second, I simply cannot give any
information since all the relevant details are kept at
Graham Newman’s Admin. Office. However, because
Graham too is fully occupied, he has asked me to mention
that enquiries must be made by letter or e-mail and not
by telephone. With great respect, I can only reiterate that
every unnecessary telephone call cannot help but delay
further the production of the magazine. Thank you for
your co-operation.