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Silent Key Callsign Harvesting

In addition to the callsigns that appear to be currently available according to FCC records, there are callsigns that can be made available because the holder had died, pursuant to FCC rules, US Title 47 CFR §1.948(g): "Amateur station call signs assigned to the station of a deceased licensee shall be available for reassignment pursuant to § 97.19 of this chapter." Such callsigns can be canceled by the steps described here and applied for, before it becomes generally known that the callsign is available. The following steps are recommended for obtaining such callsigns:

1. Search for likely candidates:

   • Examine the lists of expired, canceled, and available 1x2 and 2x1 callsigns on this site, for callsigns that have expired or are about to expire.
   • Search QRZ.com or other sites which show birthdates of amateurs, and research those who were born before some date (e.g., 1930). Note that the FCC does not currently release the birthdates (or Social Security Numbers) of amateurs. However, the FCC used to release birthdate information in the past, and some web sites have retained that information and made it available in their online databases. I don't publish birthdates on this site, for privacy and identity theft considerations.
   
   

2. Verify deceased status:

   • Currently the best site for verifying deaths in general is the RootsWeb Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Interactive Search.
   • Other possible sites are state legal records (click on the appropriate state on this map, and look under state records of births and deaths). Note that some states charge a fee for searching for and/or providing death records.
   • Another source is the Obituary Database and other similar sites (search for other obituary sites), which can lead you to the newspaper obituary sites (many papers have online obituary sections) for the city of last residence.
   • Sometimes, just a search on for the person's name can reveal death information.
   
   

3. Obtain proof of death. Currently, the FCC is known to accept:

   • A certificate of death.
   • A printout from the RootsWeb Social Security Death Index (SSDI) Interactive Search which shows the birthdate and Social Security Number.
   • Newspaper obituary notices.
   • If you find any other documents that are acceptable to the FCC, please let me know.
   
   

4. Submit your application and then cancel the callsign with the FCC. There was some controversy in the past over when to send the notice of cancellation to the FCC vis á vis when to file your application, but now there seems universal agreement (and I STRONGLY recommend) to use the following sequence (also described on the Vanity Application Process page):

   1. Make sure that TWO YEARS AND ONE DAY have elapsed since the date of death, and then file your application.

   2. WAIT until one Federal business day has passed since you filed your application. To send a notice of cancellation to the FCC before then is courting disaster, since there are those who search daily for canceled callsigns, and then file that same day. To protect your application, you must wait at least one Federal business day BEFORE you send the notice of cancellation to the FCC.

   3. Verify that no one else has on file a current, pending application for your desired callsign with the same or earlier receipt date. It does you no good to cancel a callsign that you want, if someone else has previously filed for it. If someone else has already submitted a cancellation request to the FCC, you are out of luck anyway, but often applicants will file for a callsign without even checking if it is available. I have seen cases where person A files for an unavailable callsign, then person B several days later does the above research, files an application for the same callsign, and then submits a cancellation request to the FCC, with the result that the callsign is granted to person A!

      If you find that someone else has previously filed for a callsign you want, your only hope is to wait until their application is processed before submitting your cancellation request to the FCC. You may want to file a second vanity application for the same callsign on the day before the other person's application is scheduled to be processed, in order to cover any delays in the FCC processing your cancellation request (see the last item below).

   4. Once you have verified that there are no other pending applications for your desired callsign with the same or earlier receipt date, NOW is the time to send a notice of cancellation to the FCC. There are several ways to notify the FCC:

      • By filing an Help Request; here is the suggested content:

        Subject	Deceased amateur license cancellation request
        Problem Description	Please cancel the Amateur Radio license of (callsign), (full name), who died on (date of death). A copy of the (whatever your proof of death is)  is attached, showing the date of death.
        FCC System	Universal Licensing System (ULS)
        Radio Service	HA - Amateur

        On the FCC form, click on the to see the list of Acceptable Digital Formats, and then after Would you like to attach supporting file(s)?, click on the Add Attachment(s)  link to attach your supporting documentation in one of those formats. To send an attachment that is an image of a web page:

        1. Get the desired web page displayed on the screen.
        2. Do a Shift-PrtSc (which captures the entire screen into the clipboard).
        3. Open one of the following imaging programs:
           • Microsoft Paint (free w/ every version of Windows).
           • Microsoft Imaging (free w/ Windows 2000).
           • Adobe PhotoShop (or any of its cousins).
           • Jasc PaintShop Pro.
        4. Use Ctrl-V to paste the image from the clipboard into the imaging program.
        5. Crop the image if desired.
        6. Save the image in one of the approved formats listed for Acceptable Digital Formats. I would suggest JPEG or GIF if the image program you use supports it, as these formats provide good compression and can reduce the time to upload the image to the FCC.

      • By US Postal Service mail, or by FAX to 717-338-2850; here is the suggested content:

        (your name & address)

        November 19, 2008 Federal Communications Commission Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Gettyburg, Pennsylvania 17325-7245 Subject: Deceased amateur license cancellation request To whom it may concern: Please cancel the Amateur Radio license of (callsign), (full name), who died on (date of death). A copy of the (whatever your proof of death is)  is attached, showing the date of death.

        Sincerely, (your signature)

      
      

   5. DO NOT call the FCC to find out about when they will cancel the callsign! The FCC help desk personnel (and the FCC web pages) have been saying for years that you have to cancel first, and then file your application. That has never been true (their software makes no such checks), and there is no FCC rule regarding it. The FCC tells applicants that because they are tired of applicants filing first, and then contacting them about when a callsign will be canceled. The relatively prompt cancellation processing they do is a favor they do the amateur radio community; please don't abuse it by calling them.

   6. Generally, the FCC cancels a callsign within one to two weeks after your request, although it is not uncommon to happen on the same day! If two weeks have elapsed without the cancellation appearing in the FCC's database, amend your application in some way (e.g., add another vanity callsign to your list) in order to reset the receipt date.

Copyright © 2004-2008[-07-13 @ 00:04 UTC] by Dean K. Gibson (38.103.63.57/4.167 on 2008-11-19 @ 23:15:51 UTC). Privacy policy.