In article , "Dick Carroll;"
writes:

And they got NO input from FISTS that round at all, either. It didn't seem
likely that FCC would go so far as they did, thus there was no movement within
the organization.

There's also the fact that there was an ARRL proposal on the table, as well as
others.

And not many members commented individually.

I did.

This time WILL be different!

Oyez!

To many folks, reduction in the code tests was one thing, but total elimination
is quite another. Note too that many hams are/were of the opinion "reduce the
code, expand the written" but what we got was reduction across the board.

As you may know, FISTS has many times the membership numbers of NCI.

Over 10,000 last time I looked. And FISTS started with #1. Of course not all
the numbers are active - dues are $15/year.

Comments from
members will be numerous, and after all, FCC officials have said they want
"us" to let
them know what we want in the way of restructuring rules! That's what they'll
get!

Maybe if FISTS had commented en masse last time it might have some effect
on the outcome,
given FCC comments noted above. It remains to be seen, of course.

Exactly. Maybe code test retention is the majority position today, as it was in
1998-1999 (judging by comments) Or maybe the majority has shifted. Maybe FCC
will go with the majority opinion this time, which it did not do in 1999.

It should be noted that the FISTS petition addresses more than the issue of
code testing.

73 de Jim, N2EY

FISTS #4360