EMRFD Message Archive 13316
Message Date From Subject 13316 2016-12-04 17:22:48 bob_ledoux Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I have a copy of the original 1986 printing for this book. I also bought a later 1994 copy but gave it to another ham in need.
Here is the problem: My pages are yellowing and starting to disintegrate. The book has been well cared for, stored in my living room library. So deterioration is not due to weathering or abuse.
I went looking for a used copy. Abebooks lists 12, ranging in price from $71 to $754. I'm not willing to spend that kind of money on another volume that might also go to pieces.
Much of the material in SSDRA was prepared by Doug DeMaw, W1FB, and is not available in other publications. I, like many others, also feel some topics are better covered here than in EMRFD.
How do we ensure continued availability of this material?
bob-N7SUR13317 2016-12-04 18:28:24 Chris Howard w0ep Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I think it would be legal for you to take your crumbling copy to the
local kwik-copy place and have them chop off the binding
and scan it for you and make a PDF.
I don't think it would be legal for you to share that PDF with
other people.
But I am not a lawyer and I've never played one on TV.
Chris Howard
w0ep
13318 2016-12-04 20:44:43 ad7jt Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' 13319 2016-12-05 07:58:31 bob_ledoux Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' WOW
bob-N7SUR13320 2016-12-05 08:08:22 winston376 Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I'm always amazed on these forums at how unknowledgeable persons tout copyright law as if they are expert 'copyright police' based on a lack of knowledge and understanding of "fair use".13321 2016-12-05 08:48:22 markwdunning Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Bob
I have the same issue with my copy. My guess is that the original print run used cheap paper which contained acid.
My solution is to scan it chapter by chapter for my own use. According to my interpretation of copyright law in Australia, provided it is for my own use then that is legal. After all I can't be held responsible for the original poor choice of paper (I guess they never thought it would last so long).
Scanning is tedious however using a home printer/scanner/fax, I am only two thirds of the way through and I started 6 months ago.
I see from a later post that someone else not only beat me to it but did a better job at scanning.
73
Mark VK6WV
13322 2016-12-05 09:24:00 Todd F. Carney / ... Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I work for FedEx Office (formerly Kinkos) and we will cut off the binding of a personally-owned book so the book's owner can do what he wants with it, but we absolutely will not copy or scan a copyrighted work unless we are presented with written permission from the copyright holder.
And, since we aren't lawyers, we are not allowed to act on claims of "fair use" which, in any event, are limited to the reproduction of no more than 1/7th of a work (in the USA according to FXO training programs).
I might add that sometimes a customer has secured and documented such permission to our satisfaction. Has anyone asked the ARRL?
73,
Todd K7TFC
13323 2016-12-05 09:58:35 Phil Sittner Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' There have been several instances presented where ARRL publications, currently out of print, are being sought by members of this forum, including EMRFD. Has anyone considered contacting the ARRL about the prospect of using "POD", print on demand publishers, to archive and produce out of print league publications? It would seem to be the ideal solution in that the league would earn royalties and the amateur community would have the sought after information,
Phil KD6RM
13324 2016-12-05 10:10:38 Ashhar Farhan Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' comrades,please desist from promoting piracy of books. if you do see any of these books online, drop a line to arrl to issue them a take down notice and ask the arrl to issue a cd for the old out of print books.just like we are frustrated by the bad judgements issued by the courts and yet we refrain from going against them, similarly, if publishers take a bad call to not keep a book in print, we cannot break law to circulate it.i should declare that personally, i am not a proponent of resrtictive copyright. almost all code i wrote at work was pushed under GPL. that doesnt mean that i dont care for others copyrights.lets hope that this group doesnt have to take coercive measures.- f13325 2016-12-05 10:23:18 ve3ghm Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' The ARRL is already using Lulu to make available current and past
editions of the various conference proceedings (VHF UHF Microwave
Digital etc). I would not be great leap on their (ARRL's) part to
extend to other out of print books.
The biggest hurdle of course would be how much work it would require on
their (ARRL) part to prepare what they have of these old publications so
that they could be produced by the likes of Lulu.
cheers, Graham ve3gtc
13326 2016-12-05 11:10:34 Scott McDonald Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' It would be great to get the ARRL to reissue in paper or as an eBook.I finally got a copy for month, but my library in Illinois had to borrow it from a library in Idaho. What a great book!
There was a rumor floating around on another reflector that the book would go back into print next year, but I couldn't confirm that on the ARRL site.At least a revised Chapter One is available for download with several errors corrected, as well as updated software under the errata section.73 Scott ka9p
Sent from my iPad13327 2016-12-05 11:10:47 David J Nushardt Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Bob Since the book Solid State Design is a ARRL publication you should request them to make pdf copies available.
Dave
13328 2016-12-05 11:39:36 w7zoi Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Hello Bob, and gang,Just sit on this problem for a month or two and there will be a solution that you will probably like. We are not yet ready to say more about details, although the League folks have told me that vague hints are now OK. I've had a comment on my web site for a few days.I looked in my library and found several of the original 1977 versions of SSD, a couple of the 1986 ones, and one hard bound 1977 version. The 1986 ($15) one seemed to be on a bit better quality paper than the $7 1977 originals. None of mine were crumbling in the way that some of you have described, although some pages are slightly yellow. (No, none are for sale!) The hard cover version is one of three specials that Doug had bound when the book came out in 1977. He kept one, sent one to me, and put the third in the library at League Headquarters.73, Wesw7zoi13329 2016-12-05 12:16:42 bob_ledoux Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Thanks, Wes,
I miss Lew MecCoy's (W1ICP) works too.
Maybe I see you at Rickreal on February 18th.
bob-N7SUR13330 2016-12-05 12:30:18 Clint Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I had an original 1977 version and the pages were yellow and started to tear apart very easily. I probably used that book more than any other technical reference over the past 40 years.73ClintW7KEC13331 2016-12-05 16:30:03 Bill Carver Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' GET IT REBOUND. Used to be a routine thing in the olden days, there must be people who still do it.
W7AAZ
13332 2016-12-05 16:45:33 Alan Jones Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' My 1986 version of Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur is in excellent condition with no yellowing of the pages. Maybe we should start grading our copies of SSDRA like the comic book collectors for the 1977 printing, LOL.Al, N8WQ13333 2016-12-05 16:48:03 Rick Herndon Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Hams being what they are, I'll wager they could scurry up a pile o' volunteers to do the scanning.
Rick Herndon K5FNI
13334 2016-12-05 16:49:15 michael_byrd73 Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I read comments earlier today and went to find my copy. Mine is from 1977 as well and now has very brown pages that would tear easily. I can still read everything and all of the pages are good, but I am not sure for how much longer.I built several circuits from this book and spent about 45 minutes looking through it again. I would love to have this as an ebook to retain the information.Mike, AC4UR13335 2016-12-05 16:49:58 michael_byrd73 Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Bill,Getting books rebound is an option but considering the paper used, it would not survive the process. The paper isn't strong enough to withstand much bending. ( I worked in a print shop for many years)Mike, AC4UR13337 2016-12-06 00:54:16 blumu Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' On 06.12.16 00:32, michael_byrd wrote:
> I read comments earlier today and went to find my copy.My much-used 1977 edition is still in good condition,
> Mine is from 1977 as well and now has very brown pages
> that would tear easily.
> Mike, AC4UR
even though the paper is not of the best quality.
Different batches of paper used in the original print run?
Conditions under which the edition has been stored over the years?
MichaelUK13338 2016-12-06 09:57:15 Frank Dinger Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Having bought a copy of the 3rd printing 1995 for US$15.00,happily used but of course still as new , later I also was given a copy of the original 1977 edition ,the latter having yellow-ish pages but still overall in excellent condition ...........a true treasure for the QRP home-brewer and that at the time for US$7.00Frank , GM0CSZ / KN6WH in IO87AT13339 2016-12-06 10:22:24 David J Nushardt Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Guys; I also have the 1977 edition the paper is yellow but it was never white , look at the price of the book,I don't know about you all, but that was the best 7 dollars I spent! Obviously a low coast solution. My cover was just about to fall off I just used packing tape along the spine, no torn pages yet or crumbling.
I would like to be the first to thank the folks at ARRL for hearing our concerns and responding.
If I interpret Wes correctly good thing are in the works and the ARRL is Responding!Thanks ARRL!
Kind Regards
Dave13340 2016-12-07 01:24:28 Alberto I2PHD Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' I own both the 1977 and the 1986 editions, and can testify that the older one
has a paper which by now is of an yellowish color. Don't remember how it was
when new. The 1986 edition has a much whiter paper.
Neither of the two editions is crumbling, despite frequent usage. I think that
the secret is to not push the book flat open on the table, as some do, just to
keep it open at a given page...
You can judge for yourself of the difference in color of the two papers :
73 Alberto I2PHD
13341 2016-12-07 03:26:11 Russell Shaw Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' 13343 2016-12-07 08:16:10 winston376 Re: Crumbling 'Solid State Design for the Radio Amateur' Refer to "Fair Use" exceptions to US copyright