UK electronics mag

[PerranOak]

Can anyone recommend a good monthly electronics mag in the UK please?

[Macbeth]

Do they still publish them? Blimey!

[Andy Watson]

Do they still publish them? Blimey!

I believe Wireless World, or whatever their latest title has morphed into, is still "going". I stopped subscribing when they published 101 things to do with a 555. Nothing wrong with the 555 but when the best article they can muster is a rehash of a 30 year old chip - it kind-of sounds the death knell! I used to dip-in occasionally  if I saw it on the news stands or got a hand-me-down copy but the final straw was an article about the microscopic diodes in loud-speaker wires followed the next month by equipment to measure its effects - or not.

I think the answer is no.

[MK14]

Can anyone recommend a good monthly electronics mag in the UK please?

I think they mostly or completely stopped/disappeared, over the years.

BUT on the bright side. There are a HUGE number of older ones, available for free download (PDF).

Example:
http://www.americanradiohistory.com/

Scroll down to the electronics section, and you will find MANY!

E.g.
Electronics Today International. (ETI).

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/ETI_Magazine.htm

Happy reading!

[Gyro]

Elektor magazine is the other common one in the UK. The projects and articles are rather more upmarket compared to EPE - lots of microcontroller stuff, interfacing, network, wireless, basic FPGA ,test equipment etc. but again very little that can't be gleaned online. I think it's roots are in the Netherlands....

https://www.elektor.com/elektor-magazine-en-march-april-2016

It's sad, though inevitable with the rise of online resource, that these magazines have mostly died out. I grew up with Practical Electronics as a kid, even in the '60s I would avidly go through my dad's copy, even though in my pre-teens often just studying the pictures and diagrams. It's the one thing I can point to that originally ignited the electronics spark with me! Everyday Electronics was later introduced ('80s?) as a 'beginners' alternative, specializing in very simple projects. When the two later merged into EPE things seemed to go rapidly downhill.

ETI was another fun one and seemed to specialize in bigger (ie more expensive) projects, but a good mix of audio, computer and test equipment.

Wireless World was always the 'highbrow' alternative, it was very sad to see that go, via a transition through Electronics and Wireless World. As I say, very sad to see its decline from it's beginnings in the 1920s. Over the years it covered a lot of important and interesting stuff... Arthur C Clarke's original article on geostationary satellites, the Williamson amplifier, John Linsley Hood was a regular contributor, Bailey's original Transmission line speaker article, Baxendall's original tone control network, a build-your-own colour TV to mention just a few. In the latter days, there were less and less constructional articles.

I found a couple of limited Wireless World article archives that might be of nostalgic interest...

http://www.douglas-self.com/ampins/wwarchive/wwarchive.htm

http://www.keith-snook.info/wireless-world-magazine/wireless-world-articles.html

For all the convenience and instant gratification of having information instantly available on the web (very recently in the grand scheme of things), I still miss the anticipation of the next month's issue coming out and with such long histories, it's sad to see them go.

P.S. I forgot to mention, Practical Wireless, the amateur radio partner to Practical Electronics, still exists, in very much it's original form! - I guess RF constructional articles still aren't as easily accessible on the web, so it has survived.

[MrSlack]

All the new magazines are crap I find.

A friend of mine is mailing me old copies of old Practical Wireless in date order. We're currently at March 1966:

[rdl]

I never kept up with Elektor much, I thought they had gone "online only".

[Howardlong]

PW did go through a dumbing down period in the 90s but has been reasonably technical for the past 20 years or so. For a time in the late 70s and early 80s there was almost no radio content, it seemed the PW and Practical Electronics, despite coming from the same publisher IPC, were largely competing with each other. Even as a pre-teen and teenager I found Everyday Electronics to be too dumbed down! Elektor is about the best one these days, although Imdon't know if you can get it in paper form still.

It's sad but I haven't subscribed for some time. I gave up trying to find the magazines in the local newsagents about 15 years ago.

Coincidentally, I used to write a regular column on satellites for Radio User in the noughties which is the low brow version of PW for a few years. I covered practical things like making practical circular polarised antennas for weather satellite reception and how to receive satellites with minimal equipment, plus some non-practical but technical behind the scenes articles on things like Goonhilly ground station before BT pulled out, and Svalsat where I've worked in Svalbard. If I am honest, I really hated the copy deadlines, which meant it became rather a chore, and the pay, which I never took, certainly wasn't worth geting out of bed for!

[Fraser]

@Howardlong,

I was into weather satellite reception (a member of RIG) and read your articles with interest. I still have much of the kit in the loft. 137 MHz is still active I believe but I was sad to lose the Geo 1691MHz satellites. I had bought some nice dishes, LNA's and down converters for Meteosat...... And then it was gone

I have some lovely 1m  portable satellite dishes from quick deployment NERA ground satellite stations that I was going to use. Operating frequency was similar, just a new feed needed. Lovely 4 Petal type so really portable. Now languishing in the shed.

Sadly good electronics magazines appear to have died due to the availability of so much useful information on the Internet. Much like my circuit reference compendiums. They are lost to the history books of how we used to obtain circuit ideas and information.

Fraser

[Howardlong]

@Howardlong,

I was into weather satellite reception (a member of RIG) and read your articles with interest.

Oooo fame at last! 

[chris_leyson]

On the way home from school I found several boxes of old copies of Wireless World dating from the mid to late sixties, A few trips back and forth and I had a nice collection of Wireless World that kept me busy for ages. Used to buy Short Wave Magazine, Practical Wireless, ETI and Elektor back then. Wireless World became Electronics and Wireless World in 1984 and now I think it's just called Electronics World. I gave up buying Wireless World in the 80's, there just wasn't much educational content and very little in the way of construction projects, they just seemed to dumb everything down.

[Fraser]

Who remembers the magazines that AMBIT used to produce. They were really a collection of data sheets along with articles on the components use.

I have three or four and they contain some very useful information not available elsewhere. They have proved invaluable on several occasions. They contain much information on TOKO components and KA series chip data.

AMBIT became CIRKIT and stopped producing such useful magazines

Fraser

[Gyro]

I remember them - I built an FM stereo tuner using their modues, I still use it occasionally too.


Yes, you can still find Elektor in WH Smiths, it's bi-monthly these days and you won't like the price though. I occasionally flick through a copy but can never find anything worth buying a copy for.

P.S. If anyone knows of any other Wireless World archive links it might be worth putting them together in a post.

[MK14]

Who remembers the magazines that AMBIT used to produce. They were really a collection of data sheets along with articles on the components use.

I have three or four and they contain some very useful information not available elsewhere. They have proved invaluable on several occasions. They contain much information on TOKO components and KA series chip data.

AMBIT became CIRKIT and stopped producing such useful magazines

Fraser

Now you mention them, I remember them. The small, low valued TOKO inductors.
I think I use to buy stuff from AMBIT, sometimes.

Looking at the old projects, now. I find it funny, that a number of the projects (in magazines), had one or more technical faults. Such as components missing or totally the wrong value. Etc etc. Even if you built them perfectly, you would quite often, need to correct the odd mistake here and there. Which seems to be a technical fault of the magazines project.

I think part of the problem, was the very tight timescales, partial lack of technical experience, with the project designers, and the limited number of prototypes built. Apparently, often ONLY one.
The magazines seemed to get things wrong, when copying what the project designer, wanted. E.g. a 100K Ohm resistor, ends up losing the K, and becoming 100 Ohms. Better hobbyists, can see the mistake, and correct it. But others, can end up with something which is difficult to get to work.

Sometimes, annoyingly, the project designer would put in a part or parts, which are essentially UNOBTAINABLE. Or unobtainable to general hobbyists, who can't buy from the business supplier end of the market.

E.g. (If I remember correctly), RS (Radio Spares {online}), would NOT sell to individuals or hobbyists. ONLY proper businesses, and similar. So if RS part(s) cropped up in the design. That could make it problematic, to build.

[nali]

Who remembers the magazines that AMBIT used to produce. They were really a collection of data sheets along with articles on the components use.

I have three or four and they contain some very useful information not available elsewhere. They have proved invaluable on several occasions. They contain much information on TOKO components and KA series chip data.

AMBIT became CIRKIT and stopped producing such useful magazines

Fraser

Is that the same Cirkit that used to have a store / trade counter in Broxbourne, Herts? They used to have some quite good kits IIRC, a lot of them radio - orientated. I guess it was circa 1980 when I used to go there.

[MrSlack]

I remember Cirkit in Broxbourne circa 1997. Shame they closed. Then again watching them fumbling CMOS ICs over the counter, hmm.

[Fraser]

Oh no guys, your have prompted me to dig out my old magazines that have been kept due to their usefullness !

Pictures follow

AMBIT first.......

[MK14]

Wow, I did NOT know Wireless World did the following.

A project in 1967, which is a computer, you can build yourself, made out of transistors. With flashing lights and front panel switches.

But a quick look, seems to indicate, it can only do simple calculations. It is probably NOT a real, full computer. Even so, very interesting, if it is built, purely out of transistors.

Pity the article (complete), does not seem to be online.
Only these tempting pictures and a brief description:

[MrSlack]

That's pretty impressive!

[Fraser]

Other magazine 'specials'

These were often spin offs from the 'mother' magazine and are an invaluable source of information, otherwise lost in the mists time.

While on deployment in Australia I used to buy Electronics Australia. It was a decent magazine and I bought the spin-off Vintage Radio 'special' magazine. A most excellent reference for anyone interested in very early radio receivers, their restoration and repair.

I miss such interesting 'special' magazines.

Fraser

[MK14]

I remember them - I built an FM stereo tuner using their modues, I still use it occasionally too.


Yes, you can still find Elektor in WH Smiths, it's bi-monthly these days and you won't like the price though. I occasionally flick through a copy but can never find anything worth buying a copy for.

P.S. If anyone knows of any other Wireless World archive links it might be worth putting them together in a post.

A HUGE pile of them, from about 1913! to 1986!

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Wireless_World_Magazine.htm

Even including the 1967 transistorized computer, which I wanted!

They seem to be the entire magazine, in PDF format, and there are lots and lots of them.

If you follow the links, other pages, it has a huge number of other magazines, including many, many electronics ones as well.

[mikerj]

All the new magazines are crap I find.

A friend of mine is mailing me old copies of old Practical Wireless in date order. We're currently at March 1966:

There is (or was, not seen them for a long time) a pile of Practical Wireless and Practical Electronics magazines in my fathers loft and I used to go up there and read them for hours when I was a young lad.  That cover looks very familiar indeed

[Gyro]

I remember them - I built an FM stereo tuner using their modues, I still use it occasionally too.


Yes, you can still find Elektor in WH Smiths, it's bi-monthly these days and you won't like the price though. I occasionally flick through a copy but can never find anything worth buying a copy for.

P.S. If anyone knows of any other Wireless World archive links it might be worth putting them together in a post.

A HUGE pile of them, from about 1913! to 1986!

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Wireless_World_Magazine.htm

Even including the 1967 transistorized computer, which I wanted!

They seem to be the entire magazine, in PDF format, and there are lots and lots of them.

If you follow the links, other pages, it has a huge number of other magazines, including many, many electronics ones as well.

Wow, thanks! That should keep me going for the evening. 

P.S. That's a stunning collection!

[jpb]

Elektor used to do Summer Circuits in July/August which could be quite fun but on the whole they (and the other magazines) are very expensive for very little in the way of content.
Elektor does, I think, provide a pcb service for their projects which may be useful.

It is sad the way magazines have died because of the internet.

Others that I miss, on the computer front, are Byte and Dr Dobb's Journal.

I still have an article from Byte where they programmed a Commodore 64 to do SPICE analysis together with a very good article explaining the basis of SPICE in proper technical detail including the GEAR functions for integrating the differential equations and so on. It was all mathematical and great fun but surviving magazines don't publish anything as technical as this now-a-days.

[MK14]

Elektor used to do Summer Circuits in July/August which could be quite fun but on the whole they (and the other magazines) are very expensive for very little in the way of content.
Elektor does, I think, provide a pcb service for their projects which may be useful.

It is sad the way magazines have died because of the internet.

Others that I miss, on the computer front, are Byte and Dr Dobb's Journal.

I still have an article from Byte where they programmed a Commodore 64 to do SPICE analysis together with a very good article explaining the basis of SPICE in proper technical detail including the GEAR functions for integrating the differential equations and so on. It was all mathematical and great fun but surviving magazines don't publish anything as technical as this now-a-days.

That is amazing!
A commodore 64, doing SPICE analysis. It hasn't even got floating point hardware, and the processor, is relatively weak/slow. It doesn't even have that much memory (although 64K is not bad, at the era when it was available, and I guess SPICE does not need that much). Maybe it's around 500K instructions per second, very approximately.

It would be very interesting, to read all about how, in great technical detail, SPICE works.

In its day, BYTE was a good/interesting magazine.

[Gyro]

I notice BYTE is included in the archive link you provided:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm

as are Practical Wireless and Practical Television, but sadly, not Practical Electronics.

[MK14]

I notice BYTE is included in the archive link you provided:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Byte_Magazine.htm

as are Practical Wireless and Practical Television, but sadly, not Practical Electronics.

I could not see, computer mags. Thanks, I will look into that.

https://archive.org/, seems to have tons of practical electronics. Just use the search function, on that website.

E.g.
https://archive.org/details/PracticalElectronics1965November

[jpb]

That is amazing!
A commodore 64, doing SPICE analysis. It hasn't even got floating point hardware, and the processor, is relatively weak/slow. It doesn't even have that much memory (although 64K is not bad, at the era when it was available, and I guess SPICE does not need that much). Maybe it's around 500K instructions per second, very approximately.

It would be very interesting, to read all about how, in great technical detail, SPICE works.

In its day, BYTE was a good/interesting magazine.

It was July 1986 Engineer's Toolbox. (Thirty years ago now!) I don't want to publish it myself on-line for copyright reasons but I think you can download it here:

https://ia802709.us.archive.org/35/items/byte-magazine-1986-07/1986_07_BYTE_11-07_Engineers_Toolbox.pdf

I used to also have a linear circuit analysis program that ran on the BBC micro - it generated conductance matrices for linear, proportional to omega and proportional to 1/omega. It worked well except you couldn't have time delays (except as approximations) which made transmission lines difficult.

If you're interested in SPICE I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of Lawrence Nagel's original 1975 PhD thesis ERL-520. I ordered myself a paper copy from his University years ago (it cost something like $11) but I think the pdf is also available on line.
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1975/ERL-520.pdf

[Gyro]

I could not see, computer mags. Thanks, I will look into that.

https://archive.org/, seems to have tons of practical electronics. Just use the search function, on that website.

E.g.
https://archive.org/details/PracticalElectronics1965November

...and I hadn't found that one either. Thank you!

[MK14]

It was July 1986 Engineer's Toolbox. (Thirty years ago now!) I don't want to publish it myself on-line for copyright reasons but I think you can download it here:

https://ia802709.us.archive.org/35/items/byte-magazine-1986-07/1986_07_BYTE_11-07_Engineers_Toolbox.pdf

I used to also have a linear circuit analysis program that ran on the BBC micro - it generated conductance matrices for linear, proportional to omega and proportional to 1/omega. It worked well except you couldn't have time delays (except as approximations) which made transmission lines difficult.

If you're interested in SPICE I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of Lawrence Nagel's original 1975 PhD thesis ERL-520. I ordered myself a paper copy from his University years ago (it cost something like $11) but I think the pdf is also available on line.
http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/1975/ERL-520.pdf

Thanks!

I've just read the BYTE article, and it was very interesting and educational. The details, length and quality of his article, really rub in what has been said, earlier in this thread. Which is that as well as becoming, rare (electronics/computer magazines), especially on paper. The technical detail/strength and quality, has been significantly watered down, over the years.
It is rather sad, really.
As I hinted, in my earlier post, the lack of floating point hardware, the relative slowness of the processor (6502), and the limited memory size, DID impact on his SPICE project. But on the other hand, he has done a marvelous job, of (highly) optimizing his program.
He went to amazing lengths, including writing some of it in machine code. Directly calling the floating point routines in software, to save time. All sorts of other optimizations.
Thanks for the PDF SPICE file, I have downloaded it, ready to read, later.

I think these days, the furthest a magazine could go, is to say "SPICE". Then they can expect huge complaints, because so many people have NOT heard of it, or don't know what it is.

Those early days of electronics and computing, were such FUN!

I'm feeling SAD now, thinking, what I am missing now.

In another part of that BYTE magazine, it mentions a HUGELY powerful, 65536? node, super-computer. Which could then exceed a billion instructions per second, and cost a huge amount of money. These days, a raspberry PI, is probably considerably more powerful than that machine. Which might have been one of the most powerful computers, available then.

Anyway, thanks again for the links!

[Gyro]

I was browsing the americanradiohistory.com website again last night and found that they have a selection of old ETI magazines too. I'd forgotten they had done quite so many microcomputer projects over the years, plus of course the audio and general stuff. Browsing through it's hard not to compare how badly the modern magazine offerings stand up in comparison.  Nostalgia time again:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/ETI_Magazine.htm

[kaz911]

Yes Byte & Dr Dobb's was compulsory reading.

Now occasionally I got a copy of c't - but that requires you read German - that is (or used to be) up there where Byte & Dr Dobb's was. I have not bought one in ages as they did not stock them in the Middle East - but maybe I'll go hunting around London for a retailer.  In the old days it was a big heavy magazine with lot's and lot's of interesting stuff in it. It took me about 2 months to read a whole issue (not only because my German is a bit slow - but it was the bee's knee's...)

http://www.heise.de/ct/

[GEuser]

Don't go blaming the interweb for the demise of magazines , all imo it's the crap they started putting into the stuff that threw readers out , just a couple of small examples of types or consequences .

1-Getting into the mind of the reader , as deliberately telling a story or stories(projects or just stories) using words and the like designed (they think) to appease what they think you would like to read or hear = psychology .

So it ended up psychological BS  , then the so called authors started exaggerating worse and worse as if they had a fantastical storytelling licence .

2-Motorcycle magazines are and have been at the above for some years now , and loosing readers and several magazines gone , the bs in those supposedly true but maybe exaggerated opinions or inner truths are totally what they think is what one needs to read or even wants to read and associated with all those pictures of bikes with the rider on the road doing 60k's a hour and leaning forward like its doing 200k's a hour and looking real tough and cool and a hero is again total bs and totally psychological just for the reader .

Off topic wildly above but its the most common example i can think of just what happened to the electronics magazines , it seemed to take along time for people just to stop buying them as quite a few electronics have disappeared in Au all because of the same story .

Personally i'm glad they are gone , the neurotic crap that is/was sneaking in those things started to get real "Creepy" .

Also i'm not sure about this but all the newsagents in a 100klm radius now do not stock any Uk based motorcycle magazines around here , i'm sure its to do with all the adverts in them as its shows just how ripped off we get out here for stuff (i'm a conspiracy type) .

[PerranOak]

I settled for EPE mag.

[medical-nerd]

Hiya

Elektor is only online now, it used to be one of my favourites and I have copies from the first issue to the early 2000s,
If you do a search there is a torrent available that covers 1990-2011 and DVD's are also available direct from them.

I would suggest the Folksanomy Electronics archive :

https://archive.org/details/folkscanomy_electronics


and Folkscanomy electronics articles archive for a browse:

https://archive.org/details/folkscanomy_electronics_articles

There is also:

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Hobbyist_Special_Editions.htm


Cheers

[davelectronic]

I'm in the UK, Every day practical electronics.. If it's still avaliable, I think it is, in places like WH Smiths. Use to get it years ago, takes me back, they had some good projects in there.

[PerranOak]

I will look at those, thanks.

Yes, EPE is what "Every day practical electronics" headlines as - it's still pretty good, cheers.

[tstuff]

Has anybody got a copy from circa 1982 with the 2m/70cm preamp article?

Have acquired one presumably made from a Cirkit/Ambit kit and would like to find more details.

It has ThoTsu 120 size relays so should be quite high power.

Thanks