ISWL

Back in the 1960s, when in its heyday, I was a keen member of the International Shortwave League (ISWL). In those days its membership was measured in thousands from all over the world.

A few years ago I rejoined and enjoyed the monthly magazine called Monitor. I contributed a few articles too. Sadly, membership has been declining steadily and now, I believe, the membership numbers fewer than 300 people. The club keeps going as a result of the dedicated hard work by its voluntary staff who put together the magazine each month.

This last year I have started to take the magazine as a .pdf copy. It really isn't the same as a paper magazine you can take to bed and flick through. I find the pdf version much less satisfying.

After some thought, I've decided not to renew my subs this time as it is surely now only a matter of time before the ISWL folds. It served its purpose in its day, but those days have passed. This last month a final coffin nail was the closure of the ISWL QSL bureau, one of the last to process broadcast QSLs as well as amateur ones.