From: flloyd@L1-A.West.Sun.COM (Fred Lloyd [Phoenix SE])
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc
Subject: QST, in my opinion...
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:47:59 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Phoenix, AZ
NNTP-Posting-Host: l1-a.west.sun.com



QST is first and foremost, a club newsletter.  Second, it's a 
revenue source and third, it's a technical contest journal. 
Let's examine these points.

QST is the ARRL.  Technically, I'm a member of the ARRL, but in reality
its just another one of the many magazines that I receive each month.
In some way, to "subscribe" to QST is to subscribe to League policy so
the term subscription really takes two meanings here.  One might say "I
don't subscribe to their policy...", but they may still subscribe to
the magazine, which, like it or not, supports that policy.

On the very first few pages, just past the initial advertisements
(which cost upwards of $1200 per page), the magazine begins.  First up,
(on page 3), the Table of Contents.  Then, a few ad pages later, the
first club item: a listing of club directors and section managers,
their territories, names, addresses and telephone numbers.  Immediately
following is the opening editorial, which as of late has become the
David Sumner, K1ZZ pontification page.  Dave must be one heck of a ham
however, I get the feeling that you'd be more likely making a space
shuttle contact than actually hearing him on the air.  Have you ever
noticed how many 1-landers have been League executives?  Somehow I
don't get the impression that Dave has ever been seen without his suit
and tie, God forbid wearing just jeans and a t-shirt, using an old
IC-2AT at the local hamfest.  Just who is this guy anyway?

Next, Up Front in QST.  This is the only non-revenue color section in the
entire magazine.  I thought that the July 1992 edition was particularly
lame here, starting out with a couple of (yawn) antenna pictures, a 
bunch of nerds holding coffee cups, an inside photo of a QRP rig, 36
different QSL card styles from the same ham, and four "humor" photos
including a canned ham, and a water cooled CW key.  Now here's some
real eye catching stuff....  Now, when am I going to get my ARRL pocket
pen protector?

Next comes League Lines, a pseudo headline news section replete with
one liners about the "industry".  Here, I almost expect to see a blurb
at the bottom regarding professional opportunities at Hughes.  Same
sort of format as Hughes uses in their advertisements.

The first real article is usually a construction project.  I generally
like reading these but I must admit that in the past 3 years I've built
only one of them (the CMOS Super Keyer).  Still, they're usually pretty
good reading, except when they go off the deep end on something like
spread spectrum stuff or the like.  I don't particularly care for
construction articles for which it's unlikely that anyone will _ever_
build them except the author.  Maybe someday I too will own a spectrum
analyzer...  Overall, the QST construction articles have great schematics
and good technical theory, but usually end up promoting either the author
or a particular parts supplier for that "unique part".  After having
criticized QST for publishing a microprocessor controlled project 
for which no source code was available, I've noticed now (July 92 Keyboard
Keyer project for example) that this may be changing for the better.

One of my favorite areas are the Product Reviews, however, there tend
to be too few of them.  I greatly admire QST's efforts to be as non-
subjective as possible, and present only the facts.  It is evident,
however, that some advertiser pressure still exists, but I honestly
don't think that it can be avoided.  Overall, however, I "trust" QST
reviews more than I do those of any other magazine's.  I don't trust
them completely, however, and do reserve final judgement on any product
to my own investigations.  Usually, their technical analysis of most
gear is the best anywhere, given their excellent lab.  Hats off to
their lab staff!

There are 4 main topic areas in QST, listed each month in the table
of contents.  They are TECHNICAL, NEWS AND FEATURES, OPERATING and
DEPARTMENTS.  The technical stuff is generally pretty good, however
I usually find that the theory is either too simple or too difficult.
They need more middle of the road, middle skill type projects which
produce articles that the typical ham can actually use.  The trouble
with this lies in how many J-Poles, dipoles and QRP rigs can you write
about?  These subjects are nearly worn out and I commend QST for trying
to keep it interesting.

The NEWS AND FEATURES articles vary greatly in appeal.  The general
theme of this category of articles serves to paint a picture of the
ideal ham as being a "God, country and apple pie" kind of guy.  Here
you have your "How CW stopped a runaway locomotive", "My first elmer"
sort of stuff,  "How to be prepared for that great simulated emergency",
"Why public service is our calling in life", and "How the ARRL is working
with the FCC on regulatory issues of galactic proportion".

Next comes the OPERATING section.  "Operating" is an ARRL codeword which
means CONTESTING.  Contesting appears to be a real money maker for the
league since they must spend upwards of $10,000 a month in page space
promoting it.  They list not only their contests but also those of
other organizations such as _CQ_ and JARL.  Contesting must kill an
awful lot of trees, both in QST pages as well as QSL cards.  Let's not
forget the fossil fuels which are consumed to deliver them.  I thought
this hobby was supposed to work in the ether, the thin air...  It seems
that a significant number of hams simply must have tangible proof that
their signal really did travel around the world at the speed of light.
Myself, I feel quite satisfied reviewing my own memories and my log book.
I don't have a QSL card...

Next comes the DEPARTMENTS.  In general, a "department" is defined as
any special interest or politically correct topic which takes less than a
page to satisfy.  There are some (to steal a phrase used before in this
forum) perrenial "tree killers" like Section News and Silent Keys.
Section News can't be politically eliminated, so they just use smaller
type.  A Monty Python "hell" would be a condemnation to spend the rest
of eternity reading nothing but Section News pages.

The Silent Keys section seems to be expanding of late, probably due to
the demographics of our hobby.  Let's face it, there are proportionally
more OF'S in this hobby than possibly any other.  OF's have a nasty
habit of expiring, and taking a tree or two with them when they go.

As a revenue vehicle, QST is certainly pro-commercial, almost in an 
uncanny way.  While on the surface they would lead one to believe that
commercialism has no place in amateur radio, they themselves are some
of the biggest commercial interest whores anywhere.  Their magazine is
a full 50% paid advertising, and one of their biggest advertisers is:
The ARRL.  Yes, the ARRL routinely takes upwards of 10 pages to promote
their own products, mostly books and the like.  The next biggest is Ham
Radio Outlet, which practically owns the 6 pages after the regular article
section.  I've never heard of HRO, or any advertiser for that matter,
being criticized within QST.  Hmmmm.

QST has, shall we say, a _special_ requirement for all advertisers.
QST, unlike all other amateur radio related publications, requires that
advertisers be willing to submit samples of their product to ARRL for
evaluation as to fitness for service.  In other words, a company
selling "Antenna Wax" is not likely to get advertising space.  Is this
good?  Well, yes and no.  For one thing, the ARRL is suppressing free
trade, freedom of the press and free speech by denying these
advertisers.  Secondly, I resent having the ARRL act as my benevolent
protector in shielding me from snake oil vendors.  I'd like to see all
of the products on the market, not just the ones which have been proven
"safe and effective" by independent juries.  I'm wise enough to spot
incredible claims, and there is federal recourse in the event that
mail order vendors become fraudulent.  Thank you, ARRL, but please allow
me to make value judgements for myself.

League Membership

When the ARRL puts its support behind or against a political issue, they
will always quote the will of its membership as its guiding principal.
In other words, they act as if we all had voted on the issues it
addresses.  Well, unfortunately, the "voice" that the ARRL hears is often
the "squeaky wheel", which as always gets the most grease.  It's a fact
that more people write letters when they're mad versus when they're 
happy about something.  If the ARRL gets 1000 negative responses to an
issue and 200 positive ones, the issue is declared to be "rejected by
the membership".  Well, in an organization with more than 100,000 members,
how can a 1% voice be considered "representative"?  

I've never met a section manager or district chief, and don't even know
who my local representatives are.  In todays age of instant
communications, who needs this archaic and anachronistic structure
anyway?  If the ARRL wanted a truly representative vote on what really
matters to their constituency, then they should spend about $1 per
member to send out Business-Reply-Mail, postage prepaid, check-the-box
bingo cards to each of the members soliciting their votes.  Look, I'm
sorry but in today's age, most people don't have time to call section
managers, write letters and campaign for change in the old way. 
Checking squares on a bingo card and dropping it into the mail is a
method which _really_ works, and is more in tune with our times.

And finally, the name QST is the epitome of hobby-jargonism.  What
a wonderful way to encourage passers by at the newsstand to pick up
a copy.  QST is a term which is instantly recognizable by all members
of society, one which conveys instant meaning in an intuitive fashion.
NOT!  While the ARRL is considering changing their name, why not give
the magazine a work over too?  How about something like "The Journal
of the Axxx", whatever Axxx eventually turns out to be?

Well, that's it, my opinion of QST.  Any comments?

-fred

-- 
| Fred Lloyd  AA7BQ,  Systems Engineer          Fred.Lloyd@west.sun.com |
| Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation                   ...sun!flloyd |
| Phoenix, AZ    (If it's a fact, I believe it!)         (602) 275-4242 |
Newsgroups: rec.radio.amateur.misc