Radio Constructor

When I was much younger, we seemed to have lots of radio magazines. This was before the age of video games and the internet when radio still seemed like magic. Sadly, there are far fewer magazines on sale. In the future we could expect even fewer.

One of my favourites was a UK magazine called Radio Constructor. Before my time it was, I believe, an A5 sized publication, but it was always A4 when I got it. Sir Douglas Hall often featured articles for some very clever circuits. He was not a radio professional. I think he was a diplomat. Nonetheless, he was a very clever man. One of my school friends knew him and said he was a very nice man.

Radio Constructor ceased publications a long time ago, but is still available as PDFs online.

See https://worldradiohistory.com/Radio_Constructor_Magazine.htm .

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.