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Reviews For: 73 Amateur Radio Today

Category: Amateur Radio Periodicals

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Review Summary For : 73 Amateur Radio Today
Reviews: 106MSRP: 25.00 Yearly
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General Ham Radio News, Reviews and Construction Articles
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# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001062.7
AA4ED Rating: 2008-11-07
Subscribed for many years but left hanging Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My letter requesting a refund for the remaining paid unfulfilled issues (26 issues) was unanswered & my opinion of this magazine fell to the bottom after this happened.

ARRL QST's still arrive in my mailbox faithfully though. How ironic......!
VE3TMT Rating: 2008-02-19
Gave me my start in Amateur Radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I was twelve or thirteen I used to ride my bicycle down to the bakery for fresh hot bread. Happened to find this local electronics components supply house during one of my journeys. Venturing in one day I found they also carried a huge assortment of surplus electronics as well as 73 Magazine. Back issues could be had for $1 apiece, but the clerk would give you a deal if you bought more. I can remember digging through piles of them. I'd take as many as I could carry on my bicycle and then spend days drooling over the ads looking at all the shiny equipment with all the lights, knobs and meters wishing one day I could operate equipment like that. I was already into CB radio at the time so this was like heaven. Needless to say I read every issue front to back and back to front, including Wayne's always controversial editorials. As a young kid it didn't make much sense to me, but reading old issues now is kind of comical. The construction articles were easy to build, I could buy most of the parts right there and always enjoyed the satisfaction of something I built actually working. 73 Magazine paved my way into this great hobby.

Max
VE3TMT
KB9MWR Rating: 2008-02-18
I miss 73 Magazine too Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I recently started digging around to see if there were any reprints or back issues floating around. I loved this magazine because as mentioned it contained articles and projects that anyone could build. The true spirit of amateur radio, experimentation/self learning.

I contacted Wayne if there was any type of CD-ROM or other archive of his magazine. He said he didn't know of any source other than scanning in over 50,000 pages. Which he thought was daunting to sell maybe dozens of CDs.

However, never fear it is out there:
http://web.archive.org/web/20021207221411/http://buck.com/magbroch.html
And from National Archive Publishing Company
http://www.napubco.com/catalog/PIM0-9.pdf

It's in a less than desirable microfiche format.
N5YPJ Rating: 2007-07-07
Was good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really enjoyed 73 magazine for several years, I was not a reader the last three or four years. Wayne had an open mind about a lot of things, though I couldn't run with all of his conspiracy theories. What you did get was projects that could be built by someone with less than a PHD in Electrical Engineering. Decent articles on different subjects involving the hobby. I salute Wayne and his achievements.
KB2HSH Rating: 2007-06-24
Fond Memories Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It is really sad that 73 has passed on. It and its stable-mate Radio Fun (my personal favorite) were very influential when I was a new Ham. It was 73 that introduced me to QRP (November 1990 issue). It was also 73 that brought the slick Ramsey Electronics ads every month. (I bought a Ramsey kit that I still use to this day because of 73). Radio Fun was even better, because it contained articles and projects that ANYONE could build. Ever try building something out of QST without a degree in Electrical Engineering? It will forever be missed by me.
VE3ES Rating: 2007-04-03
Great mag when it was relevant... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It was quite the magazine back in the 70s and 80s but the decline in the hobby in general nailed 73 Magazine in particular. QST is "the" Amateur Radio publication and he just couldn't compete. CQ Magazine clearly was doing an excellent job but 73 had gone down hill in the 90s. It was nice at the time, I enjoyed reading Wayne's tirades but ultimately the mag failed as it wasn't able or Wayne wasn't willing to keep it relevant. My rating of a 5 is based upon what it once was. At the end, well, let's just say that a rating of "1" was being generous.
VR2XMQ Rating: 2007-03-30
Was something eons ago, but! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Need not say more, was good a very long time ago, but!
N4JRG Rating: 2007-03-24
I miss 73 Magazine Time Owned: N.A.
I subscribed to 73 magazine for over 11 years from June 1992 until the magazine went belly up in September 2003. For some reason, I was never able to allow my subscription to expire. I have been a member of ARRL since I obtained my ham ticket in 1982 and in my opinion QST is the standard for ham radio publications. However 73 (as well as it's sister publication Radio Fun) did offer a different spin form other ham rags with simple construction projects as well as an enthusiastic promotion of ham radio in general. I always read Wayne's editorials with a grain of salt but whatever you may have thought, they were entertaining reading (especially in the bathroom). This magazine was sort of like the blacksheep uncle who took you out and bought you your first beer. Despite the quirkiness and wierd conspiricy theories Wayne espoused I always looked foward to the next month's edition knowing there might be a gem hidden inside.
VE6EX Rating: 2007-02-23
slow to remember, quick to forget Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Wow!!!
I remember 73 as a great read and have a stack of them that still rare 5's; particularly against whats playing today.
Pretty easy to call the pot black when you got the heavy shades on. Who cares about the heavy duty editorials. All the mags play that tune, who cares.
73 just never evolved and played todays tune. In the long run it still rates a 5 with me....
VA6SZ Rating: 2007-02-23
Thank goodness! Time Owned: N.A.
Yep, I agree. 73 was a decent publication in its hey-day. But Wayne did turn into a "crack-pot", as some have said. I actually met him once and he really didn't seem that nutty.

But, thank goodness it's sk. For those of you who miss the irreverance, look no further than the usenet groups.

de Andrew VA6SZ/VA6TTT