[SECC] Fw: [FCG] long QST/ARRL rant

[Mark Luhrman]

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Charles Harpole <k4vud at hotmail.com>
To: Florida ContestGroup <fcg at kkn.net>
Sent: Tue, October 4, 2011 6:19:59 AM
Subject: [FCG] long QST/ARRL rant


CRITIQUING QST
By Charly Harpole, K4VUD

          QST, “Devoted Entirely to Amateur Radio,” has been a major feature of 
ham radio for longer than even oldsters can remember.  It has been the one 
constant in the changing world of ham radio and the prominent representative of 
ARRL all along.  As a member since 1957, I have received and, at least scanned 
(by eye, not computer), EVERY issue since then.  I am also a professional 
editor, and I have detected unpleasant changes in QST over the last five or more 
years.  To voice my displeasure about our beloved magazine, I will critique a 
recent issue as a sample of trends these days.

          July 2011 QST opens with another insipid editorial that states the 
obvious in way too many words.  Cutting edge has not applied to QST editorials 
for years.  And there are so many topics to blast into to help improve ham 
radio, but none come up here.

The first article (page 33f) describes making open wire feeders.  If you look at 
Figure 7 on page 35, after you stop laughing, you realize how pitifully few hams 
will stretch a jig some “miles” (on into the horizon in the photo) to make this 
marginally useful wire.  The article is a nice ego trip for the author, but it 
is of abysmal use to other hams.

Join that wild construction article to the next one, page 39f.  First off, the 
antenna will be used by, maybe a dozen hams, and second those will need a full 
machine shop to build it.  Oh, yes, lots of hams have that in the closet of 
their condo!  This is another gee wiz entertainment—not construction—article for 
reading, marveling at, and promptly forgetting.

That dubious entry is followed by one extolling kit building, a noble idea 
virtually slipped out of existence in ham radio, sadly.  There is a nice list of 
kit suppliers, but let’s think of the readers—many of whom are too busy to get 
on the air much less build a kit and most of the others have old hands no longer 
steady enough to solder.

Then, page 53 helps us replace a bulb in a wattmeter, really crucial stuff to 
keep us on the air!  And it takes 12 precious column inches!

Bless W1ZR’s heart—he is given the thankless task of thinking up outrageously 
basic questions the answers to which are easily on the Net or in common sense.  
Then he quotes poor Dan Sook (page 56) who wants hams to speak clearly about 
frequency to label a band or to use the metric system of calling 7.1 MHz the 
forty meter band.  The folks confused about that issue are not hams!

Page 57 tells us about a shortwave receiver kit which ten or twelve readers may 
try with their children.  Publish the number of these kits sold, and I may 
change my mind, but I don’t think so.

Then, page 58 tells us, over two pages, how to detect RF.  I don’t know about 
you, but when a guy answers my CQ, I know he has detected my RF.

The article, “After the 73s” rubs me the wrong way right away with the use of 
the plural of 73 (page 63).  Yes it is grammatically correct here, but it could 
reinforce the irritating use of the plural when guys sign off a QSO.  In that 
use, 73 is ALREADY plural (“best regardS”).  But the article is really about 
doing QSLing, a topic I deal with often to answer the requests for HS0ZCW cards 
of the Thai station I operate.  What is wrong here?

Well, with space at a premium, QST still opens articles, like this one, with 
“happy talk” in the vain attempt to personalize the writing.  In this case, two 
and a half column inches are wasted in happy talk and definitions so basic as to 
make one shake a head in disbelief.  What else?

Paragraph 5:  use an oversize return envelop larger than that stated here 
because many cards are larger.  And, have your call sign printed in CLEAR 
lettering and on BOTH sides of the card.  Make crystal clear if the card is for 
a QSO or an SWL request.

Paragraph 11:  ALWAYS include an sae when sending to DX stations and include one 
or two “green stamps,”  US Dollars, because regardless of what QST says (and 
later corrects in paragraph 13), a huge percentage of hams outside America find 
a way to use Dollars.  


Paragraph 12:  IRCs are a monster waste of time and money virtually everywhere.  
Even American Post Offices have to read the manual to be able to cash them in, 
and in other countries, IRCs are met with laughter and/or a firm “no.”  Just do 
not use IRCs.

Paragraph 14:  I get a percentage of incoming QSL mail that is wrapped up like 
Fort Knox.  Get real, there is NO WAY of avoiding theft from mail.  Wrapping the 
green stamps in carbon paper, tin foil, or other stuff simply “fattens up” the 
envelop which, to the skilled fingers of thieves, sets off the alarm and opening 
is a sure result.  Perhaps sending a card by registered mail or other such 
method of “signature required” does help, but ultimately there is literally 
NOTHING a sender can do to prevent mail theft.  It is up to the DX station to 
work with his local post office to get relief.  Maybe UPS or FedEx may also work 
in some places.  Putting the card and money firmly down inside the sae is common 
and just an irritant to the op trying to open hundreds of envelopes.  It does 
not stop thieves.  


Finally, let my old heart settle down and speak of electronic QSLs.  Flat out, I 
hate this development.  Digital data does not really exist due to the fact that 
it can be changed in any way desired.  An e-QSL is just an irritant I have to 
say “no” to in my incoming email.  And, settle my heart, too, when I have tried 
valiantly to use the weird acronym LoTW system.  I have e-banked for years with 
great success and security, but LoTW baffles me for the five times I have tried 
to use it.  Maybe it works for others but is just too much trouble to use, for 
me.

Three articles on emergency communication follow.  However, let’s face it folks, 
ham radio has stopped being useful for emergency com in America.  Oh, yes, there 
is the occasional report of a disabled vehicle on the highway or even a tornado 
spotted, but for a large measure of disasters, hams on the scene are widely 
recognized by professionals as unnecessary trouble.  Due to lack of national 
leadership which could reorganize hams into an effective supporting force, many 
emergencies have disorganized individual hams showing up with an HT and running 
around giving mistaken reports to other hams.  Yes, hams in the USA still have a 
role, but what is practiced now is often just “in the way.”

TEN pages (74-83) are reports of recent contests.  However, most of these column 
inches are taken up by narrations of highlights which repeat the “top scorers” 
lists.  These narrations could have been written once at the last sun spot peak 
and reprinted all years afterward, so meaninglessly repetitive are they!  
Instead of printing the total list of all people’s logs, we get the tired 
repetition of the “leader boards” as the same big gun stations stroke each 
other.  The embarrassment of only valorizing top scorers displays QST’s “good 
old boy” network, not incentives for little pistols to enter contests.  AND, 
scores on line ARE NOT THE SAME!

Thankfully Bernie, W3UR, injects some reason and directly useful information in 
his column which stresses LISTENING to work DX.  His straight talk (and muted 
outrage for bad operating) is so refreshing in this otherwise bland magazine.

If there were ever a GOOD use of Internet listings it would be the Special 
Events and the Convention/Hamfest pages.  There is no reason for history to have 
four pages listing events that happen once.  Put this stuff on a searchable Web 
page, for gosh sakes!

Then, there are the advertisements!  Thank goodness for them because it is in 
these lavishly illustrated pages where I can dream and plan for station 
upgrades.  I learned more basic electronics by reading ads than anywhere else 
because I wanted to spend my money wisely and dug in to try to find out what 
signal-to-noise figures meant in the comparison of receivers prior to purchase.

Overall, the recent years of QST have been vastly outshined by CQ, the latter of 
which has many more relevant articles, curtly written, and often cutting edge.  
I READ CQ and I skim QST these days because the July issue is typical, not the 
exception.  I am puzzled at who QST editors think are their core readers.  I 
ask, is it a policy to offer so many beginner articles in the vain hope of 
bringing in more hams?  Is ARRL via QST trying to impress radio regulators?  Are 
potential QST authors put off by some unknown factor that keeps good articles 
from coming in?  Why are the product reviews bland and confusing?  What has been 
going on and why?

The extensive market penetration of QST gives it a sure leadership position to 
carry ARRL policies and ideals.  Sadly, if QST is an indicator of these, and I 
think it is, ARRL remains in bad shape ( from Harry’s days on down to today).  
Apparently no one with cautioning or correcting words are heard, really listened 
to, in Newington.  Some suspect a Northeastern barrier to such that runs along 
the border of New York.  Today, there may be hope that a new broom sweeping 
clean has entered in the hands of a lady, but no proof has emerged yet.

In sum, I think QST is now written mostly for children, and that there are no 
children readers!  Yes, young teens are our hobby’s core recruiting age, but the 
grey hair in Newington appears to be so out of touch with the interests and 
motivations of this age that, in America, anyone with a license under 50 is 
celebrated as the oddity he/she is.  Thankfully, other countries have young 
hams, maybe because there are still places that value education and self 
improvement.  Listen to that contest that exchanges ages in the contacts—the B 
prefixes seem to be in low 30s, the W ones in the high 60s.  QST can address 
this and other matters effectively, but is now failing the hobby.

Charles Harpole k4vud at hotmail.com                          
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