Attn: Former EA Contributors

Nothing here ...

"David L. Jones"

** Don't tell me it could be long delayed conscience money for all the insulting nonsense that went on after even the very beat contributions were published ??

Or that abominable puke called " EAT " ???

........ Phil

Do tell...

I just knew it was EATing them up inside...

Might also have something to do with the recent takeover of FPC by News Limited, perhaps I was a glitch in the Matrix.

Speaking of EAT, what ever happened to the esteemed editor Graham Cattley I wonder...

Dave.

It must look good on a resume: "Presided over the conversion of a distinguished magazine with a 60 odd year history into a giant advertorial, while subsequently setting a new record for a magazine's demise".

Yes, didn't they just *wreck* that mag! IMHO a very good read was Roger Harrison's Australian Electronics Monthly. He was ex EA and had a very good writing style. So was Jim Rowe, who went on to work for Dick Smiths and is now retired (I think) and still very active in eg Silicon Chip.

"Gingre"

** EA mag changed to EAT because the publisher demanded that change. ** Shame how he was in the habit of not paying contributors.

** Roger never worked for EA or its relatives.

He was the editor of Electronics Today for many years.

** No, Jim Rowe was originally a technical writer for EA magazine, left to join DSE for a few years in the early 1980s and then returned to edit EA mag in the late 1980s after a major staff walk out.

The staff that left included Leo Simpson, who then set up Silicon Chip.

Jim resigned his editorship of EA when the publisher wanted it to become EAT.

........ Phil

I'll second that. AND also the habit of not returning contributor's prototypes.

** LOL !

EA magazine returned my prototype of the Low Distortion Oscillator ( EA Feb / Mar 89) badly burned and covered inside and out with black soot in April 1989 - after the * BIG * fire at Federal Publishing in Alexandria.

Apparently, the staff kitchen went up in flames in the wee hours and damn near took the whole building with it.

EA lost most of their archive of magazines - like RTV&H .

However in my case, Jim made sure I got an additional payment to cover the loss.

I salvaged the parts that were still OK, cleaned them up as good a possible and fitted the lot, plus many new parts, into a new instrument case some years back.

It is now my main workbench oscillator.

....... Phil

Is that the oscillator with the RA53 thermistor in it?

** Lotsa oscillators use one of them.

My one used two NE5532s wired as all pass filters plus a NE5534 wired as a Schmitt trigger for square wave.

It also used four diodes in an optional, instant settling, amplitude stabilisation network.

....... Phil

I'm sure that I saw Roger interviewed on The Investigators or a similar program many years ago, in trouble for doing something like that again. Anyone remember the details?

OK, I have an older one I think, maybe 1986. It's just about falling out of its cracked zippy box and I was about to put it into a more durable instrument case for use on the bench. Is there a reference or circuit available for yours? It sounds a bit more refined and might be a better one to build for the bench.

EA slowly died over quite a few years, so it was far from "briefly before expiring". This was commented on in this group many times during the course of it all.

Hard to pin down when the demise actually started, but a lot of people seem to think it was when the first DVD product review made front cover news. If memory serves me correctly it had started during the reign of Jim Rowe at the insistence of the publishers.

Now, if I had my EA DVD PDF collection to hand (nudge, nudge SC) I'd be able to get a fair date for it all instead of having to go into my roof and break into the dusty archives...

Dave.

"Bob Parker"

** I definitely recall seeing the item, it went on for quite a while.

Roger the Dodger got his 15 minutes of fame - BIG TIME .

A 20 something guy who had his micro computer related project published without payment was the complainant.

Roger came across with all the panache of a slinking dingo caught in the headlights .....

....... Phil

That's a very good description!

It would have been around 1999-2000, I remember that review.

I would say without doubt that converting to EAT killed it faster than anything else could. Relatively speaking, a couple of product reviews in each issue, made little difference, as the mag still had plenty of substance to it.

I also will admit to buying the Kodak DC-4800 digital camera following a review in EA, still have it, still use it and still works great :)

For sure. I remember it getting really bad about 6 months before EAT, it was obvious a very serious direction change was underway, and I think there were a few calls for it to simply fold as an electronics magazine. EAT of course accomplished that very quickly indeed, but without the grace everyone wanted. The biggest gripe being that there was no "thanks for all the fish" acknowledgment from the staff.

Guess that depends on who you talk to. Many people had already switched to SC and other mags many years before all this started happening. I know a few that ditched it way back when EA was loath to get into microcontroller designs etc.

Dave.

"swanny"

** That's what it is for.

Get in touch with Bob Barnes are RCS Radio.

He can supply the PCB and include photocopies of the two articles, if you ask nicely.

The pattern is called " 89 ldo 1 " .

........ Phil