[CQ-Contest] NCJ QEX as digital versions

[Scott Wright]

Jim Cain is a little cynical regarding the expansion of NCJ and QEX to digital versions. QEX and NCJ have healthy subscription bases; QEX much more so than NCJ.  If the readers on this list serve want to strengthen NCJ, subscribe for yourself, donate a subscription to new contester and promote it at club meetings.   Both the editor of NCJ (me) and QEX asked to be put in line for a digital format after the League announced a new digital journal for newbies.  The approval decision happened quickly; I do not know when the digital copies will be available. 

The reality of the publishing world is that all journals are going digital slowly and in some cases not so slowly. I am Associate Editor of one of the world’s most widely circulated medical journals. Our publisher is telling us that all journals are preparing for the transition to digital and that we must soon prepare ourselves. Our subscriber base is strong and our funding is secure. It is not always a $$ issue which drives magazines to digital. 

I am glad that HQ and Howard Michel decided to make NCJ digital on top of the print edition. Ria N2RJ and others on the Board have been working to help us with this expansion. It is necessary for many reasons, not the least of which is the need to have more “room” to publish great content in a way that is economical. Every issue, we push several articles forward due to page constraints. Secondly, subscribers need a way to locate past material in a format that is searchable, storable and retrievable. The last 40 years have taught us that paper copies do not lend themselves easily to two of these criteria.  Finally, no ARRL journal is economical for non-US subscribers unless it is in a digital format. I hope the European, South American and Asian contest communities will join the ARRL to get NCJ, QST and QEX digitally; the annual dues are worth that and more.

As we enter 2020 and face the doldrums of poor propagation, let’s not be cynical about contesting or its publications.  Contesting is alive and well; today’s equipment exceeds anything we imagined in the 90’s. Antennas are better and new modes allow us to communicate below the noise level.  This should be contesting’s finest decade in history; it will be if we make that happen.

Scott Wright K0MD
Editor, NCJ