is everyone on vacation ?? no activity here since the 19th

[CeaSaR]

What I see in those posts is a new member who wishes to
participate and is adding his 2 bits where ever possible. We
should welcome all valid participants regardless of the age
of the original post. Who knows when some gem will pop up.

Hmm, let's see, Mini Amp, Preamp....... Just kidding!

CeaSaR

[Bob Scott]

All six of us are here. What's the problem?

One more! I was sidelined with a sneaky computer virus that prevents start-up. Then the ancient laptop's battery died, preventing it from starting up.

I don't understand why this forum is little-used considering that it has the backing and subject input of the magazine. Maybe not enough folks are using the forum for their article questions. With the forum running, one wonders what's the point of Reader-to-Reader Tech Forum in the back of the magazine?

It's handy for people who don't have computer on-line capability?

BTW, what is the circulation number on the paper Nuts-Volts? How many (still) subscribe? Is N&V going extinct like the whole electronics hobby seems to be? I see:
No more electronics repair places.
Reduced number of electronics parts wholesalers or retail sellers because...
No more repairable retail electronic devices are being made.
Reduced number of Electronic hobby magazines. This is not the heyday! But you should look at those 1930s and 40s Pop Science rags. It's like Everyone was building radios or had a metal capable machine shop as a hobby.

[reloadron]

I stop every now and then. Been busy with work and summer.

Ron

[psycho]

I check in once in a while, too. Just not a whole lot up here to check in for. It used to be bustling with activity.

And no - I am no longer a N&V subscriber. The mag got a whole lot thinner and its pages were (are) full of mostly stuff that I didn't read. One article per issue that I would actually read was considered a "good" issue in the end. And if there were two worth reading I was speechless. Normally I would read the Q&A parts and that was it - not worth the money anymore...

psycho

[Robert Reed]

Psyco
Just curious- what were the articles that caught your eye in the last 6 or so issues. Curious, because I kind of share your sentiments.

[psycho]

I have not read it in about 6 months. My subscription expired and I didn't renew - although I did debate it. I remember that I never liked the smiley articles. Just didn't like the guy's style. I did like Fred Eady (probably misspelled his name) - he is a good author and I liked his subject matter.

I can't remember what the last few articles were that I read though. I wish the magazine was still what it was a decade ago. I doubt it will be around in ten years - too much free online content available to justify paying for a mediocre magazine. I hate to say that but that is what I think...

psycho

[sofaspud]

In no way is this an attempt to "pile on," it's just a comment prompted by reading some previous posts.
I perceive N&V becoming less like the magazine of old (or R-E) and more like Circuit Cellar. Maybe that's
by design; maybe that's just the state of contemporary electronics. Maybe some of both.

[Dean Huster]

Before "electronics" became a popular hobby, the "mechanics" and "science" magazines were the first to publish construction articles, primarily for radios. Of course, there were specialty hobbyist magazines such as QST, which is probably the oldest, dating back into the 1920s. The "heyday" of electronics hobbyist magazines began in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Here's most of the U.S. hobbyist magazines that I can recall from about 1960 to date.

Popular Electronics, later Computers & Electronics, later resurrectged as Popular Electronics, later combined with Electronics Now into Poptronics; Radio & TV News, later Electronics World, later combined into Popular Electronics; Radio-Electronics, later Electronics Now, later combined with Popular Electronics into Poptronics; Elementary Electronics, shared a lot with Radio-TV Experimenter; Radio-TV Experimenter, shared a lot with Elementary Electronics; Electronics Illustrated, a bi-monthly that rivalled Popular Electronics

The above five were contemporaries of each other for several years, primarily during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Modern Electronics; Hands-On Electronics, later used to resurrect Popular Electronics

The two previous were pretty good mags (especially Modern Electronics)

Kilobaud, a short-lived computer construction mag, published for aboujt a year starting in early 1977


Circuit Cellar INK
The Audio Amateur, a nice specialty publication for audio construction, a quartely begin in 1970.

Poptronics, a combination of Popular Electronics and Electronics Now, lasted about two years; Nuts & Volts Magazine, originally a classified ad tabloid, replaced by on-line auctions. the publisher saw the "writing on the wall" and began shifting content to construction and informational articles as the on-line auctions became popular, a move that kept the magazine alive.

The above two were the remaining general-interest hobbyist electronics mags in 2001. Nuts & Volts Magazine is the only one remaining.

The hobby is dwindling, that's for sure. Electronics has changed and I think that's the main reason the hobby isn't as popular. Look at the expansive kits that you constructed in the 1960s and 1970s: ham radio transmitters and transceivers, general coverage short wave receivers, televisions, hi-fi and stereo systems including AM tuners, FM tuners, preamps, power amps, speakers and accessories; and an infinite variety of test and measurement equipment. Kits now are a few ICs on a PCB and a flimsy plastic case -- if there's a case at all. Gone are the fabulous construction articles in magazines. ARRL's Radio Amateurs' Handbook used to be a "bible" for all electronics hobbyists as well as hams and was packed with wonderful construction projects, expansive shop techniques and an appendix to die for, all for $7.00 or less. Today, it's an emasculated $40+ glop of wasted paper.

[Robert Reed]

Dean
AMEN

[sofaspud]

Modern Electronics was sort of resurrected from the old Popular Electronics by editor Art Salzberg, then later became
MicroComputer Journal. This was another pretty good mag with enough hacker base that is was eventually taken over by
the Midnight Engineering folks.
I have a fairly complete set of Electronics Handbook, a quarterly that was published from the 80s into the 90s. Some of the
content may have been "borrowed" from titles already listed by Dean.
The Audio Amateur combined with some other Ed Dell publications like Speaker Builder to become the current Audio
Xpress.
And there was a US edition of Elektor Electronics back in the early 90s. It has been brought back as of a few years ago.
Turning a bit from the magazines... who has a business model for a new Southwest Technical Products?

[Lenp]

OK....
I'm here, present and accounted for! J
Just been a busy start of sun-time!
More posts forthcoming......
Len

[Gorgon]

I'm also around at uneven intervals. I've been without a private PC for some months, but are now up and running again. One thing I see is that this forum tends to become an exclusive US dominated forum. I think it was a bit more diverse before, but I may be wrong. As a foreigner, the discussions of local US equipment is of little interrest.

Some times I almost miss the old days when the trolls ruled the forum

TOK