UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 21st Nov 2022, 12:09 pm   #1
Andrew2
Nonode
 
Andrew2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Dukinfield, Cheshire, UK.
Posts: 2,034
Default Radio User Magazine is no more.

My subscription copy of RU magazine arrived this morning with an insert explaining that it would be the last stand-alone issue. From now on it will be incorporated into PW, and that is the magazine that will be sent to existing subscribers.
I can't say I'm surprised. When the new editor took over a few years ago (following a change of publisher), there was a steady decline in constructional and technical articles and the magazine became more of a 'Radio Listener's guide' and news reports.
Just the way things are going I suppose.
__________________
Andy G1HBE.
Andrew2 is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 12:52 pm   #2
Aub
Nonode
 
Aub's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Nuneaton, Warwickshire, UK.
Posts: 2,034
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

That's a shame. I was in W.H. Smith's on Friday last week and I couldn't find Radio User , PW or any other electronics/radio mag on their shelves. Closest were plenty of nerdy computer mags and the usual bunch of Hi-fi mags. I know there are periods where they send old mags back to the publisher, before the new ones arrive, so maybe I was just unlucky.

Cheers

Aub
__________________
Life's a long song, but the tune ends too soon for us all.
Aub is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 12:59 pm   #3
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,484
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

The last copy of RU I bought was the February '22 issue and it was big on community use of radio (not of much interest to a latent sociopath like myself) and rather light on techie stuff so I know what you mean.

On the other hand we should mourn the passing of any publication which seeks to promote an interest in radio. Every now and then I follow a link to specific thing in one of the old electronics magazines which are available online and usually end up reading a year's worth of issues.

It saddens me to think there isn't the wellspring of interest now that there once was keeping all those publications going. In this context the continuing survival of Practical Wireless is quite remarkable, perhaps because it is now the only high street magazine for anyone with this line of interest to read.
SiriusHardware is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 2:01 pm   #4
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,801
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Newsagents are commercial enterprises. They will sell anything legal if there's money in it. So we can reasonably deduce that radio magazines don't turn over enough to be profitable. The same logic applies to publishing houses and their flocks of magazine titles.

There just isn't as much interest amongst the general public as there once was.

People with a solid interest will most likely get specialist output from clubs and societies; The BVWS or RSGB mostly. I get QST, QEX and Dubus as well to have a general awareness of what's going on in my field of interest. Joe public won't know any of these things exist. He won't be able to pick one off of a magazine stand in a moment of idle curiosity while waiting for a train/flight any longer. We have to rely on being found on the internet or maybe via a book in a public library. I sometimes get an ARRL handbook and donate it to the big Carnegie library in Dunfermline n the grounds that a significant chunk was written in Dunfermline (Carnegie's birthplace).

Prominence on the internet come down to Google's algorithm, and that is likely influenced by advertising revenue.

|However, riding horses is an even older thing, has long been supplanted by other means for practical transportation. But it's thriving, there are magazines on shelves, there are thriving clubs and there is a large and steady influx of youngsters taking up the interest.

Where is a member of the general public likely to bump into a radio-related hobby nowadays? It's done quietly out of public sight in sheds ands spare rooms.

Our local amateur radio society runs electronics construction days/evenings for scouts in the region. One coming up on Thursday. We design our own kits and get PCBs made.

It can be done, but only if people are prepared to put in effort. If only a fraction of the man-hours invested in moaning could be diverted...

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 3:03 pm   #5
Junk Box Nick
Octode
 
Junk Box Nick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Practical Wireless, Radio Constructor, Short Wave Magazine, Wireless World, Practical Electronics, Everyday Electronics... These are the magazines I devoured in my youth.

Practical Wireless is the ‘last man standing’ assuming it is allowed on the news stand at all but the last time I looked wasn’t the ‘practical’ magazine it once was. This reflects the changes in our hobby which, though the golden age will be different for different generations, inevtiably will be a transient thing. Today for many an amateur radio rig is just another plug and play consumer item. This is not a criticism of those users – it is just the way it is.

However, the thing that was a horse a century ago is still a horse. Any upgrade path has been very slow for the animal and the only limit of its use and enjoyment is its natural lifespan. Thankfully you don’t have to change your horse because the hay v. 2 is not compatible with your horse v. 1 and hay v. 1 is discontinued. The knowledge you gain with your first pony will remain relevant decades later. Relative to our lifespans natural world is constant. Furthermore it is an escape from the madness of everyday life.

Outside of our little corner of vintage electronics, radio for most today is a very clinical thing and has changed totally during my getting on for sixty years involvement in the hobby.

Perhaps this explains why far more of my hobby/leisure time is now spent in the natural world than it is in the radio world.
Junk Box Nick is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 3:27 pm   #6
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

I suspect that there's a degree of 'novelty' in the market for magazines.

New things excite interest, so you can sell magazines about them. Radio has been around for over 100 years, it's no longer novel so doesn't excite interest [indeed, actual listenership to broadcast radio/TV is on a precipitous slide].

40 years ago, home computers were the new thing; there were loads of nodel-specific computer-mags on the shelves. Now the home computer has become a way of life, the magazines have largely disappeared [to be replaced by mags for gamers].

And hard-copy magazines have in many instances been replaced by digital downloads, ending the chance of non-subscribers being exposed to new reading-choices while scanning the racks at W.H.Smith while waiting for their delayed train to shuffle into the station.

I guess that's just evolution in action. Personally I haven't bought a hard-copy of a magazine for something like 15 years!
__________________
I'm the Operator of my Pocket Calculator. -Kraftwerk.
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 4:26 pm   #7
David G4EBT
Dekatron
 
David G4EBT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,737
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Sadly, I think PW will soon disappear.

I say that because on the very few occasions I've seen it is WH Smith and flipped through it there has been little technical content or for that matter much else of interest. Just snippets of news, reviews of equipment which almost border on 'advertorial'. It's evocative of the dying days of 'Ham Radio Today' and 'Amatuer Radio'. Last Saturday I was in Smith's and they did have just one copy of PW. I was shocked and saddened to see that it had been printed on 'newsprint', more evocative of the old 'Exhange & Mart' rather than the usual glossy paper. Not a good look, and not a good sign.

What will finish it is the 'SOR' (Sale or Return) arrangement.

For years they've striven get readers to subscribe to the magazine. Then the publisher knows the print run in advance and gets the income in advance to help its cashflow, and subscribers buy 12 magazines in advance for a year. The greater the proportion of readers of small circulation publications who buy in shops, the harder it is for the publisher to gauge the print run each month. They risk the shops either selling out, so they lose sales, or if magazines aren't sold, being returned to the publisher to be pulped under the SOR arrangement.

SOR is what drove Eketor Magazine off the magazine stands. It can still be had by subscription and online:

https://www.elektormagazine.com/?gcl...gaAkL5EALw_wcB

A glance at the shelves of Smiths will show that truly practical hobbies are thriving. Even the newsagent in our village stocks Model Boat Magazine, 'RCM&E' (Radio Control Models & Electronics) 'MEW' (Model Engineering Workshop), and Model Engineer, plus several woodworking magazines and 'Woodturning'.

For quite some years now Practical Wireless has been neither practical nor about wireless (in the broadest sense). Rob Manion declared many years ago that the editorial content would be 100% Ham Radio, but without wishing to be disdainful, for decades now, 'Ham Radio' has largely morphed from what was a technical, practical, constructional, experimentational hobby into what might be termed 'posh CB', and boy, are those radios posh, for those with deep pockets. They even come with a moulded-on mains plug.

There is still EPE Magazine, (for which, in terms of content, amounts to 'last year's Silicon Chip').

Some may say I'm being negative, pessimistic and running the hobby down. No - just telling it like it is, leastways from my perspective. The decline and the changing fortunes of the hobby and the magazines that once served it, has been inexorable and is irreversible. Not dead yet, but in intensive care. (Fifty years ago, photographic clubs had darkrooms, developers and enlargers. They don't any more - they don't even have film).
__________________
David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club member 1339.
David G4EBT is online now  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 5:55 pm   #8
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,801
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David G4EBT View Post
and boy, are those radios posh, for those with deep pockets. They even come with a moulded-on mains plug.
There's a law that says everything has to, so I'm afraid that doesn't prove the point.

With a fancy all singing shiny rig, the novelty wears off fast and boredom sets in. The likes of the G-QRP club catch these people on the rebound. There is still more satisfaction in using something you've built yourself.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 6:08 pm   #9
stevehertz
Dekatron
 
stevehertz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 8,809
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

From my days in electronics PR trying my best to get my articles and press releases into electronics magazines I recall many, many meetings with editors and publishers. Sometimes at the publishers' premises, others back at our offices and at other times at exhibitions and so on. I had meetings with editorial and advertising staff. I soon learnt never to underestimate the link between the two. Although they'd rarely come out and say it, there was a strong link between those who advertised and those whose feature articles were accepted for publication. Of course, they'd rarely turn down a 'monster' story regardless of how much patronage the company gave to the magazine in terms of buying advertising space. Most of the electronics magazines I dealt with (numbering dozens throughout the world) were free issue to those with a relevant background, although more often than not you could pay for a subscription if you wished.

But regarding magazines that rely on newsagent (over the counter) and paid subscription sales, they obviously rely on such, plus advertising revenue to make money and indeed survive. The problem is, if the editorial content goes down in quality, then companies are loath to advertise, the magazine gets thinner and the quality goes down further in a vicious circle.
__________________
A digital radio is the latest thing, but a vintage wireless is forever..
stevehertz is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 6:21 pm   #10
Junk Box Nick
Octode
 
Junk Box Nick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David G4EBT View Post
'Ham Radio' has largely morphed from what was a technical, practical, constructional, experimentational hobby into what might be termed 'posh CB'
Close to 100% agreement, David. Listening to a rag-chew on 80m recently between three stations (one of which was clearly very local to me so I was curious to know whom it might be) sounded just like CB. Except at least on CB the operators tend to announce their ‘handles’ whereas none of these guys could be bothered with callsigns – even when going QRT.

Zip up to 20m and the QSOs are rubber stamp lasting little more than a few seconds.

I occasionally get the urge to get the old kit back on the air and then I have a listen around and decide I’ll attend to some other job.
Junk Box Nick is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 7:36 pm   #11
avocollector
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Wellington, New Zealand.
Posts: 653
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Sadly all things change - the kids probably get interested through sites like Mr Carlson's lab on you tube and you tube itself becomes the media they follow it in. The survival of mags is NOT helped by the phenonema of investing companies buying them up then treating them as cash cows thinking they can get away with just reprinting makers handouts etc. I've seen this happen with 2 favourites one - of which Electronics Australia went under 3 months after they stripped out the technical stuff in favour of reviews/reprints. It's not just happedning with hobby mags either - publishers have been buying up academic mags then upping the subs to strotosphereic levels with the resulting lack of subs etc.

Mind you you tube is doing itself no favours by cramming multiple ads in every video - I'm far less willing to watch a vid on it now thanks to those irritating intrusions.
avocollector is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 7:52 pm   #12
jez_145
Pentode
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Southport, Merseyside, UK.
Posts: 119
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Quote:
Originally Posted by David G4EBT View Post

There is still EPE Magazine, (for which, in terms of content, amounts to 'last year's Silicon Chip').
Very true. I cancelled my subscription to "Practical Electronics", as its name reverted back to, a couple of years ago. I got fed up with the lack of interesting projects or repeats of the same old stuff. I've lost count of how many clock designs they've published and, as much as I like clocks, enough is enough. It got to the point, when I received my final subscription issue, that I said to myself, "if this mag contains ONE more project based on a MicroMite board - I'm off". It did and I went!

Much as I miss Ian Bell's Circuit Surgery and Jake Rothman's analogue audio articles, I don't miss shelling out on the ever increasing subscriptions.

My idea was to purchase the magazine only as and when there was something of particular interest to me. In two years of checking each month, that still hasn't happened.

Jerry
jez_145 is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 10:39 pm   #13
joebog1
Banned
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Mareeba, North Queensland, Australia
Posts: 2,704
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

As ever, a superb discussion. avocollector summed it up in one.
When Electronics Australia changed names from Radio, Television and Hobbies was the beginning of the end. They even went digital very early in the piece and I built an Ed-u ca-8. That was way back.
I have many many magazines that I store and still collect, going right back to 1939. ALL of them have gone exactly as this discussion says. From something usable, to a large format hard print advertising.

I started reading R,TV & H as a kid of maybe 10 or 11 and have not looked back. But we had lots of English engineers here too that gave me their "unwanted Wireless World " magazines and other publications. One of them even gave me the whole library of large hard cover RAF books, containing hundreds of stories, drawings and photographs of the RAF. I think the first issue was 1940.
PW was another favorite, but I only bought issues with articles that interested me.
I also collected a large number of American magazines, usually entitled 101 Electronic Projects or similar.

One point that hasnt been raised yet, is HOW many of our kids, or grandkids can even read properly?. Most gamer magazines show lots of tacky hi res images of how to kill things, with a
"cheat " printed under the pic. No real discussion because its difficult using only words containing four letters or less. I wonder what they would think if I showed them a game of Hack, running on a PE3205, using a Wyse terminal. One place I worked every engineer would play at lunchtime and most days crash the machine. That wasnt popular as we then had to run the tape again to get it started. Even loading the tape was a doddle untill we got vacuum loaded drives.
Radio is part of the phone, as is youtube. TV Its only news and kids hate that. ( Even my own four kids are totally ignorant of world events, or even local events !! ).

I bought Elektor from day one, untill they started using 6800 series chips to make bedside clocks.
I stopped then.

Well, it seems we are the Seamans Mission of real electronics. What can be said?. Radio is part of the past, as are lots of us, and I dont mean that badly, more as an observation of fact. While we have fora such as this, we can at least discuss amoungst ourselves and educate those few who come and join and wish to learn.

All is not lost, only the reading material.
Oh and the circuits.
Oh and the engineers who understand every aspect of how it works.
Oh and its not like a download that is lost when the drive crashes, you can STILL go back and reread old issues as I do almost every day.

Cheers and best wishes to all of us.

Joe
joebog1 is offline  
Old 21st Nov 2022, 11:35 pm   #14
jamesperrett
Octode
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Liss, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 1,870
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

There is a massive interest in basic electronics amongst today's youngsters. Quite a few of our lad's friends have Snap Circuits kits but there is a huge gulf between Snap Circuits and the next stage - buying components for yourself and building things on breadboards or stripboard. I'm thinking about doing a few sessions with his friends showing what can be done with just a few components (maybe stealing ideas from my ancient PW collection).
jamesperrett is offline  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 12:07 am   #15
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,484
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

I paid a rare visit to our old-school electronic parts emporium in Cullercoats a short while back (rare because their working hours are similar to mine making it difficult to get there) - I was after conventional components which they had, because they are a good shop, but while I was there I noticed a whole area loaded up with 'maker' stuff, essentially Arduinos and clones and every conceivable kind of peripheral add on module which would enable a 'maker' to get something up and running quite quickly just by adding the required modules, many of which already have pre-written code 'libraries' to make them very easy for a user project to incorporate.

While this approach almost removes the need to know electronics or microprocessors at component / register level it is one way to get something going and I have to admit I frequently use this method instead of more conventional methods of electronics construction where I have a single task which I need to get working quickly.
SiriusHardware is offline  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 8:14 am   #16
stevehertz
Dekatron
 
stevehertz's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Rugeley, Staffordshire, UK.
Posts: 8,809
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Maplin were good with their modules. You could easily build a high power stereo amp using them.
__________________
A digital radio is the latest thing, but a vintage wireless is forever..
stevehertz is offline  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 10:24 am   #17
David G4EBT
Dekatron
 
David G4EBT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 5,737
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

In an earlier post I wrote: 'Last Saturday I was in Smith's and they did have just one copy of PW. I was shocked and saddened to see that it had been printed on 'newsprint', more evocative of the old 'Exchange & Mart' rather than the usual glossy paper. Not a good look, and not a good sign'.

(I noted that the cover price is £5.49, and the digital version is £4.99)

I wondered if any other forum members have seen the latest 'newsprint' issue and what they think of it?
__________________
David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club member 1339.
David G4EBT is online now  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 1:45 pm   #18
Junk Box Nick
Octode
 
Junk Box Nick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Newsprint will give it vintage look and feel if nothing else – especially if they revert to black ink only on the inside!
Junk Box Nick is offline  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 5:55 pm   #19
Dave Moll
Dekatron
 
Dave Moll's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: West Cumbria (CA13), UK
Posts: 6,118
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

Especially if they revert to spot colour on the title page:
Attached Files
File Type: pdf Practical-Wireless-Issue-1-1 (p1).pdf (2.62 MB, 84 views)
__________________
Mending is better than Ending (cf Brave New World by Aldous Huxley)
Dave Moll is offline  
Old 22nd Nov 2022, 6:09 pm   #20
SiriusHardware
Dekatron
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Newcastle, Tyne and Wear, UK.
Posts: 11,484
Default Re: Radio User Magazine is no more.

The three most recent and current (December) issues look as though they are in colour, although of course that may only apply to the digital version now.

https://www.radioenthusiast.co.uk/st...ical-wireless/

Did you pick it up and look through it, David? I'm almost wondering if what you saw was a 'placeholder', something which just indicates where PW would normally go on the shelf.

I'm amazed we haven't had at least one PW (paper copy) subscriber drop by and confirm your observation for us.
SiriusHardware is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 8:15 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.