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Reviews For: CQ Magazine

Category: Amateur Radio Periodicals

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Review Summary For : CQ Magazine
Reviews: 163MSRP: 42.95/yr
Description:
The Radio Amateur's Journal
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
151633.2
SERGEANT Rating: 2004-12-16
Contesters pay the bills Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have to admit the covers do come off more commonly than on most other mags I read. But as far as being slanted towards Contests - do the math. Contesters are the guys who are spending the money on all those neat gadgets that are being advertised. We all know that advertisers are the ones who pay for the magazine - our subscriptions combined don't really even pay the office overhead, much less the printing and mailing.

If your 30-year old TS-520 or FT-101 is working for your ragchewing - great! More power to you! But don't expect Kenwood or Yaesu to be too worried about offending you - you're not buying any new equipment! Publishers have to balance their readers desires against their advertisers needs. This is why "Consumers Report" doesn't carry advertising - and why it costs much more than most mags.

73,
Brad
K0BHC
KD7UIB Rating: 2004-12-08
good magazine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Decent magazine. Good articles, although maybe a bit too much on contesting. I've never had problems with the cover.
AD6WL Rating: 2004-01-30
Contest coverage ok Time Owned: more than 12 months.
They have ok contest coverage and some decent contest operating tips, but that is about it. They slant very heavily to the NCI/NCVEC side on licensing and code issue. W5YI writes his articles about dropping the code and making the exmas easier. CQ magazine has also proposed the elimination of all code exams. As far as I am concerned they are the magazine for NCI.

Also, the magazine never arives with the cover intact. I have contacted them on numerous occasions on this and it seems that they just don't care.
W7HV Rating: 2003-12-27
I enjoy reading it Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I enjoy getting and reading it but it is a distant second to QST.

I never had a damaged cover and I'm not sure this isn't a US postal service issue.

Ads? I don't mind them at all. They are what pay for the magazine and keep me current on what's available. They don't displace articles, just the opposite. The more ads, the more articles they can afford to buy and print.
MY_OPINION Rating: 2003-12-26
Good content Time Owned: more than 12 months.
CQ achieves a good mix of articles, albeit a bit skewed toward contesting. All in all, it provides a good counterpoint and supplement to QST and other publications.

As for the covers, CQ suspended the acceptance of mailed logs in favor of electronically submitted logs after the anthrax mail problems, ostensibly in part, for their protection. However, I found it odd, under that pretext, that they should continue to send the magazine, unprotected, to their subscribers, especially since many people keep issues for reference around the home.

That item aside, sending the magazine in protective plastic mailers, to help prevent torn or damaged issues, would be a welcome change. I would be willing to pay an additional 10-15% to help insure that each issue arrives intact. Alternatively, perhaps they will offer a current, rather than archived CD, email pdf version at some point.

73,
MY_OPINION
WD0M Rating: 2003-12-23
Covers Intact/Content Too Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Shows up every month - covers intact - content too. No problem. Same thing happened when I was in Alaska (just moved to Colorado 3 months ago). Never had a "cover" problem. The content is fairly predictable in that they tend to feature the same general articles each month of each year. Nonetheless, if CQ disappeared, the ham community would suffer a great loss (unlike 73 Magazine).

Happy holidays,

Joe
WD0M
N2WEC Rating: 2003-12-20
Fewer Pages on Contests. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had a subscription to CQ for the past 4 years. I also get QST. CQ spends far too much time dealing with contests. If Amateur Radio was nothing but contests that would be great. The rag needs more technical articles, construction, V/UHF (SSB,CW,SS & FS TV and digital) and the newer modes. Get out of the same old, same old. Most of don't care about contest scores from a contest we did not care about in the first place. Post the scores on the Internet just for the contesters and leave it say for a couple of pages on operating and courtsy out of the magazine. Give Amateurs what they want to read....AMATEUR RADIO.
VE3TMT Rating: 2003-12-20
Time to QRT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really think I've finally read my last issue of CQ Magazine. Here in VE land it's pointless to get a subscription because the magazine doesn't arrive until halfway through the month of issue! A few of the book stores in town still carry it but they are slowly dwindling. Many used to carry QST but don't anymore, which is a shame. I have been reading CQ since the mid 70's and todays mag doesn't compare. Far too many ads and not enough technical articles. And the articles that are there are just old rehashed versions of previous ones. And do I really need to see another 4 or 5 page layout on CW keys?? Don't think so. So I am saying goodbye to CQ and may just send a subscription to QST. Too bad, CQ used to be a magazine I looked forward to.
K4WQ Rating: 2003-12-20
Another trashed copy Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Another month, another trashed copy of CQ. This makes about half of the issues since last March. I refuse to believe the USPS is to blame. I get at least 8 other magazines per month and each of the others come in bookstore condition. Also, the technical content leaves a lot to be desired. Need to get away from a contest-oriented editorial content. At the end of the current subscription, it's QRT for me and CQ mag.
VK4DD Rating: 2003-07-26
MFJ'd Out Time Owned: more than 12 months.
If not for the endless pages of MFJ ads, I'd like it a lot more- It's brain washing- However, unlike their competition at ARRL, they at least are smart enough to keep contesting a focus-