Notes
How to read these pages
Navigation
The search box at the top takes a callsign, an FRN (10 digits), a licensee ID (L + 8 digits), a ULS file number, a 5-digit ZIP code, a grid square, or a date phrase like “last Tuesday”. Press / or Ctrl K from anywhere to jump to it. Almost everything in a table is a link: callsigns open their history, names open everything filed under that FRN or licensee ID, dates open that day’s activity, and column headings link to the explanation on this page. Old AE7Q-style links (/query/data/CallHistory.php?CALL=… and so on) redirect to the matching page here.
How the FCC processes vanity applications
- Receipt. An application’s receipt date is the first Federal workday on or after the day the FCC got it. Online filings count up to 23:59 Eastern.
- Visibility. New applications post to the FCC database in an overnight run (roughly 00:00–02:00 ET) and reach the public download files the next morning. Until then an applicant can still delete one. That’s why yesterday’s receipt date is usually empty here.
- Waiting period. Each receipt date’s applications wait at least 17 days. The batch date is the first Federal workday on or after receipt + 17 days.
- Processing. The batch is processed overnight after the batch date, in random order. The process date is the day after the batch date, so it can fall on a Saturday. For each application the FCC walks the requested callsigns in order and assigns the first one that is available and permissible.
| Receipt (no holidays) | Batch | Process | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Thursday | Friday | 18 |
| Tuesday | Friday | Saturday | 18 |
| Wednesday | Monday | Tuesday | 20 |
| Thursday | Monday | Tuesday | 19 |
| Friday | Monday | Tuesday | 18 |
Federal holidays push the batch date forward. Applications pulled for manual review (“offlined”) leave this schedule entirely.
Dates
Licenses
- Grant date: when the license was granted or last renewed. A vanity callsign is a new grant with a new expiration. A sequential callsign change or a class upgrade is not.
- Effective date: changes with any grant, sequential callsign change, upgrade or administrative update.
- Expiration date: ten years after the grant. It doesn’t change if the license is later canceled.
- Cancel date: when the license was canceled. The FCC often back-dates it to last action + 30 days − 2 years, which makes the callsign available 31 days after the cancellation is posted.
- Last action date: the most recent change to the record.
- End date (derived): the cancel date if canceled, otherwise the expiration date.
- Available date (derived): when anyone may apply for the callsign.
- Canceled: the later of cancel date + 2 years + 1 day, and last action + 31 days.
- Expired, with status not yet updated by the FCC: expiration + 2 years + 1 day.
- Marked expired by the FCC: the later of the date it was marked and last action + 31 days.
Applications
- Receipt date: see above.
- Entered: when the record entered the FCC system. It can come before the receipt date (weekend filing) or after it (mailed payment).
- Payment date: the latest confirmed fee payment.
- Batch date / process date (derived): see above.
Colors
| Color | License (holder’s view) | Callsign availability | Application status | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Active | Available | Granted | Predicted assigned |
| Blue | — | Available, but a pending application may get it | Pending | Possible, depends on competition |
| Yellow | Inactive < 2 years: only the holder can renew, or an eligible relative or club can claim it | Expired, not yet available (Silent Key candidate) | Withdrawn or amended | Dismissed unless something outside changes |
| Red | Inactive ≥ 2 years: available to anyone, the holder can’t renew | Canceled, not yet available | Dismissed or returned | Predicted dismissed |
| Gray | — | Active | Other | Not needed (a higher choice wins) |
Bold callsigns were assigned as vanity callsigns. Shaded receipt dates are more than a month old.
Predictions
Every pending vanity application is replayed through the process above, receipt date by receipt date. Each requested callsign gets one of these:
| Assigned | The applicant already holds it; the database just hasn’t caught up. |
| Assignment | The first available callsign on the list, with no competition. Expected to be granted. |
| Competition | Other applications on the same receipt date also have this as their best choice. One of them gets it, at random. |
| Available | A fallback: available, and used only if the applicant loses the competition above it. |
| Unknown | Might be taken by a fallback from an earlier competition. |
| Offlined by FCC | Pulled for manual review; timing and outcome unknown. |
| Active Callsign | Someone else holds it. |
| Applicant Callsign | The applicant already holds it. |
| Duplicate (…) | The same applicant requested it on another application the same day. Only the first one counts. |
| Inactive (…) | The applicant’s callsign is no longer active, usually because they got a different one (shown). |
| Insufficient Class | The callsign’s group needs a higher license class. |
| Invalid Format | Not a valid US amateur callsign. Watch for the letter O versus the digit zero. |
| Not Deceased | A close-relative or in-memoriam request for a callsign that hasn’t been canceled. |
| Reserved Callsign / Region | Special-event, military, Antarctic, or no-postal-service regions. |
| Restricted Region | An Alaska, Caribbean or Pacific callsign for someone without a mailing address there. |
| Too Early/Canceled | Received before cancel + 2 years, or within 30 days of the cancellation being posted. |
| Too Early/Expired | Received before expiration + 2 years. |
| Too Late | An application with an earlier receipt date is expected to get it. |
| Taken | A competing application on the same receipt date is certain to get it. |
| Unneeded (…) | The applicant gets a higher choice first. The interim prediction is in parentheses. |
The color of the ULS file number is the forecast for the whole application: green, granted; blue, uncertain; yellow, dismissed unless something changes; red, dismissed. These are estimates from public data. The FCC has the final word.
Vanity request types
| E | By list: an individual’s ordered list of up to 25 callsigns. |
|---|---|
| A | Former holder: an individual reclaiming a callsign they held, with documentation. |
| B | Relative of deceased: a close relative’s callsign held within the last two years. The applicant must be eligible by class. |
| F | By list, for a club station. |
| C | Former holder, for a club station. |
| D | In memoriam, for a club: a deceased member’s callsign, with a close relative’s written consent. |
FCC identifiers
- FRN (FCC Registration Number): one per taxpayer ID. Each person or club should have its own.
- Licensee ID: the FCC’s public stand-in for an SSN or EIN. Several FRNs can share one, via SGIN sub-groups.
- ULS file number: assigned to each application at receipt. Post-1999 numbers start with 0.
Derived fields
- Phonetic weight: total syllables to say the callsign in ITU phonetics (Kilo-Seven-Alfa-Quebec = 8). Lower is quicker on voice.
- Morse weight: total time to send it, counting dits as 1, dahs as 3, element gaps as 1 and character gaps as 3. Lower is quicker on CW.
- County, Maidenhead and ZIP location: from the center of the ZIP code, not the street address.
- Region: the call district from the callsign, or the geographic region from the mailing state.
Data updates
The FCC publishes complete license and application files weekly (licenses Sunday, applications Saturday) and a transaction file for each day. This site rebuilds from the weekly files and applies the daily files on top. See the license and application update histories. Current data: licenses 2026-10-03 04:00:21 EDT, applications 2026-10-03 04:28:40 EDT.