[CW] CW Clubs

[Bill Ellis]

I used to have a paid membership in FISTS, but after the first year, why 15.00 again? Perhaps a lesser fee after the first year. I have nothing against FISTS, but I can't see why it requires 15.00 every year.

Bill, WB9CAC
FISTS # 11256 (can't verify it, however, it's not on the list any longer)

--- On Fri, 6/27/08, David Ring <n1ea at arrl.net> wrote:
From: David Ring <n1ea at arrl.net>
Subject: [CW] CW Clubs
To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net>
Date: Friday, June 27, 2008, 8:19 AM

Recently in the CW clubs world there has been a bit of a skirmish over
the publishing of non-current dues paying FISTS members.  Having a
full list of FISTS numbers is a great advantage when it comes to FISTS
awards because if you have a FISTS number it is still good.  It also
has brought up the whole question of money and clubs.

In FISTS EA division - http://www.feacw.net/  - this is not a problem
- because there is NO dues to belong to FISTS.  The other groups have
dues.

FISTS UK www.fists.co.uk/   FISTS Down Under -
http://www.fistsdownunder.org/ -  USA / Americas
http://www.fists.org/ which all charge about $15.00 yearly.

Unfortunately a good deal of resentment comes from having non-current
FISTS members deleted from the membership list.  This led to the good
work by Nancy Kott, WZ8C and others to  work on restoring the historic
FISTS numbers list.

Perhaps other clubs with a central administration - like FOC
http://www.firstclasscw.org.uk/  - which is headquartered and
administered out of the UK   had an easier time of it.  In FISTS
different blocks of membership numbers are given to the different
groups.

However, now that this list is ready, the FISTS brass are saying "No"
- it won't be published.  I can't see any reason for this.  It just
helps those who are longer with FISTS to get more points, it causes
resentment to former members who then can think "my number doesn't
exist anymore".  All these things were about to be fixed, but now have
been stopped.  Why?

There are other clubs who are wotking with a newer business model like
the "Straight Key Century Club" http://www.skccgroup.com/ or SKCC has
introduced another business model:  Free and volunteer.  They are
about 2-1/2 years old and already have 4,533 members.  That's quite a
bit of growth and interest.  They have some great activities on the
air.  That is about 30 percent of the total FISTS numbers ever issued
- and this is only in less than three years.

Of course, some clubs like the Chicken Fat Operators club (CFO) never
charged dues - but I think they charged for a beautiful certificate
that W9WBL's wife made.  But sometimes without funds, clubs wither and
die.  CFO was a great club - and members traveled to "Cluck Ins" and
met each other and got on the air and sent the CFO "cluck sound" with
their keys after a QSO.

it is really important to have good CW clubs - especially ones that
are geared to new comers.

73

David N1EA
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