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drbellerive

Joined: Sat, Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Roles: N/A Moderates: N/A

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Overseas Membership Fees, no longer such a bargain. G0KZZ on 1/6/12
Well, I just tried reading the on-line digital QST. I am not impressed.

The full page display is too small to read on my laptop screen, and the zoom feature is cumbersome. Once zoomed, one has to drag the page around with the mouse to view the page. Not fun on a touchpad. One cannot continue to scroll to the next page, but must click the arrow to advance to the next page. This is a big step backward from PDF files.

To download the magazine one must use Adobe AIR which is no longer supported for Linux, my operating system of choice. Also downloading is not available for tablet computers yet. So those of us without Windows systems are restricted to the on-line version. The nxtbook (ARRL's publishing partner) FAQ also only mentions downloading PDFs for Android based systems, so I wonder if downloads for Android based systems will ever be possible.

Also in the nxtbook FAQ it states a user is limited to a maximum of 2 computers that can have access. That seems very restrictive. I have three laptops, a desktop, and a tablet. Why should I have to choose which computer to use to view QST?

I too am miffed with the loss of the annual Periodicals CD-ROM. For me, QEX and the on-line periodical article search and access were my prime reasons for my ARRL membership. QST was a nice bonus, but if given the choice between QST and QEX, QEX would be my choice, hands down.

I also hope that the next Annual Periodical CD-ROM keeps the QST in PDF format and not the new Adobe AIR format.

I wish that the ARRL would give International members the choice of either QST, QEX, or NCJ in paper form, or the annual Periodicals CD-ROM with PDF versions of all three magazines. I would also like to see the on-line access to the periodical articles unrestricted as well. A few years ago, I could access everything, then the recent years are restricted. They have just opened up QST, but now all of QEX is restricted. This just sucks.

I keep getting less for my membership. Giving me the Digital QST and taking away the annual Periodicals CD-ROM and QEX articles on-line is a huge downgrade.

I am starting to see why there are so many hams with anti-ARRL views. I think I might be becoming one of them and I don't like it.

Darrell Bellerive VA7TO

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