"Dan/W4NTI" w4nti@get rid of this mindspring.com wrote in message
hlink.net...

"Brian" wrote in message
om...
"Dick Carroll;" wrote in message
...
It isn't on the FCC's website yet but you can read it here....


http://www.eham.net/articles/6371


Enjoy!


I thought that FISTS sold themselves as a non-political club?

How is sending in a petition a political act? Does that mean when NCI
sent
in a petition it was political? Or perhaps they were simply following
proceedures.

Of course participating in the regulatory process is a "political" thing.

And yes, FIST's position in the past (and IIRC, their charter) was
that they were *not* a politically-oriented group ... just a group that
was supposed to foster the *use* of Morse. And the test is *not*
necessary to use Morse ... someone sending slow as they learn
(voluntarily, because they *want* to) hurts nobody ... even the ARRL
has stated that the best way to learn Morse is on the air. Keeping
people off the air until they learn Morse to some specific level of
proficiency is counter, not just to the ARS as a whole, but to the
*professed* goal of those who want to keep Morse testing. If they'd
welcome folks whether they could beep or not, they'd stand a better
chance of gaining "recruits" than they do by acting crappy to those who
aren't interested in Morse, trying to keep them off of HF, and then
complaining that they don't "realize the benefits of Morse." After that
sort of treatment, no wonder so many folks aren't interested in Morse
(or ham radio for that matter ...)

Carl - wk3c