Old Practical Wireless

An old work colleague popped out yesterday. It was great to see him.  I had not seen him for perhaps 30 years. He very kindly brought some Practical Wireless magazines mostly from the early 1980s. For those that don't know PW is a UK radio magazine you can buy in shops.

What struck me was the very high number of advertisers, which is not the case today. Clearly radio was very healthy back then. These days, the majority of adverts are from just one company. If they stopped then PW would probably be in deep, deep trouble.

Practical Wireless article

In the February 2023 issue of Practical Wireless is my article about 8m. Practical Wireless now incorporates Radio User.  

The latter used to be a magazine mainly for SWLs. I hope the ending of Radio User is not the start of many magazine closures.

Getting thinner?

Through the post today I got my monthly copy of Practical Wireless. It seems a lot thinner. To my mind this says one thing: they are in trouble and are trying to save money. 

Not looked inside yet. It may be fewer adverts or fewer articles or both.  I have been a faithful subscriber for many years, but may stop.

In Rob Mannion's day I wrote articles for PW.

How much longer will it continue?

UPDATE 1700z: I am puzzled. Several issues have had a similar number of pages, yet it feels noticeably thinner to me. Is it thinner paper?

UPDATE 2156z:  It has been this thin for several months, although this is the first time I have noticed.

Practical Wireless (September 2021)

I still get this on subscription. 

If I am honest, it would be the first magazine to go. 

Content is a bit patchy with some good articles and some less so. 

It must be many years since I wrote an article for PW. I have certainly not written anything since ownership changed.

Facebook memory - PW

7 years ago there was a review of mine in Practical Wireless. It was quite a surprise to see my bald head and garden on the cover!  Since then PW has changed owners.

See https://www.warnersgroup.co.uk/hobbies-crafts/practical-wireless/

PW and RadioUser sold

According to Southgate News PW and RadioUser magazines have been sold to a new owner.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2017/august/new-owner-for-pw.htm#.WZVkQLpFzIU

PW Datacard, and AM

My Sept 2016 edition of Practical Wireless arrived today in the post. In it, was a data-card showing the HF beacons and on the reverse the latest HF band plans. Although I do not blame PW who just reproduced the band plans for our convenience I am again appalled that AM gets no mention apart from 5MHz.

BTW, am I alone in finding the 5MHz channels totally confusing?

For as long as I can remember just above 29MHz has been the home of 10m AM. Most users use old AM rigs and they sound superb. FM, with wider bandwidths, gets a mention, but not poor old AM. On 10m there is plenty of space for all modes. Why, oh why, does AM get treated like a nasty disease?? As 10m becomes more like a VHF band for much of the year there is a place for AM. Even in the best years, there is space. For much of the next 10 years 10m will be seen by many as a wasteland.

As readers will know, I like narrow-band digital modes like WSPR, JT65 and JT9-1. I also like AM which takes less space than FM, but is treated badly today.

PW QRP 2m contest - missed it again

Yet again I managed to miss the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest yesterday. It would have been a good test of my simple station too. It is many years since I seriously entered this 2m contest. This was back in the days of AM I think and we operated portable with a big beam. These days, it would be from home with just my big-wheel omni.

FT991 review

The Yaesu FT991 is reviewed in the latest edition of Practical Wireless. Apparently this rig is proving very popular in the UK. I think this is the first review of this rig in the UK.

Historic adverts?

Thanks to Phil G4HFU (see earlier post) I have been reacquainted with the old PW adverts that got me dreaming over 50 years ago. I wonder if other blog readers can point me in the direction of old UK magazines and adverts? I was first interested in radio and SWLing in the early 1960s.

Back then, the world was a very different place. The Beatles were still in the future.  We lived under the constant fear of all out nuclear war (I was terrified in the 1962 Cuba crisis) and most amateur DX was by CW or AM. Although RTTY was around, most digital modes were not. Magazines like Practical Wireless, Radio Constructor and Short Wave Magazine were filled with goodies I drooled over, but could not afford. Even now I do not like parting with money for amateur gear unless there is a good chance of getting very many years of good service from it.

On the front cover of Practical Wireless this month

Well, I had quite a surprise when the Sept 2013 edition of Practical Wireless (PW) magazine dropped on the mat in the post this morning. Although I knew my review of the Wonderwand Wonderloop was inside, I did not expect my bald head to be the subject of the main cover image! My wife Lis took the photo in the back garden of our current home.

I hope those reading the Wonderloop review will think it a fair one. The loop is tiny and uses thin 1mm wire, yet the performance was actually pretty good considering its size, averaging a couple of S-points down on a decent back garden antenna. As the review shows, some good results were obtained.

May I recommend you buy PW as there is a reasonably decent selection of articles in it most months. It is now the only independent amateur radio magazine published in the UK. I do miss the old Short Wave Magazine which was a good magazine in its heyday back in the 1950s and 1960s.

WonderLoop antenna

If you have just bought a copy of the August 2013 copy of Practical Wireless you may have noticed that in the next edition (September) I'm doing a review of the WonderLoop antenna, although the editors managed to give me a new callsign by mistake in the "Coming next month" column on p77, HI.

Confidentiality prevents me saying anything yet until the edition is published, but I much enjoyed carrying out my tests.  I have absolutely no affiliation with the manufacturer or supplier. As a keen blogger I find it hard not to blog about something radio related that I have played with!

The Wonderwand page is at http://www.wonder-wand.co.uk/WonderWand/WW_Homepage.html .

If you are interested in reading my review, please buy the Sept 2013 copy of PW on sale August 8th.

Practical Wireless (April 2013)

G3XBM in New Zealand (Abel Tasman National Park) Feb 2009

For the second month in a row I have an article in Practical Wireless. This time it is one submitted several years ago describing my operation on 70cms FM when on holiday in New Zealand in 2009. New Zealand has an excellent internet-linked repeater network that links repeaters all across the country, so one can work from the very south of South Island all the way to the top of North Island and talk to anyone on this linked network.  I found this invaluable when on holiday.

Sadly the exchange rate is not as favourable now as in 2009, but New Zealand is a wonderful place for a once in a lifetime holiday, with very friendly and welcoming people.

If you get PW, I hope you enjoy the article.

G3XBM's 500kHz article in May's Practical Wireless

The follow-up article on my 500kHz transverter and WSPR experiments appeared in the May edition of Practical Wireless today. I hope it encourages a few others to give 500kHz a go, especially as my approach is a simple and easy one.