Oliver,
It is not just radio. Other enthusiast-based publications have the same
problem getting suitable material. I have noticed this with caving as well.
We ended up with Speleonics for the general caver, the CREG Journal for those
with a technical bent and another specialist journal aimed at cave surveyors.
The editor of the newsletter for my old radio club in the UK has the same
problem every quarter.
Having been the editor for CREGJ, and still being on the editorial team, I am
well aware of the difficulties. One approach we have used is to get a
prospective author to provide notes and sketches on what he or she has done and
then do a rewrite. As Andy suggested, once you get into this area of
journalism it can be quite habit-forming.
One of our most successful contributors for several years was Jean-Jacques
Fauchez, F6IDE (SK) who was very good technically but was not at home with
technical English. He would draft things in French and my XYL and I would then
translate them into English.
The other thing that puts people off (and I have mentioned this in a response
to something Mal wrote) is that they worry about the typographical aspects and
diagram standards. Most journals I have dealt with will sort out the layout
and typeface matters anyway and they will normally redraw your diagrams to
their house style. You therefore do not have to worry, as an author, about
such things.
John F5VLF/G3PAI
Commissioning Editor, Cave Radio & Electronics Group Journal
British Cave Research Association
*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********
On 25/10/2007 at 14:28 Dr. Oliver Welp wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I don't read RADCOM, but in Germany, we basicly have the same problem. I
>would
>love to see more projects etc. in the ham radio magazines, but when
>talking to
>the publishers, there usually is one basic problem: nobody submits
>technical
>articles. (anyway, they have lots of non-technical articles on stock)
>
>I can only guess but these might be some of the reasons:
>
>- Hams who are good technicians often are no good writers or simply not
>interested in writing.
>- Writing a good article makes A LOT of work - you could easily do another
>project rather than write an article. (and your fellow hams might call you
>at
>10 p.m. or 6 a.m. if their kit is not working...)
>- People who'd consider submitting an article are to shy to do so - since
>they
>think they are excellent enough for doing so.
>
>You probably can ask every ham radio magazine and offer to submit a
>_technical_
>article, and they will love you for that. Might be the same in Germany
>than in
>UK.
>
>73, Oliver
>(DL9QJ, N3NSF)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Zitat von Gary - G4WGT <[email protected]>:
>
>> Hi Mal, LF,
>>
>> You wrote :-
>>
>>> Think of all the construction going on for 500 khz transmitters, and
>antenna
>>> systems at present but nothing has appeared in RADCOM.
>>> Does anyone else have an opinion.
>>
>> Perhaps the problem lies with the members & readers who should be
>> submitting ideas & articles to the RadCom team.
>>
>> I really don't know how they select for the magazine but if they
>> don't know the stuff is there how can they print it ??
>>
>> 73
>>
>> Gary - G4WGT - IO83qp
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>--
>[Dr. Oliver Welp
>[email protected]]
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