Having rifled through the second hand equipment adverts as soon as the thing flopped onto the mat, it was time to settle down to what looked like an interesting piece headlined on the cover "Lest We Forget. The Role of Radio Amateurs in WW1". A lovely blue sky and poppies adorn the cover.
Turning to the article as thunderstorms brought an end to radio play, I found myself scratching my head - and not because of a sweaty evening! The article simply doesn't cover 'the role of radio amateurs in WW1' at all! It simply gives a few early operators' names, their calls, and a bit on what they did before and after the war. A jolly little story here and there of the authorities confiscating receivers, but nothing about how amateurs became involved and played a part in WW1 radio.
In hindsight, given that amateur radio was banned for most of WW1, the article seemed doomed to failure from the outset. We don't even get an account of amateur operators fighting at the front, or what they did, regardless of their use or not of radio. Did they tend to go into technical roles? Not a word.
The article drifts onto some outreach work conducted by a group somewhere, which I'm sure was very worthwhile and a lot of work. But it's a really strange tangent to the article topic.
Away from WW1, the GHz section gives some useful tips and directions for those wanting to get involved in microwaves, which is a welcome improvement. However, I sense an undercurrent of 'Oh God, these lazy newbies, they know nothing and I'd rather be writing about the transverter I built from native metals I dug out the ground myself and smelted into electronic components. That's real radio'. Come back to Earth, GHz section. Assume a newbie knows nothing. It's always a challenge to educate newcomers, but always rewarding, too.
The usual images of old, white, middle class men adorn many pages. I think I'm right in saying that I've only seen one less-than-white person feature within RadCom in the past year, and only a very few women, also elderly. Crisis in radio? What crisis?
I like the nested loop beam made of common, cheap materials. This kind of article ought to feature much more often, although like most articles on antenna construction, they've been republished several times in various formats, and you get a real sense of stagnation with them.
Then we have a continuation of the 'how to solder antenna wires in the field' topic, which is getting a bit tired now, to say the least. This month's doubtful contribution is how to use a cigarette lighter (we all have one of those, of course (?)) to solder.
Hmm. With a large propane/butane canister that lasts for months costing £3, and a infinitely reusable piezo-ignited burner head about the same, I think I'd rather use that for reliable connections in a force 8 gale than cursing at a puny lighter! Having told us of the lighter technique, the author admits his thumb got uncomfortably hot (what a surprise!), and so rather negates the whole point of the article!
Elsewhere, a section on QRP and tiny rigs from China, and a thought-provoking piece on wind turbine EMC, make up for the less than glowing articles on the other pages.
So, 'could do better', especially on WW1 radio history!
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