Welcome to FISTS CW Club
FISTS supports the use, preservation and education of Morse code. The club is devoted exclusively to CW operators, CW operating and people who are passionate about Morse code.
We have three straightforward goals:- Further the use of CW (Morse Code)
- Engender friendships among members
- Encourage newcomers to use CW (Morse Code)
FISTS UK is the Headquarters of the FISTS Club (International Morse Preservation Society).
Interested in becoming a member?
Find out more about our history.
Latest News:
(also available via RSS
)- 06 Feb 10: Ever wondered how long your callsign takes to transmit and how it compares with other people's callsigns? Visit the new Measure Callsign Weight web page to find out!
- 05 Feb 10: Welcome to our latest members, Roger G3SNT #14581 and Ken G6VGN #14582.
- 04 Feb 10: Logs and reports for the January FISTS Ladder need to be submitted to Rob M0BPT by the end of Friday 5th February. Logs and reports for the G0HGA VHF/UHF/SHF CW Activity need to be submitted by 14th February. The next Ladder sessions are on Sunday 14th February 14:00-1600 UTC and 18:00-20:00 UTC.
- 01 Feb 10: Congratulations to Milan OK1KW #4827 on achieving the Diamond Century Award. This is a significant achievement - well done Milan!
- 01 Feb 10: The work on the web site is now complete. It may take up to 24 hours for the web site to be available to everyone due to the time it takes for address (DNS) changes to be propagated around the Internet. If there are any problems, please let me know by sending an email to webmaster@fists.co.uk.
- 31 Jan 10: There will be some disruption to the main web site http://www.fists.co.uk during the week starting 1st February. The temporary web site http://www.fists.org.uk can be used while it's unavailable. Apologies for the inconvenience.
- 29 Jan 10: Welcome to Roger G3LDI #14580, our latest member.
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26 Jan 09: We have a new QSL bureau sub-manager for G0, GD0, GI0, GJ0, GM0 and GU0 callsigns.
Please see the QSL Bureau web page for details. - 22 Jan 10: Welcome to new members David EI9FBB #14576, Bert F6HKA #14577, Jamie MW3ZKP #14578 and William 2E0LBD #14579, who have just joined us.
- 22 Jan 10: The first 2010 FISTS Ladder sessions were disappointing due to a concurrent 80m CW contest during the afternoon session and unhelpful propagation during the evening session. However, this coming Sunday's sessions (24th January 14:00-16:00 UTC and 18:00-20:00 UTC) look to be clear of any contests, so please do give the Ladder another try. 80m and 20m are the most used bands currently in the Ladder, but any can be used except 30m, 17m and 12m.
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19 Jan 10: The web archive of the FISTS club magazine / newsletter, Key Note,
has been extended to include December 1988 to 1993, now covering over 20 years.
This is available from the
members' Key Notes Archive
and the
public Key Notes Archive
web pages.
It would be great if we could extend the archive even closer to the start of FISTS in 1987. If you have copies of any of the following Key Notes and are willing to scan them or loan them for scanning, or believe that they were not published, please contact Graham G3ZOD webmaster@fists.co.uk : any for the years 1987-1988, June 1989, December 1989, October 1990 and June 1993. - 16 Jan 10: Welcome to our new members, Colin M0XED #14573, Andrew G4CWX #14574 and Tom EI5CA #14575, who joined us recently.
- 16 Jan 10: The new G0HGA VHF/UHF/SHF CW Activity 2010 has been extended to include 23cm and 3cm (10GHz), so the valid bands are 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm and 3cm. As we're half way through January, there's still plenty of time to join in!
- 13 Jan 10: If you currently have a Standing Order for your FISTS annual subscription, please bear in mind that you need to alter it or replace it *before* the 1st April to reflect the changes in subscription. For a list of the 2010 fees, please visit the Annual Renewal web page.
- 09 Jan 10: Welcome to our latest members, Maurizio IT9RRU #14568, Richard M0RKY #14569, Jan PA7O #14570, Jonathan G6HKA #14571 and Ken G3HSU #14572, who have joined us recently.
- 09 Jan 10: There is a new email address for contacting the FISTS Awards Manager Dennis K6DF: fistsawards@fists.org. When writing, please put the word "FISTS" in the subject line.
Interested in becoming a member?
FISTS UK welcomes new members who have a passion for Morse Code.
Benefits of membership include:- Our popular Quarterly A5 News Booklet
- Free use of the FISTS QSL Bureau
- Access to our members-only area
- Help and support from like minded people
FISTS History
The FISTS Club, (International Morse Preservation Society) was founded in 1987 by the late Geo Longden G3ZQS of Darwen, Lancashire England, after recognising a need for a club in which veteran operators would help newcomers and less-experienced operators learn and improve CW proficiency. During the first year, membership reached 300, most of whom were in Great Britain and Europe. The original Introduction to FISTS by Geo holds as true today as it did when he wrote it. Geo also explains how he chose the name FISTS.
The North American Chapter was formed in 1990 to assist 11 members in the USA receive the newsletter and as a banking convenience. Nancy Kott WZ8C of Hadley, Michigan was named US representative, a position she still holds but she now handles the affairs of over 7,000 members in the Americas.
The Down Under Chapter (New Zealand / Australia) was formed in 1998 to provide a similar service to Australasian members, with Ralph Sutton ZL2AOH as the VK/ZL representative. From a VK/ZL membership of four, there are now over 100 members "Down Under", principally in New Zealand. The New Zealand membership is the largest in any country outside England, Wales and North America.
The East Asia Chapter was formed in 2004 by a few Taiwanese and Japanese members to provide East Asian members with various services in their native languages.
Worldwide, FISTS members number over 10,000 members, growing each month.
Why not join us?Acknowledgements: Thank you to Dennis K6DF and Bill NT9K for permission to use photographs from their key collections.