This issue represents the start of a second decade of publication for this version of QZX, so it is not inappropriate to write a little of the history of the publication.
As many readers well know, QZX was started by K2MI, Marty Irons. He started the magazine as a very personal service to the ham computer community, so some of the early history is recounted below in his own words.
An article about a potent, 12-ounce computer from England that appeared in Popular Science in 1980 absolutely fascinated me, so I sent in my $200 for a Sinclair ZX80 the next day. When it came, I was very impressed by the way it handled the syntax of BASIC programs. I was as happy with it as the gigantic IBM mainframe I programmed at Western Union. As a ham, I just had to find out if it could be applied to ham projects, so I asked QST to print an “I’d like to get in touch with” article to see which other hams were thinking along the same lines.
Initial response was not overwhelming, but those who did write and/or call were very enthusiastic. Some even sent in BASIC programs and technical data with their first letter. Nobody offered to put out a newsletter, so I ran with the ball. QZX … calling all ZX80 users .. was born. At that time I couldn’t imagine that so many hams would own Sinclairs within 2 years! Friendships among our little group grew quickly. W9CQD started a 20-meter net (they never could hear my signal on that net), and an interesting phenomenon appeared, what I shall call the 14-day reflex. About two weeks after each issue of QZX was mailed, letters would pour in with suggested improvements for many of the BASIC programs published. The hams were trying other’s ideas, finding better ways to do things, then sharing their improvements by sending them for publication in QZX.
I couldn’t begin to handle all of them, and eventually had to call for volunteers to test what I was getting through the mail. That worked exceptionally well. A user’s group called “SARUG” was started in England by G4INP, and he handled the rest of the world while responded to hams in the U. S.
The QZX format improved with the use of a laser printer. Hams were by then keying their transmitters, decoding incoming cw, printing antenna pointings, and many of the things that hams now do routinely with their IBM-compatible PC’s. But we were pioneers, we did it before the IBM PC was on the market. Eventually the volume of mail and phone calls swamped me. I had been putting in about 4 to 6 hours a day on the project in addition to working full-time. I rarely saw my wife and 3 kids. When a brief article about QZX appeared in QST in the summer of 1982, my mail suddenly jumped to about 40-50 pieces a day. Reluctantly I had to give it up, as there was no way I could satisfy the demand for a quality newsletter. For me it was a very exciting time, making new friends and helping others help others. The rate of progress was amazing!
I still drag out a Timex 1000 and hook it up once in a while just for sentimental reasons. I am glad that QZX is still alive after 10 more years and that some of my original contributors are still sending in articles. I went $700 in the hole and rarely saw my family for over a year, but I still have very fond memories of the early QZX days of 1981-1982. The early days of QZX were truly exciting, with events such as the phone call from Italy saying that a ham in England had shipped me a Sinclair printer (they were considered a fire hazard and not approved for sale in this country).
Now my wife and I are newly-retired and enjoying retirement very much. We frequently baby-sit our new granddaughter, we took a 5,300 mile trip to see family, friends, and countryside including the international barbershop competitions in which we both participate. Now I’m doing RSVP volunteer work for a local charity. They’re 6 years old, have had over 6000 applications for assistance, and their computer database is a disaster. It’s on a Macintosh, so I had to learn that. system at age 61! I’ve set a goal of February 28 to clean up their database, then I’ll turn it over to someone else and spend my time rehearsing for my barbershop chorus’ show in April and competition in Pennsylvania in June. In the summer we will try to visit the Experimental Aircraft Association fly-in Oshkosh, WI. If you spot me there or at a hamfest sometime, introduce yourself, please. QZX served a purpose, and still does, allowing hams to share their knowledge with other hams.
In 1982 it was that QST article, mentioned above, offering a free subscription to the new Sinclair newsletter, QZX, which attracted the attention of K5XY, Alex Burr. He too could not resist the bargain that the Sinclair computer offered, but he first obtained a ZX81 kit. He was already familiar with the Sinclair products because he had been in Scotland when Sinclair was just hitting his stride with inexpensive HI-FI audio kits. The kit went together quickly and a long association with Sinclair computers began.
When K2MI announced that he was looking for somebody else to take over QZX, W4GHV, Bo Barry, was recruited and negotiations for a change in sponsorship were stated. Unfortunately they failed. K2MI thought that a commercial company starting up in Arizona offered more stability for QZX. Unfortunately that company in turn failed, so QZX wound up in Las Cruces, NM with K5XY as publisher and W1GHV as editor. Soon KB5EZ, Ron Suggs, was recruited as technical editor. The original idea was that the editors would do all the work and that K5XY would just write an occasional letter. Unfortunately that was not to be. KB5EZ was a graduate student at New Mexico State University and had the unreasonable idea that the first order of business was to study enough to graduate, so he dropped out after a short time.
W4GHV put together QZX for five years, writing articles and organizing the material submitted by QZX readers. But he too found that it took quite a bit of time, so one day he up and left town. (The fact that he received a job promotion, a big salary increase, and a location in his original home state may have had something to do with the move.) In any case K5XY has been running QZX ever since, with the help of submissions from QZX readers and the newsletters of other Sinclair groups.
K2MI spent much of his own money to get QZX started. With the change in management, QZX was no longer free but had a subscription charge of $12.00. It also accepted paid advertising to help support the printing and mailing costs. It has always been self-supporting (if you do not count the labor of putting it out).
In 1988 postage increases forced the subscription rate up to $15.00. A subsequent postal increase caused a minor crisis. There was just no way that one could really justify another subscription increase, so a postage fund was created to which a surprisingly large number of readers have been making annual contribution. This fund, along with a little advertising revenue, has permitted QZX to pay its own way on the average.
These postal increases have had a great effect on our foreign readers. At one time there were readers in over 20 countries. We even had a distributor in Sweden who arranged for subscriptions from European hams. But the cost of sending the issues to other countries is now so high that few can afford it.
It is interesting to note that one of the costs of foreign subscriptions is replacing the issues lost in the mail. Hams in the US tend to complain about our postal service. They should look at some of the other postal services in the world. QZX has been told by some readers to send the issues in plain envelopes and to always use plain non-commemorative stamps so that collectors will not be tempted to waylay the issue. US hams have only rarely asked for a replacement for an issue lost in the mail here.
Advertising has always helped with the expenses of QZX. At first it was easy to get companies to advertise, but the buying habits of hams and the specialized nature of the Sinclair community does not make it obvious that advertising in QZX is a cost effective measure. Nevertheless some companies have been major contributors.
One of these is T & C Services from Buffalo, NY. They hold the record for the longest continuous series of ads in any US Sinclair related publication. One day they just. disappeared, never to be heard from again (but not leaving behind any unfilled orders, something which cannot be said for some other Sinclair companies.) There is sure to be an interesting story behind this company, but it is not known.
Thomas B. Woods is another Sinclair entrepreneur who ran a long series of ads. The current record holder is RMG Enterprises, who sell a variety of Sinclair related products. (See their ad in this issue.) The other advertising feature is the Unclassified ads. It had been hoped that this would be an inexpensive choice for companies to make sure that their offerings were always in from of readers, but this hope has not been realized. The biggest user of this section has been WA4BQE. Ed has used the unclassifieds to get information about a number of types of Sinclair equipment.
QZX would not be what it is without contributions from its readers. Some have sent outstanding amounts of material.
One of our first major authors was KA2LHO, Kraig Pritts. He created a whole series of ham related programs which he published in QZX and later sold on tapes. A major series of articles by Don Lamen was published starting in the October 1989 issue. Don was not a ham but his investigation of the Sinclair Logic Chip (SLC) in the ZX81 was an electronic detective effort worthy of any ham.
Few will forget the articles by LU8MAD. Guillermo is our most prolific foreign author and has described some of the most sophisticated uses of the Sinclair computers in ham applications. He describes one case where a commercial power company was using ZX81 computers to help control their power lines. His son even contributed some cartoons to a few issues.
Our most versatile author is WA6DLI, Bob Howard. He has written about several different Sinclair computers and contributed several interesting articles related to satellites. QZX is the longest running Sinclair newsletter in the world. It may even be the Sinclair newsletter with the largest subscription base. It is the only Sinclair publication of any kind devoted to the ham radio uses of our computers. (The SARUG newsletter mentioned near the beginning of this article has ceased publication some time ago.)
QZX grew rapidly at the start: but, with the disappearance of new Sinclair computers, it was inevitable that thai growth would cease. At one time there were substantial savings on postage available from third class postage. It once was cheaper to print the issues rather than Xerox them. But those economies of scale are no longer available. New subscriptions have not entirely ceased, but they are few and far between. The renewal rate is higher than anybody has a right to expect, but in most months one or two readers drop from the list. so it is inevitable that the reader list shrink. However, some have renewed into the year 1994 and QZX will be published as long as there are readers.
For some analysis of the QZX subscription list. see a separate article in the next issue.