Forum » Welcome to the ARRL Forums » QST in electronic format

QST in electronic format

Displaying 1-15 of 21

1 2 »

Mar 20th 2012, 20:22
KB0HAE Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Hi. I just received an email that in June QST will be available for ARRL members to read online. This is cool, but I have a few thoughts. I would like to see a few more options available to ARRL members. Such as an option to choose to receive the printed QST or QST on CD monthly (at the same membeeship price). I would also like to see the full QST magazine be available for Kindle via Amazon subscription, and the articles available via Amazin blog subscription. ARRL membership should not be required for either subscription. Of course these subscriptions would not be included in the ARRL membership fee. I feel that there should be ways to read the electronic version of QST in places where there is not an active internet connection, without a CD-rom. TTYL
Mar 21st 2012, 17:26
K2ADK Joined: Jun 12th 2011, 20:32 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Sheesh...I'm so sick of looking at electronic media that I'll probably be the last person on Earth covetously holding my printed QST.
Mar 21st 2012, 23:38
KB0HAE Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Hi. That is your choice. I certainly think it should remain an available choice. I would like to see choices for members expanded.
Mar 22nd 2012, 01:26
aa6e Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	I sympathize with your wish for multiple formats for QST. We have had a PDF version of full issues for some time now, if we purchase the annual CDROM. I can think of ways to make the CD more available to members. Maybe the price could be rolled into your annual subscriiption? Or it could be purchased as a low-cost add-on to the normal subscription? The thing is that members should never have to pay twice for the editorial content, just the CD production and shipping. Industry watchers tell us that CDs and DVDs are fading away, and everything is going to be cloud-based. Take that for what it's worth! We will have the PDF format on line up through Dec., 2011, if I read the League announcement correctly. Starting from January of this year, it will even be full text searchable (a big advance). A big limitation of the old on-line archive is that it is chopped up by article. You can't browse through a whole issue conveniently, and you miss a lot of the advertising. Hopefully that will change. In any case, the digital QST along with the other changes will be a big step forward. (Now let's get the Handbook and QEX into the picture...) I use the Kindle a lot, and it's fine for straight text, but it's rather poor for graphics or anything that is produced for larger format. The New York Times, for example, loses a lot of graphics when it goes onto the Kindle. QST is so graphical, I doubt that it would be very useful in a stripped down Kindle version, unless you're just not interested in photos or schematics. As an experiment, I uploaded a PDF copy of the Handbook onto my Kindle. You can just read it, but it is an invitation to eye strain. 73 Martin AA6E
Mar 24th 2012, 06:27
KB0HAE Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Hi Martin. PDF is not a good format for the e-ink Kindles. I would be happy to be able to read the text of the articals on my Kindle via an Amazon blog. I could always use a PC (when available) to look at any graphics/diagrams/ads. I would like to see a downloadable pdf of QST monthly editions be available to members. "The cloud" is useless to me, too many unaddressed (and unsolvable) security and privacy and reliability problems! Making QST available via Amazon magazine and blog subscriptions would allow non-members to read QST and generate some additional funds for the ARRL. And I would gladly pay a few extra $ to read QST articles on my Kindle. ttyl
May 10th 2012, 22:49
KJ4YQK Joined: Oct 6th 2010, 19:35 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Hi all, Reading my June issue, very excited. I wonder if they are going to have a reader for the Nook? I do plan on reading the issues with my Samsung Windows 7 tablet, figure I can use the windows reader. Also notice the 1997 to 2011 articles are not available yet? Do I need to log out and back end to access those? June 2012 issues stated those were ready.
Jun 27th 2012, 12:59
KD8FZN Joined: Apr 26th 2007, 10:35 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	ello all, I wpold lke to see QST on Kindle Fire also. Thans Wilis (kd8fzn)
Jun 29th 2012, 13:19
arrl_dw Joined: Jun 9th 2012, 13:42 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	If the eQST will be coming out in PDF form, the a lot of the androids will display it. I have the samsung galaxy and an android file transfere api on the home PC. That android unit comes with an SD card it can hold all of the media types for most tablets. I would guess a 3rd party ap for the kindle will work as well. Keep your fingers crossed the eQST format is cross-platform compatible. :) N1BBR
Sep 24th 2012, 04:32
AC0QG Joined: Sep 23rd 2009, 10:18 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	I could not view QST with my kindle fire hd. However, I found that I can convert the QST digital edition to a pdf on my PC using the print button and setting my page range. I have a free pdf print driver installed (pdf995) and selected it as the default printer. The print created a pdf file. I uploaded the pdf to the amazon cloud docs folder and downloaded it to my kindle fire hd. The font quality is not as good, but the pages display in color. It is very useable. The pdf is about 1MB per page. This is not a solution. It will be my work around until QST or nxtbook decide that the kindle is worth supporting.
Oct 15th 2012, 16:59
K1YPP Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	The November, 2012 issue of QST loaded onto my Kindle Fire just fine. However, I cannot figure out a way to make the print larger, so I guess at this point, it is a no-go for the Fire. Has anyone found a way to enlarge the print? Tks: K1YPP
Oct 16th 2012, 13:02
G0KLA Joined: Apr 10th 2009, 11:45 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	If you double click on the kindle fire screen then the page zooms in and the text is larger. It is still not that large, but it is readable. You have to double click the page again before you can swipe to the next page, which is a bit of a pain, but it works. There does not seem to be an offline version for the kindle fire though, which is a major drawback. The key advantage of a kindle is that you carry all of you books and magazines around with you in a small device. That's not much use if you need a live internet connection to read something.
Oct 16th 2012, 16:34
K1YPP Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Thanks G0KLA. You're correct, that does work. At least I can make the print large enough to read, but, as you said, it is a nuisance to use it that way. I agree, when I'm out backpacking the WiFi connection requirement certainly does ruin the experience of being able to read QST. Maybe someone could write an Android app that would convert it to CW and send it to me on 40 M CW. Admittedly, the graphics might be a bit tough. :>)
Oct 18th 2012, 09:12
PE1HZG Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	The propietary "adobe air" format they're using was obsolete before online QST was introduced; the only maker, Adobe, dropped linux support a few months before "electronic QST" was introduced. You may be able to read it on your ipad today but good luck try to read it a few years on, when adobe decided to drop it on other platforms. At least for PDF multiple implementations do exist, and supposed 'copyright' issues can be addressed by watermarking. I was excited when I learned about this new feature. Having seen it a few months, and complained about it to ARRL (which hasn't been responded to), I'm disappointed as I can't use it Geert Jan
Dec 8th 2012, 20:14
KG5U Joined: Aug 24th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	I was excited at first being able to view/read QST on my Kindle Fire. But, then I realized, on the bus to work, that I had to be connected to the Internet to read the magazine I paid for. So much for that.
Dec 9th 2012, 08:35
KU7PDX Joined: Oct 24th 2011, 17:10 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Quote by KG5U I was excited at first being able to view/read QST on my Kindle Fire. But, then I realized, on the bus to work, that I had to be connected to the Internet to read the magazine I paid for. So much for that. I found that PDFCreator (http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/) works perfect for creating off-line versions of QST for reading. The quality of the images isn't perfect, but all the text is readable.