Practical Electronics – Full Year 2022 Issues Collection

Here at Practical Electronics we’re very proud of our heritage, having built the post-war hobby electronics market in Britain from scratch. In the November and December 2014 issues we celebrated our 50th birthday. PE’s Alan Winstanley wrote this two-part special article describing the origins of Practical Electronics magazine in the UK, followed by the arrival of its litte sister Everyday Electronics. The articles show how our title evolved over many years, including cover shots of some milestone issues, taking in ETI (UK) and Hobby Electronics along the way.

Practical Electronics magazine (PE) was founded in 1964 as a constructor’s magazine for the electronics enthusiast. From it was born Everyday Electronics (EE) in 1971 which catered for the electronics novice. Both PE and EE were published under one Editor and team until January 1977, when separate Editors were appointed, and the titles moved into separate offices which were over 100 miles apart – only to be reunited again under one Editor in 1984!
The first Everyday Electronics, Nov. 1971Publication as “sister” titles once again continued until 1986 when both titles were sold off by their owners IPC Magazines Ltd., and so each title went its separate way, under the auspices of independent publishers.
Over the years, the title of EE changed to reflect current vogues in the hobby electronics market. In the mid 1980s it was Everyday Electronics and Computer Projects, reflecting the new-found upsurgence of computer related project building. These were truly the golden pioneering days of hobby electronics for the home computer enthusiast. From the October 1985 issue there was another title change, as Editor Mike Kenward explained at the time: it was to become Everyday Electronics and Electronics Monthly, reflecting an earlier acquisition of a rival title which was to be the precursor of similar mergers fifteen years later. Electronics Monthly was formerly known as Hobby Electronics, to rival Everyday Electronics on the newsstands.
In the early 90’s the fortunes of Practical Electronics declined, having all but deserted the practical needs of the advanced hobbyist. In 1992 it was purchased by Wimborne Publishing Ltd. who published Everyday Electronics. PE was merged into EE to form Everyday with Practical Electronics (EPE). The “with” in the title was dropped from the November 1995 issue. The volume numbering system used today has continued from EE so it indicates publication from 1971 (e.g. Volume 29 equates to the year 2000). EPE’s roots, however, date back directly to 1964 when its “big sister” magazine PE was born.
Our Internet-only version EPE Online was launched in October 1998, and as far as we know was the first downloadable magazine that could also be bought in printed format in newsstands. Hosted in the USA, overseas readers warmly welcomed the availability of a downloadable issue. This ran its course until 2012 when a new version using the Pocketmags digital newsstand was introduced, mindful of the new era of tablet and mobile computing.
Official page – www.epe-magazine.co.uk/

NEW! – 5-year 2015-2019 bundle (all 60 issues) available here

Practical Electronics – January 2022
Practical Electronics – February 2022
Practical Electronics – March 2022
Practical Electronics – April 2022
Practical Electronics – May 2022
Practical Electronics – June 2022
Practical Electronics – July 2022
Practical Electronics – August 2022
Practical Electronics – September 2022
Practical Electronics – October 2022
Practical Electronics – November 2022
Practical Electronics – December 2022