[Fists] Response to FISTS postcard request

[Casey]

Hi All FISTS'rs,

Being in the fine tradition of the cheapskate ham I thought I'd say 23 cents
and post my response here to the recent request from Nancy. Pretty sure
she'll see it! :) Also, I can ramble on quite a bit more without having to
write so small it would take a microscope. :) :)

First off, I'm a bit puzzled by the reasoning stated in the explanation on
the flyer about FISTS not taking a public stand when we were last faced with
restructuring and the CW requirement was being undermined. Here it states
that FISTS stayed out of the fight "... because that was a political matter
and it was impossible to reach a consensus among our diverse membership."

The word politics here is pretty broadly used, since no official election is
or was at hand. I fail to see how the current situation is any less
"political". Nor do I understand why consensus needs to be achieved. It's
unlikely, IMHO, that consensus is any less "impossible" now than then. So,
frankly, these seem like after-the-fact excuses for not taking up the CW
cause more fervently then. Furthermore, I think the barn door has been open
for quite some time now and the horse has fled, perhaps never to be seen
again. Too little, too late.

We didn't require a unified stand then and we don't now. What we needed was
an urgent, persistent charge from the top of FISTS on down to get people
involved in the issue and taking action. Any actions should have been
publicezed in order to encourage more action, even if it was just getting as
many FISTS members as possible to write their *personal* (vs. consensus)
opinion down and spread to any relevant local, state, or federal person or
agency or publication. Instead, we just took our beating with barely a
whimper. The no-code "opposition" was better organized, probably better
funded, and did their job well. Perhaps the end result would have been the
same had we organized better, but we would have gone down fighting.

That's all "water over the bridge" however, and I'm not sure that 5 WPM is
much more of a barrier than no-code at this point. The CW bands to this ear
seem less used each passing year. Digital modes are all the rage, and
unhappily and reluctantly I am having to admit that we CW'rs are looking a
bit scaly and fossilized. We may even retain CW sub-bands, but the
handwriting is on the wall, folks. FISTS recognizes it, but ARRL just wants
to sell more ad copy, and thus are promoting the quick "fix", which will
ultimately lead to the HF bands becoming the new CB craze. How many CB radio
shops do you see around anymore?

73,

Casey Bahr
KS7J/K7FFF
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