Hints for More Successful Searching.
Hints for using the ARRL Periodicals Index Search:
Less is better! When searching for an article without using KEYWORDS, try not to enter the complete title of an article - your memory may not be an exact match to what was on the magazine page 30 years ago. For example to find -
The Field-Effect Transistor as a Stable V. F. O. Element, by G. D. Hanchett, W2YM in the December, 1966 issue of QST
- do not type all the information into the form. Any single piece that is not exactly the same will cause the search engine to fail. Better to try these strategies.
- If you are sure you know the author's call sign, enter it alone. You will get a list of his articles from which you can pick the one you had in mind. Better still, call signs may change over the years, last names usually don't.
- If you know the title, type a portion of the title. In the above example try Field-Effect Transistors or just Field Effect. The database ignores hyphens anyway. Less is better.
- If you are looking for a title that contains VFO or V.F.O. or V. F. O., you can see there is a problem. Any article from 1970 forward about VFOs should respond to VFO. But earlier articles that may not have been categorized may have to be tried with different versions.
- In using this database, there is probably never a need to enter year or month - one digit off and it will come up with nothing. Let the program find these for you.
Broaden your search by narrowing your input. You will get a longer list, but your article is more likely to be there for you to recognize.
Page last modified: 11:05 AM, 01 Aug 2000 ET
Page author: tis@arrl.org
Copyright © 2000, American Radio Relay League, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
