Vintage QST Articles

RF Cafe - 1st Edition of QST, December 1915

See 20 pages of the first edition of QST on WikiMedia

Month Cover Year
June

TOC

QST Cover, June 1929 - RF Cafe 1929
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1929 - RF Cafe 1929
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1929 - RF Cafe 1929
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1931 - RF Cafe 1931
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1931 - RF Cafe 1931
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1931 - RF Cafe 1931
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1931 - RF Cafe 1931
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1932 - RF Cafe 1932
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1932 - RF Cafe 1932
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1932 - RF Cafe 1932
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1932 - RF Cafe 1932
January

TOC

QST Cover, January 1933 - RF Cafe 1933
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1933 - RF Cafe 1933
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1933 - RF Cafe 1933
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1933 - RF Cafe 1933
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1934 - RF Cafe 1934
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1935 - RF Cafe 1935
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1935 - RF Cafe 1935
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1935 - RF Cafe 1935
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1937 - RF Cafe 1937
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1937 - RF Cafe 1937
March

TOC

QST Cover, March 1939 - RF Cafe 1939
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1939 - RF Cafe 1939
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1939 - RF Cafe 1939
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1939 - RF Cafe 1939
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1939 - RF Cafe 1939
March

TOC

QST Cover, March1940 - RF Cafe 1940
June

TOC

QST Cover, June 1940 - RF Cafe 1940
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1940 - RF Cafe 1940
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1940 - RF Cafe 1940
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1940 - RF Cafe 1940
January

TOC

QST Cover, January 1941 - RF Cafe 1941
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1941 - RF Cafe 1941
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1941 - RF Cafe 1941
January

TOC

QST Cover, January 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
March

TOC

QST Cover, March 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1942 - RF Cafe 1942
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1943 - RF Cafe 1943
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1943 - RF Cafe 1943
June

TOC

QST Cover, June 1944 - RF Cafe 1944
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1944 - RF Cafe 1944
January

TOC

QST Cover, January 1945 - RF Cafe 1945
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1945 - RF Cafe 1945
March

TOC

QST Cover, March 1945 - RF Cafe 1945
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1945 - RF Cafe 1945
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1946 - RF Cafe 1946
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1946 - RF Cafe 1946
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1947 - RF Cafe 1947
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1947 - RF Cafe 1947
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1947 - RF Cafe 1947
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1947 - RF Cafe 1947
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1948 - RF Cafe 1948
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1948 - RF Cafe 1948
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1950 - RF Cafe 1950
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1951 - RF Cafe 1951
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1952 - RF Cafe 1952
January

TOC

QST Cover, January 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
June

TOC

QST Cover, Julne 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1953 - RF Cafe 1953
July

TOC

QST Cover, July 1966 - RF Cafe 1966
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1966 - RF Cafe 1966
October

TOC

QST Cover, October 1966 - RF Cafe 1966
November

TOC

QST Cover, November 1966 - RF Cafe 1966
December

TOC

QST Cover, December 1966 - RF Cafe 1966
January

TOC

 - RF Cafe 1967
February

TOC

QST Cover, February 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
April

TOC

QST Cover, April 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
May

TOC

QST Cover, May 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
June

TOC

QST Cover, June 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
July

TOC

QST Cover,July 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
August

TOC

QST Cover, August 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
September

TOC

QST Cover, September 1967 - RF Cafe 1967
September

TOC

September 1972 QST Cover - RF Cafe 1972
August

TOC

August 1976 QST Cover - RF Cafe 1976
September

TOC

September 1976 QST Cover - RF Cafe 1976
October

TOC

October 1976 QST Cover - RF Cafe 1976
November

TOC

November 1976 QST Cover - RF Cafe 1976

NOTE: The ARRL provides a complete digital archive of every QST from 1915 to the most edition. Access is free to ARRL members.

One unexpected discovery is that the average reader must have had better near vision eyesight than today because the print size was very tiny. Even as recently as 1943, a large portion of people could not afford corrective lenses so unless either a reading magnifier was a staple of every household or it was common practice for the person with the best eyesight in the house to read QST aloud to the poorly sighted of the house, the only conclusion can be that the average citizen had better eyesight than today. I write that only partly in jest; a search for scientific data to back my suspicion was not fruitful.   See response from Joe B.

Kirt,   Re: The old QST font size.   During WWII everything was rationed, including paper and ink, because materials were needed for the war.   Magazines were permitted because to not print them would hurt morale.  And since the Army and Navy (and Marines) needed radio operators, I suspect QST was near the top of the permitted list.   But the smaller the font, the more you could squeeze into a given issue.   73  

Joe (N3TTE) Birsa, P.E.

Warrendale, PA

Join the ARRL Today! - RF CafeVisit the ARRL website today for a complete digital archive of QST and their other publications.

I have written before about the incredible resource for RF engineers and hobbyists that is the ARRL's monthly publication, QST. Since its first edition in December, 1915, the magazine has been chock full of useful information. As would be expected, the nature of content has evolved over time to have the greatest appeal to contemporary readers. Correspondingly, reviewing past issues provides a peek back into history not only to learn of vintage equipment and events, but also it lets us see the difference in the nature of readers, most notably their expectations in content, prose, etc.

All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

These articles were scanned and OCRed from copies of vintage QST magazines that I purchased on e-Bay. I took the trouble to OCR them in order to provide searchable text for people who are trying to find specific items: equipment, companies, friends, even themselves.