Sixty years ago this month, the first issue of Electronics Illustrated, May-June 1958, rolled off the presses of Fawcett Publications, the publisher of Mechanix Illustrated. Construction articles in the first issue included the 40 meter novice transmitter shown here, as well as a code practice oscillator featuring a 2N107 transistor. For the more ambitious, the magazine also included plans for a garage door opener system, using tube type transmitter and receiver. (The B+ for the transmitter came from the rectified output of a small inverter designed to operate an electric shaver in the car.)

For those starting out in electronics, the issue also included a tutorial on how to solder.

My own introduction to electronics came largely from discovering this magazine amongst the offerings of the Publishers Clearing House (sent to me personally by Robert H. Treller, who added a number of personal notes to the mailing).  It looks like the first issue I received was the one for May 1970, and I even managed to get my name in the March 1972 issue as a finalist (but alas, not a winner) in their “Win The World” SWL contest by sending in a batch of QSL cards.

Emboldened by seeing my name in print, I was strategizing as to how I could win the next year’s contest. Unfortunately, the magazine ceased publication with the November 1972 issue, so that second chance was not to be.

The remainder of my subscription was satisfied with a subscription to Mechanix Illustrated, which for a time included something to the effect of “including Electronics Illustrated” on its cover.