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| Reviews Summary for popular communications |
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Reviews: 51
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Average rating: 2.0/5
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MSRP: $(missing—add MSRP)
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Description: magazine for shortwave,cb,scanner listeners some amateur radio articles
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W8AAZ
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Rating: 3/5
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Mar 19, 2009 18:34
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Pick n choose
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have read this mag off and on for decades but lately not very often. I have always bought it exclusively off the newsstands, etc. So if you are in the grocery, it is worth picking it up and flipping thru it to see if anything is relevent to you. If it has something you need or want to know, buy it and read it. If it is full of scanner frequencies for Chinese tug boats or something, I pass on that issue. Pick and choose. Buy at retail and save the subscription cost. Might be only one issue a year that you want.
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KC8SLC
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 24, 2007 06:31
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Lost interest!!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Not enough indepth details on the radio rebuilds and product reviews. I also quickly grew tired of Harold's political trash articles. I did notice a change after Harold left, but lost interest by then and could not wait for my subscription to run out. I enjoy my Monitoring Times because of the projects and rebuilds are far better!! Sorry Pop Com, Tim.
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KC9GUZ
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Rating: 2/5
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Nov 11, 2007 06:26
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not as good as it used to be
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I subscribed to Popp comm back in the early to mid 1990s and back then it still had some great reading. I picked one up at Borders a few months back and it seems like the material has gotten pretty stale. They even completely eliminated CB scene and a few other nice sections. The mag' is not of interest ot me anymore..
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AD5KL
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Rating: 2/5
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Sep 5, 2007 09:54
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kinda ok
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Not as good as it used to be.
Glad to see I wasn't the only one who sent in correspondence, only to be met with a smarmy reply by Ort. I had some pix of some VOR Omnirange stations in the area & wanted to share some with the readers along with the basics of how they work. Got a terse reply that it had been covered in an issue "a few years ago." I guess CB & FRS are exempt from this decree since they are re-hashed over & over.
At least now I don't blame my poor mailman for my tattered magazines, must be happening before he gets them. Likely won't renew if it doesn't improve.
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N0FPE
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Rating: 1/5
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Jun 24, 2007 20:25
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Dropped it
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I subscribed from the beginning. But the last few years the content has gotten smaller and less interesting. Finally dropped it last year at renewal time. Just nothing there any more...
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KB2HSH
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Rating: 1/5
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Jun 24, 2007 19:06
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Breaker 1-9 Good Buddy
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Some articles in the past were OK...like the series on the Zenith Trans-Oceanic. However, I really couldn't care less about CB, CB gear, etc. Pop Comm is CQ with a labotomy and a GED.
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VE3ES
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Rating: 2/5
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Apr 3, 2007 16:15
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past it's prime
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Back in the day it was a good publication covering a plethora of radio interests. Today unfortunately, it is a shell of what it once was. For a newbie to the SWL or ham radio hobby it's a starter rag but nothing more. The biggest bore are the articles geared towards the 11m crowd. Bring back CB Magazine or S9 CB-Radio and get those wasted pages out of Pop Comm. Stick to Monitoring Times folks!!
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KC8WUC
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Rating: 2/5
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Jan 19, 2007 10:58
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Very splinted interests
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I began receiving Pop Comm shortly before I received my Tech license in 2003. Although a newbie to amateur radio, I had significant experience with communications gear, having worked with govt. HF and commercial broadcasting as master control engineer. After a couple of issues into my subscription, the articles seemed very pedestrian... nothing really interesting to the amateur operator, new or experienced. A number of the articles seemed out of place, like the paranoid conspiracy column about govt. black ops, and never ending parade of articles about REACT, the latest FRS, GMRS, MURS gear (which never seemed to have any real improvements). I received several requests to renew my subscription to Pop Comm well before it expired (on one occasion just a month after I renewed it). Like other people who have posted to this thread, I routinely received my copy of Pop Comm torn, missing the cover, or missing several pages. I have since let my subscription run out.
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K4SFC
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 10, 2006 06:10
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Once Was The Best
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I was a subscriber for many years back in the 80's and 90's. Used to LOVE this magazine. I've been a SWL since 1951. Dropped the subscription in the 90's due to acticles being repeated too frequently and the increase of advertising pages on my dime. My military career had me outside the USA 11 years, so SWL plays a HUGE part in my life. The wife and I used to listen to stories via short wave while stationed in France on WNYW New York. Such as Johnny Dollar, Big Town and others. I carried a Zenith Trans-Oceanic to Viet Nam in 1966 and listen to it while writing letters back home. By the way, does anyone know of a DIGITAL receiver for listening to the new digital format Short Wave stations?
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N2JSG
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Rating: 3/5
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Nov 10, 2006 00:31
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OK For General Monitoring
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have been an on-and-off subscriber to PopComm since it first came into existence back in 1982. Therefore, based on my long association with this publication, I wish to present an outline of my observations of the magazine:
PROS: In a nutshell, PopComm is a decent, if slim, resource for many of the topics that appeal to the general radio monitoring hobbyist. It tries to offer basic articles of timely interest and does provide monthly columns written to a specific aspect of radio. To these ends it succeeds, albeit on an elementary level. The articles are generally well-written by leading, well-known authorities in radio. The covers attract interest and the overall print style is easy on the eyes and is quite colorful, too.
CONS: The magazine's execution is too basic and simplistic. It is hardly comprehensive. It tends to be oriented to the beginning hobbyist at the expense of more advanced listeners. Also, the content has been shrinking steadily over the years, along with the amount of advertising. There are often numerous "typos" indicating a sloppiness of editing. The cover often arrives at my mailbox "beaten and torn" with the integral staple-binding being part of the problem. To remedy this, the magazine should be enclosed in a durable shrink-wrapped plastic bag, the way its major competing magazine, Monitoring Times, does. Also, unlike MT, the subject matter in the special feature articles is too frequently re-hashed. There seems to be a drought of creativity that has been steadily eroding the quality of PopComm over the last half-dozen years or so. As a side note, see my review of Monitoring Times for contrasting observations.
In conclusion, PopComm has its place alongside that other leading monthly radio periodical, MT. The two often compliment each other, with one covering a topic that the other doesn't. *THIS* is the main reason for my continuing to subscribe to both magazines. However, the two are not equal peers in quality and execution. MT is the superior publication, hands down. PopComm is merely OK; fortunately it is good enough to justify my keeping a subscription to it. I just don't expect the comprehensive coverage that MT offers.
I hope my review has been helpful.
73's, Dean N2JSG
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