73 Magazine Information
    A rather insane project... by KB9MWR    

Overview

73 Magazine (also known as 73 Amateur Radio Today) was an amateur radio magazine that was published from October 1960 to September 2003.  (That's 514 issues, with about 8619 articles, and over 64,000 pages). It was known for its strong emphasis on technical articles and for the lengthy editorials in each issue by its founder and publisher, Wayne Green (W2NSD).

Prior to beginning his own publications, Wayne Green started an amateur radio teletype newsletter.  Within a couple of years, he had 2,000 subscribers.  He also was an editor of CQ Amateur Radio magazine for five years before starting his own magazine.

He launched 73, a competing magazine, which promoted emerging technologies as do-it-yourself projects.  A pioneer promoter of SSB, FM, solid-state, easy construction projects, and the marriage of personal computing and amateur radio.  (Wayne's interest in microcomputing led him to found several of the early personal computing magazines.)

Starting in the early 1960s with an army of can-do, build-it-yourself amateur radio fans behind him, Wayne Green encouraged readers of 73 Magazine (his first and longest-lived publication), to push the limits on the electronic bits and pieces that would evolve into today's e-mail systems, cellular networks and PCs.

He predicted the rise of the "pico" computer, better known as the laptop.  And he encouraged his readers to build a grass-roots wireless telephony network -- a nationwide array of amateur radio repeater towers that was the precursor to today's cellular networks.

For him, only what's ahead matters.  "I'm always impatient with [the pace of] new technologies.  I live mostly in the future," he says.

Some people have described Wayne Green as a visionary and entrepreneur.  He actually taught people to think.

For more info see: Tech Visionary and Byte Magazine Founder Wayne Green on Changing the World

There is also an episode of the QSO Ham Radio Talkshow podcast by Ted Randall which has an interview with Wayne Green: Wayne Green Interview - Aug. 27, 2009.  (48M MP3)

Archives

Many hams have been searching for reprints or back issues floating around.  I contacted Wayne to see 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, Buckmaster was one of the first to have microfilmed, and later, scanned issues of the magazine.  From what I have found, the microfilmed versions advertised for sale over the years were purchased by most major technical colleges.  So, never fear, it is out there as several university libraries still have it available.

References:

Sadly it doesn't didn't look like there will ever be an official digital archive of this magazine available for purchase.  With current law copyrights expire after author's lifespan plus 70 years.  And the courts rulings on CD-ROMs Of Magazine Archives have been mixed.

73 usually only bought first publication rights and sometimes first reprint rights. One would have to get the permission of every author who had written for 73 Magazine in order to make a CD-ROM collection available.  Wayne sold 73 a couple times which further complicates the matter.  The transfer of copyright agreements is unclear slipper slope due to the various royalty and copyright issues that existed between contributing authors and 73 Magazine. (ref)

However, many authors have said they are okay with having their articles reprinted as long as its at no charge.  As I have said before, it is out there, but you'll have to use your conscience to as a guide to whether or not obtaining such an archive is legal, moral, and/or ethical.

Update Dec 2011

An Christmas gift was bestowed up on us.  The Internet Archive received a voluntary contribution to the public domain by 73 magazine publisher, Wayne Green W2NSD. 

Magazine articles were scanned, quality corrected, and index by an army of individuals, and collected together for Internet Archive by Jason Scott of textfiles.org 

Archive.org was started by internet pioneer Brewster Kahle in 1996, with the goal of archiving internet history. While the resulting "Wayback Machine" is one of their best known projects, the Archive also engages in curated projects, such as the recent archive of all TV coverage on 9/11/01 at september11.archive.org.

The 73 Magazine Collection on the Internet Archive can be found here:

 http://www.archive.org/details/73-magazine

Other Indexes

Concerning a searchable master index of articles.  Didah Publishing shows up as having developed a 73 Magazine index (through 1990) computer program and book under the title "From Beverages thru OSCAR - A Bibliography."

OCLC shows that there are three libraries which have that 73 Magazine index, they are:

Here is quote about Didah Publishing's bibliography program:

Q:  I'm going to be building a big stack of magazines!  Can I get an index for our collection?

A:  There is no single comprehensive index to all amateur radio and electronics literature.  The best thing you can do is check the year-end issues.  You can also purchase a bibliography computer program called "From Beverages Thru OSCAR," published by Didah Publishing.  By entering a key word in the article description, you can search for articles on nearly every subject and locate the issue you need.  The database is very comprehensive, covering many amateur radio general-interest and specialty magazines.  Didah also publishes smaller, less-expensive software packages for each of most popular ham magazines.  Some of their bibliographies are available in printed form, too.  Contact Didah Publishing at P.O. Box 7368, Nashua, NH 03060, (telephone 603-878-3628).  You used to be able to buy the complete "From Beverages Thru OSCAR" software package (a DOS program written by Rich Rosen, K2RR) from ARRL Headquarters for $79.

Rich Rosen's QRZ profile states:

"I created 'From Beverages Thru OSCAR - A Bibliography' after literally reading every page from QST (Jan. '45-'90), CQ (Jan. '45-'92), Ham Radio (Mar. '68-Jun '90), 73 (Oct. 1960 - Dec. '90), and RadCom (Jan. '79-Dec '90).  When I retire (soon), will bring entire database up to date, from QST issue 1 (Dec. 1915) and continue."

The following preface describes his work and wonderful resource.  The printed 73 Magazine index from 1960-1990 is about 100 pages.  I suggest contacting him if this or his software would be useful to you.

"From Beverages Thru OSCAR - A Bibliography" is a 52,880 reference volume to articles written on all aspects of radio communications.  The term radio communications is defined by this book in a much broader sense.  It encompasses the early days of radio, at the turn of the century, in which wireless transmissions were the only form of communications.  But it doesn't stop there.  It continues through the 20th century to include the more advanced forms of data communications.

The title "From Beverages Thru OSCAR..." tells a story.  Beverage is a long wire antenna that was developed in the early 20s.  It, and similar type antennas made it possible to clearly receive radio signals from across the Atlantic.  This antenna has stood the "test of time" and is used today by radio amateurs, commercial services and the military.  OSCAR stands for Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio.  It's a series of satellites that enable radio amateurs to communicate through a small handheld unit to others half way around tho world.

Amateur radio, is what this book is about.  At least that was the initial impetus that urged me to put this massive compendium together.  Radio amateurs, of which I'm proud to include myself among their rank, number almost a half million strong in the United States and are found in literally every other county in the world.  They are a disparate group, speaking collectively hundreds of different languages and working in an even greater number of divers professions.  Many who have chosen to delve into the technical mysteries of radio have contributed immensely.  Think of any major technological breakthrough in the field of communications and the probability is great that there were at least several radio amateurs present, advancing the state of the art.  In many famous cases amateur radio discoveries were made prior to even commercial interest involvement

However, only a small percentage of radio "amateurs" publish their findings in the professional and radio journals.  Instead they employ consumer magazines (QST, CQ, Ham Radio, 73, and Radio Communication) as a conduit to express their ideas.  This very fact has driven me to uncover this wealth of knowledge so that others might benefit.  The production of "From Beverages Thru OSCAR" involved the meticulous examination of 231,173 pages from 1,776 issues of these magazines.  Names that have meaning to many in the professional world jump out from those pages: Armstrong, the inventor of FM; Brown, Kraus, King, Lewis, and Schelkunoff legends in the field of antenna theory; Friis, Lamb, Rohde, Tuska, and Villard in receiver design, to name a few.  These giants in the field of communications have either published in the magazines or greatly influenced the writings and efforts of others.

Related contributions in the professional annuals such as the Bell System Technical Journal, Proceedings of the IEEE, and Transaction on Antennas and Propagation are referenced as well.

Access to Columbia University's Engineering Library with its immense open-shelf collection of technical journals provided me the opportunity to spend countless pleasurable hours researching communications topics.  Fifteen years of a page-by-page scrutiny embodies this bibliography.

It is a unique tome, definitely at least in the sense that it is the only one of its kind.  My original intention was solely to locate a reference volume that included the amateur radio sources.  After a considerable search none was found.  Casual lists of articles of interest just would not suffice for several reasons.  First structure was needed to put some order to this information.  Lack of the same had been my major complaint of previous lists that I had casually generated.  But perhaps more importantly, I found myself expanding my areas of interest at an accelerating pace.  Many interesting articles that I had accidentally come across were too precious to let slide back into the closed pages of some dusty volume.

A workable format was developed in several months.  Though New York City certainly has its share of fine technical libraries, I knew that I needed to have more immediate access to at least the amateur radio journals.  The acquisition of entire collections of those magazines became a project in its own right.  As the expression goes, the rest is history - culminating in this 1,260 page communications reference volume.

For those of us who have ever become frustrated in looking through indices of article titles without being able to decipher the subject matter - this bibliography is for you.  Don't expect to find catchword phrases within.  Each article reference contains a short abstract that clearly indicates the theme.  Anyone who works nine years as a technical editor and reviews over a quarter of a million pages should have the ability to quickly review articles and capture their essence in a few succinct words.

Expect it to be comprehensive.  Each page of QST from January 1945 to present, and every page of CQ, Ham Radio and 73 Magazine from their premiere issues were personally reviewed.  In addition, selected references from 289 other sources have boon included.  Those sources are world-recognized journals, society reviews, trade magazines and technical publications from laboratories, agencies and industry.  Most of them are available in the larger technical libraries or can be obtained on a loan basis.  And what if you can't locate some of the sources?  With an average of 575 article references per subject area anyone with even half of the sources should be able to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the subject.

References are entered in reverse chronological order, the most recent information appears first.  Some subjects include references that go back 80 years.  For example, in the area of propagation - chapter 5's first reference is March 1909!  Naturally, more recent technical topics such as computers only include early references to articles published in the 1960s.

Earlier editions of this bibliography were published.  The first: "From Beverages Thru OSCAR - A Bibliography" contained references through December 1978.  The second edition: "From Beverages Thru OSCAR - A Bibliography, Addendum 1979-1981" was a three year update to the first volume.  This latest rendition not only encompasses completely rewritten and reformatted earlier editions but contains new source and reference material as well.  In addition it includes a 100 page 5,000 word keyword index and 23 page author index to assist the user in rapidly locating articles of interest.

Knowledge, generated by many, is similar to a country's untapped resources.  It remains hidden beneath the surface of subtle or innocuous titles until the proper tool is found and utilized.  This bibliography can be that tool.

Index Information

What you see here is phase two of a long project.  This index project was inspired by and dedicated to Wayne Green, W2NSD himself.  For the vast technical information in all his years of dedication to the publication and hobby.  It is also inspired by the work of Rich Rosen, K2RR. And by Bill Griffith, VE3WGX for his Ham Radio Magazine index work.  These three dedicated themselves, which prompted me to say, so can I.

A special thanks to the daughter of N9AVO/W9LML, Edward Harrigan (SK) who sparked my interest in the whole thing by donating a few decades of the magazine to our club years ago.  Also thanks to Buckmaster for microfilming the magazine, the Nicolet Federated Library System and the interlibrary loan staff who helped me track these indexes down, and various other hams.

What follows is about a years worth of on and off work.  This data was generated by scanning and OCR software, errors likely exist.

To the best of my knowledge it is now complete (December 4, 2009). This index is freely sharable, but please contact me if you plan to redistribute it commercially.  It is meant as a free public resource for those who have stacks of these wonderful magazines in their basements (as I have).

Enjoy - Steve, KB9MWR

73 Magazine Index

Yearly quick links:

1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969
1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003

1960

October 1960 (#1)


November 1960 (#2)


December 1960 (#3)


1961

January 1961 (#4)


February 1961 (#5)


March 1961 (#6)


April 1961 (#7)


May 1961 (#8)


June 1961 (#9)


July 1961 (#10)


August 1961 (#11)


September 1961 (#12)


October 1961 (#13)


November 1961 (#14)


December 1961 (#15)


1962

January 1962 (#16)


February 1962 (#17)


March 1962 (#18)


April 1962 (#19)


May 1962 (#20)


June 1962 (#21)


July 1962 (#22)


August 1962 (#23)


September 1962 (#24)


October 1962 (#25)


November 1962 (#26)


December 1962 (#27)


1963

January 1963 (#28)


February 1963 (#29)


March 1963 (#30)


April 1963 (#31)


May 1963 (#32)


June 1963 (#33)


July 1963 (#34)


August 1963 (#35)


September 1963 (#36)


October 1963 (#37)


November 1963 (#38)


December 1963 (#39)


1964

January 1964 (#40)


February 1964 (#41)


March 1964 (#42)


April 1964 (#43)


May 1964 (#44)


June 1964 (#45)


July 1964 (#46)


August 1964 (#47)


September 1964 (#48)


October 1964 (#49)


November 1964 (#50)


December 1964 (#51)


1965

January 1965 (#52)


February 1965 (#53)


March 1965 (#54)


April 1965 (#55)


May 1965 (#56)


June 1965 (#57)


July 1965 (#58)


August 1965 (#59)


September 1965 (#60)


October 1965 (#61)


November 1965 (#62)


December 1965 (#63)


1966

January 1966 (#64)


February 1966 (#65)


March 1966 (#66)


April 1966 (#67)


May 1966 (#68)


June 1966 (#69)


July 1966 (#70)


August 1966 (#71)


September 1966 (#72)


October 1966 (#73)


November 1966 (#74)


December 1966 (#75)


1967

January 1967 (#76)


February 1967 (#77)


March 1967 (#78)


April 1967 (#79)


May 1967 (#80)


June 1967 (#81)


July 1967 (#82)


August 1967 (#83)


September 1967 (#84)


October 1967 (#85)


November 1967 (#86)


December 1967 (#87)


1968

January 1968 (#88)


February 1968 (#89)


March 1968 (#90)


April 1968 (#91)


May 1968 (#92)


June 1968 (#93)


July 1968 (#94)


(#95)


September 1968 (#96)


October 1968 (#97)


November 1968 (#98)


December 1968 (#99)


1969

January 1969 (#100)


February 1969 (#101)


March 1969 (#102)


April 1969 (#103)


May 1969 (#104)


June 1969 (#105)


July 1969 (#106)


August 1969 (#107)


September 1969 (#108)


October 1969 (#109)


November 1969 (#110)


December 1969 (#111)


1970

January 1970 (#112)


February 1970 (#113)


March 1970 (#114)


April 1970 (#115)


May 1970 (#116)


June 1970 (#117)


July 1970 (#118)


August 1970 (#119)


September 1970 (#120)


October 1970 (#121)


November 1970 (#122)


December 1970 (#123)


1971

January 1971 (#124)


February 1971 (#125)


March 1971 (#126)


April 1971 (#127)


May 1971 (#128)


June 1971 (#129)


July 1971 (#130)


August 1971 (#131)


September 1971 (#132)


October 1971 (#133)


November 1971 (#134)


December 1971 (#135)


1972

January 1972 (#136)


February 1972 (#137)


March 1972 (#138)


April 1972 (#139)


May 1972 (#140)


June 1972 (#141)


July 1972 (#142)


August 1972 (#143)


September 1972 (#144)


October 1972 (#145)


November 1972 (#146)


December 1972 (#147)


1973

January 1973 (#148)


February 1973 (#149)


March 1973 (#150)


April 1973 (#151)


May 1973 (#152)


June 1973 (#153)


July 1973 (#154)


August 1973 (#155)


September 1973 (#156)


October 1973 (#157)


November 1973 (#158)


December 1973 (#159)


1974

January 1974 (#160)


February 1974 (#161)


March 1974 (#162)


April 1974 (#163)


May 1974 (#164)


June 1974 (#165)


July 1974 (#166)


August 1974 (#167)


September 1974 (#168)


October 1974 (#169)


November 1974 (#170)


December 1974 (#171)


1975

January 1975 (#172)


February 1975 (#173)


March 1975 (#174)


April 1975 (#175)


May 1975 (#176)


June 1975 (#177)


July 1975 (#178)


August 1975 (#179)


September 1975 (#180)


October 1975 (#181)


November/December 1975 (#182)


1976

January 1976 (#183)


February 1976 (#184)


March 1976 (#185)


April 1976 (#186)


May 1976 (#187)


June 1976 (#188)


July 1976 (#189)


August 1976 (#190)


September 1976 (#191)


October 1976 (#192)


November 1976 (#193)


December 1976 (#194)


Holiday 1976 (#195)


1977

January 1977 (#196)


February 1977 (#197)


March 1977 (#198)


April 1977 (#199)


May 1977 (#200)


June 1977 (#201)


July 1977 (#202)


August 1977 (#203)


September 1977 (#204)


October 1977 (#205)


November 1977 (#206)


December 1977 (#207)


1978

January 1978 (#208)


February 1978 (#209)


March 1978 (#210)


April 1978 (#211)


May 1978 (#212)


June 1978 (#213)


July 1978 (#214)


August 1978 (#215)


September 1978 (#216)


October 1978 (#217)


November 1978 (#218)


December 1978 (#219)


1979

January 1979 (#220)


February 1979 (#221)


March 1979 (#222)


April 1979 (#223)


May 1979 (#224)


June 1979 (#225)


July 1979 (#226)


August 1979 (#227)


September 1979 (#228)


October 1979 (#229)


November 1979 (#230)


December 1979 (#231)


1980

January 1980 (#232)


February 1980 (#233)


March 1980 (#234)


April 1980 (#235)


May 1980 (#236)


June 1980 (#237)


July 1980 (#238)


August 1980 (#239)


September 1980 (#240)


October 1980 (#241)


November 1980 (#242)


December 1980 (#243)


1981

January 1981 (#244)


February 1981 (#245)


March 1981 (#246)


April 1981 (#247)


May 1981 (#248)


June 1981 (#249)


July 1981 (#250)


August 1981 (#251)


September 1981 (#252)


October 1981 (#253)


November 1981 (#254)


December 1981 (#255)


1982

January 1982 (#256)


February 1982 (#257)


March 1982 (#258)


April 1982 (#259)


May 1982 (#260)


June 1982 (#261)


July 1982 (#262)


August 1982 (#263)


September 1982 (#264)


October 1982 (#265)


November 1982 (#266)


December 1982 (#267)


1983

January 1983 (#268)


February 1983 (#269)


March 1983 (#270)


April 1983 (#271)


May 1983 (#272)


June 1983 (#273)


July 1983 (#274)


August 1983 (#275)


September 1983 (#276)


October 1983 (#277)


November 1983 (#278)


December 1983 (#279)


1984

January 1984 (#280)


February 1984 (#281)


March 1984 (#282)


April 1984 (#283)


May 1984 (#284)


June 1984 (#285)


July 1984 (#286)


August 1984 (#287)


September 1984 (#288)


October 1984 (#289)


November 1984 (#290)


December 1984 (#291)


1985

January 1985 (#292)


February 1985 (#293)


March 1985 (#294)


April 1985 (#295)


May 1985 (#296)


June 1985 (#297)


July 1985 (#298)


August 1985 (#299)


September 1985 (#300)


October 1985 (#301)


November 1985 (#302)


December 1985 (#303)


1986

January 1986 (#304)


February 1986 (#305)


March 1986 (#306)


April 1986 (#307)


May 1986 (#308)


June 1986 (#309)


July 1986 (#310)


August 1986 (#311)


September 1986 (#312)


October 1986 (#313)


November 1986 (#314)


December 1986 (#315)


1987

January 1987 (#316)


February 1987 (#317)


March 1987 (#318)


April 1987 (#319)


May 1987 (#320)


June 1987 (#321)


July 1987 (#322)


August 1987 (#323)


September 1987 (#324)


October 1987 (#325)


November 1987 (#326)


December 1987 (#327)


1988

January 1988 (#328)


February 1988 (#329)


March 1988 (#330)


April 1988 (#331)


May 1988 (#332)


June 1988 (#333)


July 1988 (#334)


August 1988 (#335)


September 1988 (#336)


October 1988 (#337)


November 1988 (#338)


December 1988 (#339)


1989

January 1989 (#340)


February 1989 (#341)


March 1989 (#342)


April 1989 (#343)


May 1989 (#344)


June 1989 (#345)


July 1989 (#346)


August 1989 (#347)


September 1989 (#348)


October 1989 (#349)


November 1989 (#350)


December 1989 (#351)


1990

January 1990 (#352)


February 1990 (#353)


March 1990 (#354)


April 1990 (#355)


May 1990 (#356)


June 1990 (#357)


July 1990 (#358)


August 1990 (#359)


September 1990 (#360)


October 1990 (#361)


November 1990 (#362)


December 1990 (#363)


1991

January 1991 (#364)


February 1991 (#365)


March 1991 (#366)


April 1991 (#367)


May 1991 (#368)


June 1991 (#369)


July 1991 (#370)


August 1991 (#371)


September 1991 (#372)


October 1991 (#373)


November 1991 (#374)


December 1991 (#375)


1992

January 1992 (#376)


February 1992 (#377)


March 1992 (#378)


April 1992 (#379)


May 1992 (#380)


June 1992 (#381)


July 1992 (#382)


August 1992 (#383)


September 1992 (#384)


October 1992 (#385)


November 1992 (#386)


December 1992 (#387)


1993

January 1993 (#388)


February 1993 (#389)


March 1993 (#390)


April 1993 (#391)


May 1993 (#392)


June 1993 (#393)


July 1993 (#394)


August 1993 (#395)


September 1993 (#396)


October 1993 (#397)


November 1993 (#398)


December 1993 (#399)


1994

January 1994 (#400)


February 1994 (#401)


March 1994 (#402)


April 1994 (#403)


May 1994 (#404)


June 1994 (#405)


July 1994 (#406)


August 1994 (#407)


September 1994 (#408)


October 1994 (#409)


November 1994 (#410)


December 1994 (#411)


1995

January 1995 (#412)


February 1995 (#413)


March 1995 (#414)


April 1995 (#415)


May 1995 (#416)


June 1995 (#417)


July 1995 (#418)


August 1995 (#419)


September 1995 (#420)


October 1995 (#421)


November 1995 (#422)


December 1995 (#423)


1996

January 1996 (#424)


February 1996 (#425)


March 1996 (#426)


April 1996 (#427)


May 1996 (#428)


June 1996 (#429)


July 1996 (#430)


August 1996 (#431)


September 1996 (#432)


October 1996 (#433)


November 1996 (#434)


December 1996 (#435)


1997

January 1997 (#436)


February 1997 (#437)


March 1997 (#438)


April 1997 (#439)


May 1997 (#440)


June 1997 (#441)


July 1997 (#442)


August 1997 (#443)


September 1997 (#444)


October 1997 (#445)


November 1997 (#446)


December 1997 (#447)


1998

January 1998 (#448)


February 1998 (#449)


March 1998 (#450)


April 1998 (#451)


May 1998 (#452)


June 1998 (#453)


July 1998 (#454)


August 1998 (#455)


September 1998 (#456)


October 1998 (#457)


November 1998 (#458)


December 1998 (#459)


1999

January 1999 (#460)


February 1999 (#461)


March 1999 (#462)


May 1999 (#463)


June 1999 (#464)


July 1999 (#465)


August 1999 (#466)


September 1999 (#467)


October 1999 (#468)


November 1999 (#469)


December 1999 (#470)


2000

January/Feb 2000 (#471)


March 2000 (#472)


April 2000 (#473)


May 2000 (#474)


June 2000 (#475)


July 2000 (#476)


August 2000 (#477)


September 2000 (#478)


October 2000 (#479)


November 2000 (#480)


December 2000 (#481)


2001

January 2001 (#482)


February 2001 (#483)


March 2001 (#484)


April 2001 (#485)


May 2001 (#486)


June 2001 (#487)


July 2001 (#488)


August 2001 (#489)


September 2001 (#490)


October 2001 (#491)


November 2001 (#492)


December 2001 (#493)


2002

January 2002 (#494)


February 2002 (#495)


March 2002 (#496)


April 2002 (#497)


May 2002 (#498)


June 2002 (#499)


July 2002 (#500)


August 2002 (#501)


September 2002 (#502)


October 2002 (#503)


November 2002 (#504)


December 2002 (#505)


2003

January 2003 (#506)


February 2003 (#507)


March 2003 (#508)


April 2003 (#509)


May 2003 (#510)


June 2003 (#511)


July 2003 (#512)


August 2003 (#513)


September 2003 (#514)