Radio magazines

Today my U3A courses restarted and I had some time to kill in Cambridge Library. I was quite surprised to see a copy of Practical Electronics. 

It got me wondering what electronics magazines can still be bought in newsagents?  

There were few adverts so I think their business model must rely on the sales of PCBs for the projects they feature.

Amateur radio on the streets?

Around the world it seems harder to find radio magazines on the stands of newsagents. This is certainly true here in the UK, but I am wondering if it is different in other countries?

Radio Magazines

 Already this year we have seen the disappearance of CQ and Radio User (at least as a separate magazine). Others may follow. 

At one time you could pop into a UK newsagent and see several radio related magazines. Not any more. Over the years more and more have closed or maybe gone online only. If you want a magazine about PC games or steam trains there are several to choose from.

It is as if few people are interested in radio technology any more, sadly.

10 years' time? The best we can expect is a few pages in a magazine about technologies in general. 

I have made my view plain in the past. Am I right or am I right?

An amazing resource

Recently I was reminded of this amazing resource. If you are looking for an old radio magazine, look here first. 

See

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/index.htm

Ham Radio Magazine

This magazine went long ago sadly. 

When it first appeared, it was A5 format. I think it is still available online in PDF format for back issues, although I forget the link. It was a great magazine.

In the coming years, I can see several amateur radio magazines going or shrinking in size. It would not surprise me if many national radio societies go to A5 format for their magazines as adverts get fewer and as a cost saving measure. It would not bother me at all is they went to A5 size.

Radio (and other) magazines online

Long gone companies
and rigs!

There is a wonderful resource online if you are after old publications. Some may have been withdrawn following protests by publishers.

See https://worldradiohistory.com/

As an example, see https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Ham-Radio-Today/80s/HRT-1988-11.pdf

Many of the companies advertising, and rigs, have long gone. In the future, I can see many other companies going out of business.

Old magazines online

In an email received earlier today an old colleague reminded me of this amazing online resource. It contains pdf versions of many magazines and publications of interest to amateurs. I can highly recommend it. If you are looking for it, it is probably here. Despite its title there are magazines from across the world here.

See https://www.americanradiohistory.com/index.htm

Online radio magazines

Amateur Radio Weekly has reminded us that several radio magazines (some very old) are available online.

Although this is an American website, quite a few magazines are from other countries.

See https://www.americanradiohistory.com/

Useful radio magazine archive

Steve G3ILO has pointed out this online archive that contains some useful radio magazines - mainly USA, but some big UK one too.

See http://americanradiohistory.com/ .

Spot the PW?

Have you noticed how few radio magazines there are nowadays on the shelves of magazine shops?  The photo shows part of the magazine racks in W.H.Smith's in Bury St Edmunds. There are lots of mags on trains and transport, quite a few on PCs and smart phones, but it took me ages to find any mags on radio. It is as if our hobby no longer exists.

Out of interest, Practical Wireless was eventually found! Can you spot it?

Monitoring Monthly - gone

Monitoring Monthly, the UK magazine catering for SWLs and scanner enthusiasts, ceased publication last month with May 09 being the last edition. Their website is still in place for electronic copies to be retrieved.

One wonders, in current market conditions, how well (or not) some of the other ham radio and SWL magazines and ham equipment traders are managing. Anyone know?