From: "Mike Dennison" <mike.dennison@ntlworld.com>
To: rsgb_lf_group@blacksheep.org
Date: Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:44:41 +0100
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Subject: Re: LF: Rad Com / critical mass etc
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David is quite wrong in thinking that any lack of technical articles=20
in RadCom is because the Editor wants a quiet life. There is almost=20
no backlog of construction articles, but many on expeditions etc. I=20
am certain that the Editor would be delighted to receive one on=20
500kHz, or almost any other subject for that matter. The best=20
approach in the first instance is to contact the Technical Editor=20
(and former Acting Ediitor), Giles Read.=20

Mike, G3XDV
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> I think it may have been me who picked up  Mal's expression "fizzled=20
> out" and applied it to the technical content, in particular
> construction  articles, in Rad Com.
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> Trying a little more seriously to look at the lack of activity on 500k
> and  the content of Rad Com, I would say that the two are related. I
> can understand how the change in content in our magazine reflects=20
> similar unfortunate changes in other publications. I suspect this is
> primarily  driven by the desire to cut costs, after all changing to a
> news based format  allows the editor/s to simply cut and paste
> articles from one source into the  blank pages which will become a
> future Rad Com.  As a good example of cut  and paste journalism, take
> a look at the 'announcement' of Tent Speakers  from a company called
> 'Blacks' on page 10 of the August edition.  You don't  have to read
> very far into that article to immediately see that it has been  lifted
> from some piece of advertising junk mail that's arrived at the office.
>  Heavily and badly edited, it's reduced size leaves out more facts
> than it  conveys. What for example is an EVA shell? Or come to that
> NXT speakers? We'll  never know, because that information didn't make
> it into the space the editor  had to fill. - A really good example of
> poor editing and production.  It's complete tat.
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> So, what's the link to 500k activity?  Well, this group largely=20
> consists of very capable individuals who can use a soldering iron and
> many of  those can actively design equipment of some sort for 500k.
> The thing we all lack  is time and frequently we like to save those
> long designing tasks for something  that's right at the top of our
> interest agenda. There would undoubtedly be more  500k operators if
> tested and widely published designs were available. But we  need more
> than that. To really kick start 500k, someone needs to produce either=20
>  kits or finished modules and that is where RadCom can be vital.  In
>  the =20
> past I have produced designs and kits for 136kHz. The 300W amplifier
> kit was  one, and the completed ready to go 136kHz preamp, designed by
> Dave G3YXM, was  another. I was really surprised that although the
> preamp was only a handful of  components, people would choose to buy
> it assembled and tested rather than build  it themselves. Somewhere
> out there are 150 preamps and 50  300W transmitter  kits which must
> have had some effect on 136k activity. Unfortunately, it costs quite a
> lot to make a kit available. You need  minimum order quantities for
> PCBs to make it cost effective, and a kit that  contains a few inches
> of say, 28 SWG wire means you have to buy a reel......and  so on and
> so on. Having an article published in RadCom was key to making a kit
> viable.   But now, there are no significant articles being published.
> If, I submit an  article am I going to be told, we don't do that any
> more, or we like most  magazines commission articles?
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> Basically, last year I looked at 500k as a possible opportunity for=20
> designing a DDS driven transmitter. 100W out, little 2 line LCD, PIC=20
> microcontroller running a DDS. - All fairly straightforward and if run
> from 12V,  a project that would attract people onto 500k. But the
> single reason why that  didn't happen was because at the time when I
> had the idea, Rad Com hadn't  published a single significant
> construction article in the previous 12  months.
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> It takes about 300 - =A3400 to get something like this started. With no
> means  of promoting it, those components just sit around selling one
> or two every 6  months. The people who buy them arrive at an
> uninhabited 500k and mostly  give up. It needs a certain momentum to
> get it started. If 30 people arrive on  the band in a short space of
> time, others think, that sounds like fun, I'll join=20
>  them and you have sustained interest.
>  Of course you can just put a design on the web, but then you  lose
>  the=20
> ability to get a 'critical mass' of people on the band.
> With RadCom going to a newspaper format with almost zero 'freelance'=20
> technical content, small kit suppliers and individuals are simply
> unwilling to  take the risk.
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> Hope that helps
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> David G0MRF
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> In a message dated 17/07/2008 08:22:10 GMT Standard Time,
> jwgould@iee.org  writes:
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> To me  the important point that I tried to make in my posting, which
> has drawn no  comment, is the one I made about getting people to write
> up  their experimental work for publication, and specifically that
> concerning  500kHz.
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> To maintain progress on gaining a long-term allocation  around 500kHz
> we will need to raise the profile nationally and  internationally of
> work undertaken on 500kHz.  One way of doing this  is to get a few
> good technical articles written, not just sharing knowledge  but
> encouraging others and providing suitable designs to enable them to=20
> join in; good construction articles can do just that.=20
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> 73 John,  G3WKL
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