QEX was first published in 1981 as the “ARRL Experimenter's Exchange”, with Paul Rinaldo, W4RI, as Founding Editor. Over the years, QEX has partnered with the AMSAT Satellite Journal, and later hosted Gateway, ARRL's packet radio newsletter. The conductors of these two publications, as well as several Contributing Editors, have sustained the quality of the magazine.

Jon Bloom, KE3Z, became Editor in 1992. His considerable expertise built QEX into one of the most respected technical publications in its field. This was a time when Amateur Radio, and radio technology in general, were undergoing rapid changes.

Zack Lau, W1VT, the award-winning ARRL Senior Laboratory Engineer, came aboard with his “RF” column, detailing advanced work across the RF spectrum. The “RF” column ran from August 1992 through January 2005.

Rudy Severns, N6LF, took over the editorial reins in 1997. On his watch, the magazine went from monthly to bimonthly publication. The number and depth of articles increased dramatically. QEX took on a new look as well, with full-color covers and enhanced content. Rudy's talent for soliciting top-quality articles from Amateur Radio's leading technical authors took the magazine to a higher plateau.

Bob Schetgen, KU7G, known for his editorship of The ARRL Handbook and for his columns in QST, also began work on QEX in 1997. Bob served as Managing Editor until his sudden passing in December 2005.

In January 2000, ARRL purchased the Amateur Radio technical journal Communications Quarterly from CQ Communications and merged it with QEX, creating the combined QEX/Communications Quarterly. Published for the preceding nine years under the editorship of Terry Littlefield, KA1STC, Communications Quarterly billed itself as the philosophical successor to ham radio magazine, which was founded by “Skip” Tenney, W1NLB, and Jim Fisk, W1HR. Littlefield was ham radio's Editor when CQ Communications purchased it in 1990.

Ray Mack, W5IFS, joined as Contributing Editor with the Jan/Feb 2002 issue. Ray conducts his column “Out of the Box,” about new product availability and also serves as our proofreader. With the Jan/Feb 2009 issue, Ray also began a new column, “SDR: Simplified,” presenting hands-on experiments and investigations into the world of software defined radio (SDR) and digital signal processing (DSP).

L.B. Cebik, W4RNL, came aboard as Contributing Editor as of Jul/Aug 2004. His column “Antenna Options” covered antenna design, performance and construction until his sudden passing in April 2008. The final “Antenna Options” column appeared in the Jul/Aug 2008 issue.

Doug Smith, KF6DX, became QEX Editor with the Sep/Oct 1998 issue. His enthusiasm and technical expertise continued to improve the magazine’s technical content. 

Larry Wolfgang, WR1B, began work on QEX in late 2005 and became Managing Editor for the March/April 2006 issue. Larry became the latest in a long line of QEX Editors for the Sep/Oct 2007 issue. For more than 20 years Larry had been ARRL's license study materials editor. In addition to editing several other ARRL books, Larry has twice served as QST Hints & Kinks column editor, and written numerous Product Review and other QST articles. At ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, Larry guides each issue through the editing and layout process. We welcome all submissions, inquiries, comments, and suggestions. Submit articles via e-mail to qex@arrl.org or via US Mail to QEX, ARRL HQ, 225 Main St, Newington, CT 06111.