eevBLAB #61 - The Demise Of Electronics Australia - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 10:25:48 am
content: The demise of Electronics Australia magazine, the longest running technical publication in the world.A look at the last ever edition, the heyday, and some early editions that would cause a social justice meltdown today!

author: G0MJW
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 11:28:04 am
content: The 70s and 80s were the golden years for these magazines, We never got Australian publications in the UK but I expect the projects were often common. I am surprised Australia's population is big enough the support so much. You must all be engineers.Mike

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 12:25:54 pm
content: I remember picking up the first of the new style " Electronics Lifestyle magazine" EAs."Blind Freddie" could see they had got it completely wrong.The gushing, breathless editorial was followed by virtually nothing.OK, if there had been normally unavailable background information about some of the junk they were touting, it might have found a niche market, but it was just readily available "general public" stuff.Why would would anybody fork out their hard earned cash to read material they could pick up free at Harvey Norman, JB Hifi, or any of a dozen shops.It was all in line with the "ideologically correct line" of the times, though.Technical knowledge was regarded by the non-technical managements as "old hat", with stupid analogies like the one about "Buggy whip manufacturers" being spouted by the morons tasked with preparing us for a "Brave New World" which never eventuated.Instead, things went off at tangents these "Social Engineers" never anticipated.Anyway, they can all "Get off my lawn!".

author: johnlsenchak
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 12:45:26 pm
content: Reminds me a lot of Radio Electronics magazine which pretty much died in the mid nineties here in the United Stateshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-Electronics

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 12:55:42 pm
content: Yeah, The end came quick. That's why so many unsubscribed rather than wait out the end of the subscription. I unsubscribed with 6 months to go. I blamed GC but I sorta knew it wasn't his fault.Sometimes I take a look back through my copies and it is always interesting to see how fast things were changing technology wise. But in this post Concorde world the rate of change seems to have started slowing down.Wouldn't mind seeing a multi-part series of interviews with JR. He must have some stories to tell.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 01:45:01 pm
content: I can still recall learning so much about the Philips K9 chassis from The Serviceman column. That was a great experience in learning how to think when tracking down faults. Pity I never had a K9 to work on, but the info was good for how to approach faults in general.Moffat's Madhouse was a classic. So many stories and so much craziness - it was great. I also learned that Gaffer tape was rocket proof. About to send an experimental rocket up a few miles and realise you'd like to add an extra instrument? No problem - just tape it to the rocket body and send it off. If the rocket blows up, simply find the wreckage and note that while the rocket was history, the extra instrument was still being held in place by the tape on a piece of the dismembered body.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 01:48:22 pm
content: I was never a critic of the magazine. I just wanted my monthly "fix" - but when the direction of the magazine turned south, it just felt wrong. So very wrong.I will admit to letting my subscription run to the end in the remote hope that it would come good - but it was not to be. It was a time of mourning.

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2019, 04:33:11 pm
content: Quote from: G0MJW on March 23, 2019, 11:28:04 amyes 70s and 80s were the golden years for these magazines, also we did have a lot of engineers as in the 60s Australia had a space program too.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 01:07:32 am
content: Quote from: jonovid on March 23, 2019, 04:33:11 pmYes, & we had large publicly owned (cue "Boo!, Hiss!) communications organisations which trained thousands of Electronics Techs, & employed numerous EEs .Many of the latter, after finishing their first year or so were taken up as "Cadets" & supported to finish their Degree.Many top PMG/Telecom Aust EEs started off as 5 year trained Technicians in Training, then after some years in the Tech job, did their Degrees.As one TAFE Lecturer put it, referring to our defunct Space Program:-"That's back when we had arealcountry!"

author: N9XYP
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2019, 01:27:38 am
content: Hey Dave,You (or one of your minions) should get in contact with AmeruicaRadioHistory.com and see if you can help fill in the Australia section. The site is a great resource for history and projects, as well as a massive time suck. Stay away from "Science and Invention"; hard to strop reading and makes you wonder how humans survived the first third of the 20th.He just posted several ETI back issues today.