{"id":542,"date":"2012-12-16T01:21:22","date_gmt":"2012-12-16T01:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/?p=542"},"modified":"2021-06-02T21:01:46","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T21:01:46","slug":"qst-at-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/qst-at-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"QST at the Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-715 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/scan0007-QST-No1-PS-731x1024.jpg\" alt=\"scan0007 QST No1 PS\" width=\"352\" height=\"485\" \/>The membership had long perceived the need for a regular bulletin of some kind, but the League lacked the funds needed to jump-start it. So, as before, the 46-year-old inventor and businessman Maxim teamed up with 19-year-old Trinity College student Tuska to publish the first few issues themselves. They had already funded the initial printing of the list of stations and other materials.<\/p>\n<p>Sometime in early December 1915, the first issue of a new \u201cAmateur Wireless Magazine\u201d went from the printer to the post office and on across the country to more than 600 members of the not quite two-year-old American Radio Relay League. Its simple cover, a combination of hand-drawn graphics and typeset text, framed its name, <em>QST<\/em>, in a large banner flanked by two torches\u2014symbols of enlightenment and truth\u2014an implied meaning of its name as a broadcast to amateurs. This <em>number<\/em>, as magazine issues were then called, carried no volume designator. Who knew how many would follow or for how long? For the 10\u00a2 cover price you got 28 pages of amateur radio including a little over seven pages of advertisements.<\/p>\n<p>Due to slow sales of the <em>List of Stations<\/em> book, and after consulting with members, Maxim and Tuska decided to \u201crisk a few more dollars\u201d to produce three months\u2019 worth QST after which, they hoped, it would become self-sustaining based in part on members buying subscriptions and the other offerings. \u201cIf they do, we are all right, and we have a fine future promised us. If they do not, then the president and Secretary will have lost their money and wasted a lot of hard work,\u201d wrote Maxim.<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-542-1' id='fnref-542-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(542)'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>On the first page following the contents, this announcement appeared:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Q S T is published by and at the expense of Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska. Its object is to help maintain the organization of the American Radio Relay League and to keep the Amateur Wireless Operators of the country in constant touch with each other. Every Amateur will help himself and help his fellows by sending in 25 cents for a three months\u2019 trial subscription.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>THE PUBLISHERS OF QST<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Evidently at least a little money was coming in already since there were ads in the premiere issue. The first one to appear, just inside the front cover, was for J. H. Bunnell and Company, Inc., of New York, where young Irving Vermilya had gone to purchase wire years before. The ad was for \u201ctwo new specialties\u201d: a straight key for $7.50 (about $170 in 2012) and a detector holder for $1.50. The ad referred to the straight key as a \u201ctransmitter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first classified ads section, called \u201cSecond Hand Apparatus,\u201d appeared in issue number two and offered to print ads for free \u201cup to a reasonable number of words.\u201d It listed items such as Audions, transformers, condensers and coils. Also appearing in that first listing was a \u201c\u2018Martin\u2019 vibroplex key\u201d for $5.00\u2014a price one-third <em>lower<\/em> than Bunnell\u2019s straight key.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-455\" src=\"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/AR-sep-sm.bmp\" alt=\"AR sep sm\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14px;\">de W2PA<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-542'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-542-1'> First Issue of QST Nr. 1 December 1915, December Radio Relay Bulletin, <em>QST<\/em>, December 1915, 7. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-542-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The membership had long perceived the need for a regular bulletin of some kind, but the League lacked the funds needed to jump-start it. So, as before, the 46-year-old inventor and businessman Maxim teamed up with 19-year-old Trinity College student Tuska to publish the first few issues themselves. They had already funded the initial printing of the list of stations and other materials. Sometime in early December 1915, the first issue of a new \u201cAmateur Wireless Magazine\u201d went from the &hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/qst-at-the-beginning\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[24,45,44,51,54,55],"class_list":["post-542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-main","tag-bunnell","tag-clarence-tuaka","tag-hiram-percy-maxim","tag-list-of-amateur-stations","tag-qst","tag-vibroplex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3417,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542\/revisions\/3417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w2pa.net\/HRH\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}