Satellite publications

Feline Joe

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jul 11, 2023
47
17
Missouri
Does anyone know of any satellite publications? I used to subscribe to Bob Grove's Satellite Times magazine which was excellent. I remember several trade publications as well. Are there any left or have they all went the way of the dodo?

I am not interested in e-zines. I want a paper copy that I can hold in my hands.

Thank you very much,

Joe KB0TXC
 
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but... The Spectrum Monitor has a satellite section. I have been a subscriber since they rolled out the digital magazine in 2014. It's something like Bob Grove's Monitoring Times magazine used to be. In fact I believe that some of the authors came from Grove's writing pool.

The Spectrum Monitor - Powered by Network Solutions.
 
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I know about spectrum monitor
Very good publication. But it is an "e-zine". And I spent my entire working life staring at screens. I will not spend my retirement doing so. The editor claims poverty and the expense of print. I suspect that it is the sweet scent of huge profit margins when one can con someone into an "e-publication" rather than print. Especially when the subscription price is not that much less than a print subscription to other publications. Much more money to be made when you do not have to provide a tangible product.
 
I know about spectrum monitor
Very good publication. But it is an "e-zine". And I spent my entire working life staring at screens. I will not spend my retirement doing so. The editor claims poverty and the expense of print. I suspect that it is the sweet scent of huge profit margins when one can con someone into an "e-publication" rather than print. Especially when the subscription price is not that much less than a print subscription to other publications. Much more money to be made when you do not have to provide a tangible product.
I admit I feel this way from time to time about some things too. At times I long for the old days when you could actually pick up a print publication that was well, worth picking up. There is something to be said for avoiding reading everything on a screen. I wish more independent publications like Spectrum Monitor would give a choice. Toss each month's issue up on one of the many print on demand sites that do magazines and let the buyer decide if they want to pay the premium for print or not! It wouldn't cost them a cent, other than a little time, to setup a Print on Demand option.

Fortunately or unfortunately, that's the way all print media is going. Newspaper subscriptions are outrageously expensive.
I agree, many newspaper subscriptions are outrageously expensive with very little provided in return. I use to be a big fan of USA Today since we didn't have access to any of the "major" daily newspapers like the NY Times, Washington Post, etc. where I live growing up. I picked up an issue a few months ago and was shocked at how pitiful the print product was.

I do still subscribe to the digital versions of a few national papers, but I always watch for a sale that usually gives you a guaranteed rate for the future, or a substantial discount for more than one year. Some I would subscribe to but they're too steep. I'm not paying $300- 500 a year for a digital subscription to a newspaper!
 
So much is this way now. Digital has many positives; instant communications, easy reproduction, instantly finding information that used to take weeks or months of searching.

But with digital comes a cheapened of life as well. At one time, in order to make a record, one needed a studio full of very expensive gear, an engineer, session cats, a mix down expert and a major label with deep pockets. Now anyone with a decent computer and DAW can make a record, burn and print CDs and fill the world with mindless ear pollution. Thete was something terribly artistic in knowing how far one could push magnetic tape before it saturated (a bad thing). In the day, musicians and engineers had to budget out their dBs if they wanted to make a good record. Now they have all the headroom they want, but lack musicality. I am not even referring to what kind of music. Just the quality of music. Which in my opinion has gone down the toilet.

Digital cable or dbs the same way. Yeah, there are a thousand + channels instead of 3 plus PBS. A thousand channels of mediocrity. Sure, there are good things on the cable or the birds. But ther is mostly mindlessness.

Just my two bits. Bans are crap tonite for me. Going to bed.
 
As a writer for The Spectrum Monitor, I can attest it is probably the best hobbyist source of information out there. Ken Reitz has been putting this out monthly since January 2014, and offers it by the year in PDF files. Those are typically $24 per year ($2 per copy when you purchase a year at a time). The realities of publishing put the Monitoring Times and many others out of the print business. Physically printing a glossy magazine and then putting it into the mail is an expensive proposition that requires dedicated readers in large numbers. While you may not like the idea of using a computer to access this information, it gives a way to have excellent quality and a cost effective storage mechanism. Satellite reception is covered, as well as just about any communications hobby under the sun. Most writers as well as readers are ham radio folks, so it is very technical. What you would like to see in printed form simply does not exist any more, so if you would like this type of information in your life, that is how it works. Sorry if this explanation may sound harsh, but I believe in telling it like it is. Good luck!
 
As a writer for The Spectrum Monitor, I can attest it is probably the best hobbyist source of information out there. Ken Reitz has been putting this out monthly since January 2014, and offers it by the year in PDF files. Those are typically $24 per year ($2 per copy when you purchase a year at a time). The realities of publishing put the Monitoring Times and many others out of the print business. Physically printing a glossy magazine and then putting it into the mail is an expensive proposition that requires dedicated readers in large numbers. While you may not like the idea of using a computer to access this information, it gives a way to have excellent quality and a cost effective storage mechanism. Satellite reception is covered, as well as just about any communications hobby under the sun. Most writers as well as readers are ham radio folks, so it is very technical. What you would like to see in printed form simply does not exist any more, so if you would like this type of information in your life, that is how it works. Sorry if this explanation may sound harsh, but I believe in telling it like it is. Good luck!
Hi Mike, I really enjoyed your May 2023 article on C-Band Free-to-Air Satellite. Are there any plans to do a Ku-Band version? -Thanks.
 
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I am NOT trying to start a flame war here. My comments are not meant to be taken as aggressive, mean spirited or nasty. They are just my observation.

OK, so it is expensive. I get that. But other publications manage to publish print editions. I see no reason for Spectrum Monitor not too. I subscribe to other magazine publications, some of them are not that large a circulation. How many folk do you think subscribe to a rather obscure magazine dedicated to hunting dogs? Not hunting, just the dogs. Or how about Guns and gardens? I bet that not many people have heard of that one, either. I subscribe to both.

What do yo do if the hard drive in your device fails? yeah, go get another, unless the Chinese decide not to sell us anymore just like OPEC allegedly did in the 70s with oil. Then lets say you do get another hard drive. Now you got to reload it. What a PIA. "But no one puts their e-reads on a computer any more. Everyone keeps their e-whatever on their kindle. (Or smart phone). What happens when the batteries die? Or when the smart phone gets dropped? "Why, you down load it again, you Luddite!" That is what I have actually been told by a pink haired dude with a thing in his nose. So you go to download your content again. I live in a place with terrible internet connectivity. Oh, but you need satellite internet. OK, so now I have to pay a very high fee for satellite internet (at least geo sat internet) just in order to get an e-zine? Then, lets say the sun blasts the earth just like it did in the Carrington event. Don't laugh. The sun is acting very strange lately, and the planetary alignment is coming to be just as it was when that thing happened. Telegraph operators were injured and worse when the system was made useless by tremendous voltage surges due to the sun. Then of course, what happens when some self appointed government type thinks that you do not need to read about whatever is in the e-publication. Why, it all magically disappears. Happens all the time in nations where there is no strong tradition of our first amendment. The point is, Digital content is ephemeral. Once the power goes out, the magnetic imprints on a substate go away, the internet collapses, the polycarbonite CD/DVD gets too scratchy or deteriorates, you no longer have the content or access to it.

No matter what happens, save a tornado blowing my house away (God Forbid) or my house burns down, (again, God forbid), I can always go to my library, pull down a prined copy of Satellite Times (God I miss Bob Grove), that is bound in a hard cover volume and read.

Yes, publishing is expensive. Profit margins are a lot less with print publications (which I think is the real driving force with e-pubs). But as I said, other magazines are still in print, and they have not declared chapter 13. Finally, for those of us that the pink haired, thing in the nose set so looks down upon for not being as technically savvy as they are (in their opinion) because we like to sit down and read something that does not need electricity, why not at the very least set your publication up with a print to order service. Yeah, I would pay for it. Spectrum Monitor is worth it. But I do not "read" from screens. I did that my entire working life, wont do it now that I am retired, and besides it hurts my eyes after an hour or so.

Just my two cents worth. But the exclusively e-publishers have excluded themselves from a rather significant source of potential customers in the name of increased profit margins and decreased expense. That is really a shame, actually.

Joe KB0TXC
 
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I am NOT trying to start a flame war here. My comments are not meant to be taken as aggressive, mean spirited or nasty. They are just my observation.

OK, so it is expensive. I get that. But other publications manage to publish print editions. I see no reason for Spectrum Monitor not too. I subscribe to other magazine publications, some of them are not that large a circulation. How many folk do you think subscribe to a rather obscure magazine dedicated to hunting dogs? Not hunting, just the dogs. Or how about Guns and gardens? I bet that not many people have heard of that one, either. I subscribe to both.

What do yo do if the hard drive in your device fails? yeah, go get another, unless the Chinese decide not to sell us anymore just like OPEC allegedly did in the 70s with oil. Then lets say you do get another hard drive. Now you got to reload it. What a PIA. "But no one puts their e-reads on a computer any more. Everyone keeps their e-whatever on their kindle. (Or smart phone). What happens when the batteries die? Or when the smart phone gets dropped? "Why, you down load it again, you Luddite!" That is what I have actually been told by a pink haired dude with a thing in his nose. So you go to download your content again. I live in a place with terrible internet connectivity. Oh, but you need satellite internet. OK, so now I have to pay a very high fee for satellite internet (at least geo sat internet) just in order to get an e-zine? Then, lets say the sun blasts the earth just like it did in the Carrington event. Don't laugh. The sun is acting very strange lately, and the planetary alignment is coming to be just as it was when that thing happened. Telegraph operators were injured and worse when the system was made useless by tremendous voltage surges due to the sun. Then of course, what happens when some self appointed government type thinks that you do not need to read about whatever is in the e-publication. Why, it all magically disappears. Happens all the time in nations where there is no strong tradition of our first amendment. The point is, Digital content is ephemeral. Once the power goes out, the magnetic imprints on a substate go away, the internet collapses, the polycarbonite CD/DVD gets too scratchy or deteriorates, you no longer have the content or access to it.

No matter what happens, save a tornado blowing my house away (God Forbid) or my house burns down, (again, God forbid), I can always go to my library, pull down a prined copy of Satellite Times (God I miss Bob Grove), that is bound in a hard cover volume and read.

Yes, publishing is expensive. Profit margins are a lot less with print publications (which I think is the real driving force with e-pubs). But as I said, other magazines are still in print, and they have not declared chapter 13. Finally, for those of us that the pink haired, thing in the nose set so looks down upon for not being as technically savvy as they are (in their opinion) because we like to sit down and read something that does not need electricity, why not at the very least set your publication up with a print to order service. Yeah, I would pay for it. Spectrum Monitor is worth it. But I do not "read" from screens. I did that my entire working life, wont do it now that I am retired, and besides it hurts my eyes after an hour or so.

Just my two cents worth. But the exclusively e-publishers have excluded themselves from a rather significant source of potential customers in the name of increased profit margins and decreased expense. That is really a shame, actually.

Joe KB0TXC
Good morning Joe,
Magazines such as The Spectrum Monitor have paid circulations in the low thousands. There are no massive profits to be made, even with exclusive use of monthly PDF files. Have you mailed anything lately? The post office is no longer the bargain it once was, making it cost prohibitive when added to the expense of a paper copy done in glossy format. You do get that high quality look with a PDF file. Unless a magazine has many (tens of thousands or more) paid subscribers, it is not viable to do a print publication. The money is simply not out there. As far as losing files, I have found that I can get 32 Gb memory sticks in ten quantity for about $3.00 each. No need to buy an expensive hard drive. I simply back these up. TSM also has a service for subscribers (no extra charge), if you lose an issue (or more), request a re-send of the file, and a link will be EMailed. While you still do not want to use a PDF storage method, it's really the only way this is going to work. We're just trying to help you and politely explain why things are the way they are. One final added note: if you have a PDF file, it can be printed at any time, so you would only need to use the computer once for each issue to make a paper copy locally.
 
Good morning Joe,
Magazines such as The Spectrum Monitor have paid circulations in the low thousands. There are no massive profits to be made, even with exclusive use of monthly PDF files. Have you mailed anything lately? The post office is no longer the bargain it once was, making it cost prohibitive when added to the expense of a paper copy done in glossy format. You do get that high quality look with a PDF file. Unless a magazine has many (tens of thousands or more) paid subscribers, it is not viable to do a print publication. The money is simply not out there. As far as losing files, I have found that I can get 32 Gb memory sticks in ten quantity for about $3.00 each. No need to buy an expensive hard drive. I simply back these up. TSM also has a service for subscribers (no extra charge), if you lose an issue (or more), request a re-send of the file, and a link will be EMailed. While you still do not want to use a PDF storage method, it's really the only way this is going to work. We're just trying to help you and politely explain why things are the way they are. One final added note: if you have a PDF file, it can be printed at any time, so you would only need to use the computer once for each issue to make a paper copy locally.

Well said.
 
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Good morning Joe,
Magazines such as The Spectrum Monitor have paid circulations in the low thousands. There are no massive profits to be made, even with exclusive use of monthly PDF files. Have you mailed anything lately? The post office is no longer the bargain it once was, making it cost prohibitive when added to the expense of a paper copy done in glossy format. You do get that high quality look with a PDF file. Unless a magazine has many (tens of thousands or more) paid subscribers, it is not viable to do a print publication. The money is simply not out there. As far as losing files, I have found that I can get 32 Gb memory sticks in ten quantity for about $3.00 each. No need to buy an expensive hard drive. I simply back these up. TSM also has a service for subscribers (no extra charge), if you lose an issue (or more), request a re-send of the file, and a link will be EMailed. While you still do not want to use a PDF storage method, it's really the only way this is going to work. We're just trying to help you and politely explain why things are the way they are. One final added note: if you have a PDF file, it can be printed at any time, so you would only need to use the computer once for each issue to make a paper copy locally.
But the print quality is not good and printer paper does not last. And memory sticks will go south just as easily as any electronics due to EMP. I  would pay for a print version of your publication. A real print version on high quality paper that is properly bound. You might consider me unreasonable fir not accepting the rational given. That is fine. I wish your excellent publication much success, and I am not being sarcastic in any way. When it is offered in print form, properly printed on quality paper and properly bound, I will most happily subscribe. I suspect a good number of other people would too. I say this because I talk to a lot of people who feel the same way. When technology comes crashing down (and it will, as has happened many times in history), due to political, solar, weather, economic reasons, or more likely due to a hostile act of war, the printed word will still be around. The high tech gadgets that we all cling to will become door stops, and the data therein will be forever lost.
 
One other idea that has been put forward. Why not consider a publication on demand service? There are several out there. It dosent cost the publishe anything except some time. I would purchasethat if the print/paper/binding was decent in quality.
 
The word for the day is BACKUPS.

And ARCHIVAL paper.

how about Guns and gardens?
My wife subscribed for a while.

allegedly
??? Really? ALLEGEDLY?

lets say the sun blasts the earth just like it did in the Carrington event.
In which case, I’d say Internet access would be at the bottom of the list of things to worry about, if it made the list at all. Unless they name some food “Internet.”


Small publications like this are labors of love, not significant sources of income.


Consider E-Paper. MUCH easier on the eyes. Dedicated readers have better resolution, if not refresh rate. And larger tablets.

I subscribe to many print magazines. Some, the cooking oriented ones, have over 100,000 subscribers, yet seem to be teetering on the edge.


PS- I have hundreds of optical discs, and hundreds, probably over a thousand (between the two of us) of books.


It is what it is.
 
No, the word of the day is proper paper, printing and binding.

Yeah, the only thing that OPEC gained by their boycot was loss of income. Lots of evidence that US energy companies were actually responsible for the "boycot" in order to raise the price of fuel.

About the collapse of the digital neither world, maybe for some it would be the end of their world, not for mine. Reading, thinking, working, eating, sleeping... all are part of civilization. Digital contend would be an infinatsmally small part of what I call civilization and being civilized.

Paper printed matter does not need backups. Just a safe place to keep them.

Not to be contentious, but I and many others will not spend money on e-publications. Offer me a printed version and not just a bunch of poorly printed pages stapled together. BTW, I just for grins and giggles pulled down a volume of bound Elementary Electronics from 4 decades ago on to read about a long gone clock chip. No internet, electricity needed. Not even an electric light. Just a nice day on a porch swing and glass of tea with my dog.
 
If some cataclysmic event drags us back into the analog world, then we will have a lot bigger problems to worry about than securing copies of decades old magazines to read.

In the absence of said event, it is a digital world now. There is no going back to the old one.
 
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