CQ Magazine Jan feb and march 2014

[VK6SIX]

gday

Has anybody got the feb march april 2014 issues of CQ magazine yet?

I received my janury 2014 after complaining but nothing since.

I know about this info they supplied in an email, BUT the feb and march april have not yet arrived.

Please advise. thank you

e&oe

"Dear CQ Readers,

We are still experiencing delays with our January and February print editions.

Mail delivery is scheduled for March - followed shortly thereafter by a combined March/April issue of CQ. The combined March/April issue will only count as one issue of a subscription term.

Because of this change, both the SSB and CW results of the 2013 CQ World Wide DX Contest will be published in the May issue of CQ. Your patience is appreciated."

[VK4GHZ]

Like lots of books, the Digital Edition is significantly cheaper, and doesn't involve unreliable mechanical things to create or deliver.
... except perhaps for the muffin fans inside the computers and servers!

http://store.cq-amateur-radio.com/Categ ... scriptions

[VK4WDM]

That is a real cool sub but our net system here is painfully slow. Hopefully will will get connected to the NBN in a few weeks.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[VK3YE]

A good (but difficult) interview with the editor of CQ magazine on the challenges of publishing a commercial magazine in a free information age https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYLM6ypLAOY

[VK4GHZ]

A good (but difficult) interview with the editor of CQ magazine on the challenges...

Interesting, but sorry, I couldn't stand watching beyond 15 minutes.
That was sufficient time to understand what the real problem with CQ (and ham radio in general) is.

It's an old shool company driven by an old school mentality, clinging onto the past.
Of course CQ Magazine in the digital era is going to fail.

1/3 of our total ciculation is on the digital side, but we have the 2/3 on print and want to stay there.

That is nothing more than a reflection of the demographics involved.
Living in the past.

How anyone can be in denial about the fact that ham radio made itself, with it's dominating old school mentality, invisible to the younger generation is truly mind boggling.

Open your eyes.
Look around at the local clubs, State and National level.
Who is controlling these ham radio clubs and organisations?
Chances are, most of the people were well into their adult lives before ever touching a computer.

I've been to enough radio club meetings to hear the "I hate computers" line or stories of hams who have been given tablets (the iPad and Galaxy variety) as a present, but have no idea what to use them for.

Seriously?

[VK3HZ]

Gee, I must have watched a different video.

The story I got from the first 5 minutes was that Advertising Revenue is the biggest source of income for the magazine. The economic downturn meant that people had cut discretionary spending on things like AR. So AR equipment vendors had no money to spend on advertising in either the print OR online edition. So, the magazine is in financial trouble, as are many magazines (both Print and Online) in the modern age.

The rants about AR = Old = Hate Computers are becoming quite tiresome, and have nothing positive about them.

Regards,
Dave
VK3HZ

[VK5TM]

You need to check the QRZ.com forum entries for failed delivery, failure to refund and a lot of other problems. Last look it was at 49 pages.

They stopped sending overseas mags nearly a year ago to some countries and have stopped taking o/s subscriptions.

CQ mag is dead, it just won't lie down.

They did have a Facebook post asking their subscribers what they thought of going all digital, but I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for it to happen.

[ZL1TPH]

Hi Adam, if you get to read this I can't recall seeing an article written by you in the W.I.A magazine. If you have can you remind me.
Thanks,
Cheers, Steve

[VK4GHZ]

Hi Adam, if you get to read this I can't recall seeing an article written by you in the W.I.A magazine. If you have can you remind me.

Hi Steve
Haven't written an article for a dead tree magazine since the early 90's (it was ARA).
You can't Google a dead tree.

One thing I did learn in 4 years of playing microwaves, is that microwavers are not interested in attracting new blood into the ranks.
It's the weirdest situation you will ever find, and is self destructive.
There was very little to be found on the internet, and I was put off micowaves for many years previous because of this.
Anyway, give it another 5 years max, and "home stations" will be the primary microwave activity here.

How many others gave microwaves some initial thought, but were put off, I wonder?

I was at Gippstech 2 years ago and purchased 3 GippsTech Proceedings, and was horrified to discover how much good information was locked away inside those dead trees. Can't Google or embed videos in a dead tree.
It's a shame that the old-school authors fail to appreciate how much more useful their articles would have been, if freely available on the internet.
But, these hams are more concerned about being "published" and having their names immortilised in print.
Being published in Dubus appears to be even more of a status symbol.

If ham radio wants to live in the past, so be it.


If there is an "economic downturn" in ham radio advertising & sales, then it's a direct reflection of the hobby itself.
Sorry, but the "GFC" is a tired old, however convenient, excuse now.

Consider this: the major ham demographic are either already retired or soon to be retired.
Retirement generally brings around limited spending power.
Limited spending power = less ham radio toys = less sales = less advertising = bye bye CQ magazine


And BTW, there is no downturn in other tech hobbies.
The complete opposite.
In fact, there must be close to a dozen on-line stores that sell R/C quadcopter parts BASED IN AUSTRALIA ALONE.
It can be difficult to buy everything you need in the one vendor order, because items sell out so quickly.
Most of my FPV racing quad mates are 20 - 40+ with healthy disposable incomes.
Have a look around a GippsTech next time. What do you see?
I didn't see too many younger blokes last time.
This should be disturbing to anyone, but apparantly not.

The constrast between an old fashioned hobby living in the past, and new age tech cannot be any clearer.

More than half of the members of the radio club I belong to renew their membership by walking into a bank.
They're too scared of computers and the interwebs to do it online.

Yeah sure, it may be tiresome, but if living in denial is a more comfortable end, then so be it.

[VK4DU]

Why are some amateurs scared of computers?

Computers, tablets, et al make the hobby so much more interesting and convenient.

I just do not understand why technical people can be so conservative and scared of new technology....

Does not compute...

[VK3ALB]

Perhaps Adam, your unhappiness with those that don't share your vision is wearing a bit thin on this forum? Seems to me that they probably won't be here to read what you have to say. Maybe you could kill a tree and write them an open letter? Can you still write on paper with a pen or is that too last century for you?

Posted in the interests of stirring the pot as it has been pretty quiet around here lately.

[VK2AAH]

Maybe some of us "technical types" just hate being lectured at like delinquent retirement home residents. I'm sorry that Adam can't get past his technical superiority complex but even with my Surface Pro 3 I still like reading from paper... but I don't hold it against those who choose digital. And afraid? The only ones who scare me are those who seriously believe that their way is the only way...

Cheers


Richard

[VK2KPK]

a dead tree.

Is it just me or other people on the forum tired of seemingly never ending references to "dead trees"?

Personally the day that AR goes all digital will be the day I resign my membership to WIA.

PS. I am not afraid of computers, online banking and share trading, etc., etc.

[VK2AVR]

I can't remember the last time I was in a dead tree museum (library)

I still like picking up a paper magazine now and then, but if the economic realities preclude it then I would rather have a digital magazine than none at all.

[VK4TI]

Sadly change is always viewed with dislike , trasnsistors or computers some folk can't or wont change , I dislike win8 but with classic shell installed it's again possible to navigte well and quickly , mind it aint Debian so still a cludge which I should get used to after decades of compuer work but I still get the irks occasionally .
Computers can be a very useful and fun tool , anyone can with some easy to show help

[VK4DU]

I can't remember the last time I was in a dead tree museum (library)

I still like picking up a paper magazine now and then, but if the economic realities preclude it then I would rather have a digital magazine than none at all.

Exactly....

[VK2XV]

Interesting, but sorry, I couldn't stand watching beyond 15 minutes.
That was sufficient time to understand what the real problem with CQ (and ham radio in general) is. It's an old school company driving by an old school mentality, clinging onto the past.

For what it is worth (my opinion) I tend to agree. If you listen carefully you can see that it not so much the CQ guys who are living in the past - it is their market. More than once the CQ guy said "...the market is not ready for digital only...". Fair enough - the market gets to decide. However 'the market' needs to understand that in a rapidly changing publishing environment they are wedging these guys between a rock and a hard place. The 'market' might keep publications like CQ supporting non-digital distribution right up until the terminal phase.

This is not unique to CQ (as the CQ guy stated right at the beginning) - print publications are facing this challenge in virtually all areas. Reluctance to 'go digital' is forcing many publications to support both print and digital - a classic case of one foot on the jetty and one foot in the boot. And we all know the end game there...

Personally I think that an acceptance (and support) by 'the market' of digital editions and the payment of a commensurate subscription is one of the few ways these publications will survive. Without such support I don't think they will survive.

But - there is another problem. Old folks like me (I'm 65) are at the tail end of the changes - meaning it is wise to observe how the coming generations access their information. In my family (including myself, XYL and offspring) almost all our information comes digitally. Mind you, as a family we have probably above the average sized 'dead tree' personal libraries - but these 'hard copies' are rapidly becoming supplementary if one wants to keep up to date. References are one things (books are good for this - the laws of physics and/or electrical formulae rarely - if ever - change) - periodicals are another. We all just jump on the computer to google the latest info on just about anything. Cannot imagine waiting for a magazine to maybe have a relevant topic one or two times a year. So even a digital version might be struggling to stay afloat on the rising tide of readily available information.

The problem is that I am spoilt now by having the ability to google and download specific narrow topics digitally - without having to buy a magazine out of which maybe only one or two articles are of interest. I have on my computer a digital library of specific interests - all of which can be searched. My AR is read through in 5 minutes or less and then gathers dust.

The fate of publications like CQ will be up to 'the market'. If they ('the market') don't collaborate with the publications and appreciate the pressures they are subject to, and together tackle to prevailing problems then they will likely both go down with the ship. Threats of terminating support are unhelpful.

BTW - my 94 year-old mother-in-law uses her computer every day (email, Facebook, Google, Skype, etc) and started at 85 from scratch. She cannot imagine being without it and is on the phone if it isn't working as well as she expects.

[VK5TM]

I have a preference for digital magazines.

Not only does it allow for extra content to be inserted, but the physical storage space needed is much smaller than a thousand mags (currently in storage in the shed).
There would be well over two thousand magazines and books on this computer and back-up cd's.

And I'm not saying that with any bias because I edit the CQ-DATV digital magazine, it has been my preference long before that, back to 1998 at least.
If I want a hard copy to read in the throne room or anywhere else, I just print off what i want instead of having a handful of stapled paper with only a couple of pages of interest.

Oh, and I'll be 60 this year, so not in the younger generation age group.

[VK4DU]

Thanks Steve and Terry.

Well said both.

I agree. As you have probably guessed, my other main hobby is motorcycles... I receive all my info via digital means. I subscribe to the world's best Motorcycle magazine - the English Bike - digitally.

Not only is it significantly cheaper (about 20% the price of the hard copy), but it offers so much more - embedded videos, lots of extra pictures, etc.

Bike will survive in today's world of instant information because of the quality of its writing and photographs. That is the key.

I receive a digital edition of AR, and have told the office that I do not want the paper version. Why should I pay for the paper version if I don't want it?

Simply a matter of economics....

(runs for cover.... )

A digital edition of AR could have lots of extra content.....

73
Glenn

[VK4GHZ]

If I want a hard copy to read in the throne room or anywhere else, I just print off what i want

Terry, exactly!
It's easy to print digital magazines, but not so practical to scan in a dead tree with 100% OCR reliability.

You can have the best of both Worlds, a fully searchable document with hyperlinks and embeds, and at your own discretion, a hard copy... if you really really need it.
It's simply shifting the actual printing task to the readership.

How come a child can use a computer and it's peripherals these days, and >50% hams struggle with this?
A) Directly related to CQ Magazines slow death.

Most of us have periodic clean outs of magazines and books.
Often it takes many years to wake up to the fact it's probably obsolete, or just as long to break the emotional bond which has prevented us from getting rid of it sooner.
Sometimes you can't even give these dead trees away... nobody else wants em either.