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Copyright © 1995-1996 Virtual Publishing Co.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ham Radio Online
Why did you start Ham Radio Online?
Ham Radio Online got started in the summer of 1995 when Ed, and
later, Kim, (see "About Us") decided they would like to know what was involved
in running a web site. The first thing we did was set up a small
web page at our Internet Service Provider using our personal file
space and experimented as we learned HTML, the Internet page layout
language. Looking around at other web sites, we noticed that most
web sites were mostly pointers to other web sites containing pointers
to other web sites - it occurred to us that we could do something
different and create a web site that contained actual content!
That meant we had to pick a topic that was in area where we knew
something - hence, amateur radio was the logical topic. We also
decided to make our web site look classy - rather than quickly
thrown together - and to emphasize the fun and excitement of ham
radio: a positive, classy view of ham radio (as compared to so
much gloom, doom and name calling on the Internet's Usenet newsgroups).
For no particular reason, we called our endeavour Ham Radio Online.
By Fall of 1995 we submitted our web site to several Internet
search systems so that people could find us. The day after we
were first listed in a search engine, a grand total of 25 people
found us! This seemed pretty neat. In another month, a 100 people
a day were stopping by to check us out. By the end of December,
and much to our surprise, people thought our web site was so cool
that they were sending us content to post at our web site and
hence, was born the concept of the Ham Radio Online magazine.
Today we appear to have a readership in the low tens of thousands,
coming from 46 different countries (and probably more by the time
you read this!).
We continue to do this because it is a lot of fun. We are
learning new things about Internet publishing all the time and
it gives us a great forum to experiment with new web publishing
ideas. We receive email from readers all of the world and it is
a lot of fun to hear about ham radio activities in areas outside
North America. This web site will continuously evolve. We have lots
of ideas of new things we hope to add to this web site!
Do you make money off of Ham Radio Online?
No, none at all. It costs us money to run Ham Radio Online. Ed
works a real job at a demanding pace for a computer company in
the Northwest and has no particular interest in trying to run
a business "on the side"; we also have three kids and
lots of pressures on our time. We run this as a hobby.
Some hams build repeaters for fun (done that); we build an online
magazine. Some hams do public service (done that too); we publish
news and views about the excitement of ham radio. By keeping it
as a hobby we are free of any pressure to update the web site
daily or add new features that some advertiser wants.
Do you accept advertising?
No. Many folks have asked but we do not accept advertising.
Another example of a high quality, self published "online magazine" without
ads is Photo.Net (and an inspiration to
us).
Will you ever accept advertising?
As long as we have "real employment" we don't intend
to accept advertising. Running Ham Radio Online as a hobby is
fun; trying to run Ham Radio Online as a busiiness while simultaneously
holding down a real job does not seem like fun to us.
Do you accept donations?
Yes, but articles and newsletters only! We do not accept any cash donations.
Mike Cheponis, K3MC, has generously donated web server space on his company's
web server (Visit California Wireless, Inc., consultants in RF and Infrared
communications technology at www.wireless.com).
Otherwise, we do not accept donations. A number of you have written offering
to make donations and we appreciate your thoughts in that regard.
Can I reprint your articles for my club newsletter?
Yes indeed. See our reprint policy.
I run a VHF interest area web site; can I use your articles at my web site?
Yes indeed. See our reprint policy.
Since you don't sell advertising, can I steal your articles for use at
my commercial web site where we sell stuff?
No, no and no. That is clearly taking advantage of us and our hard work
and since we do claim copyright ownership, its also a violation of
national laws and international treaties. Further, stealing stuff from
us (which has been done by one commercial site) and then hanging it out
in public looks pretty dumb - How many customers will want to buy from a
vendor that steals and cheats on others?
Can I link to your web site from my web site?
No problem. Just use HTML code that looks like this:
<a href="http://www.hamradio-online.com">Ham Radio Online magazine </a>
If you want, you can also use our logo in your link. For an example of
a link using the logo, see our reprint policy
page.
Can you link Ham Radio Online to our web site?
Sure can. See our Other sites or
Commercial products directories for
information. We update requests every week or two so submissions do not
usually get added right away. Remember, we run this as a hobby so things
get added when we have the time.
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Copyright © 1995-1996 Virtual Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved.