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1994-05-04
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From: bill@thd.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden)
Newsgroups: rec.radio.scanner,rec.radio.info
FCC License Data Sources
Date: Sun May 01 03:00:16 EDT 1994
Changes preceeded by "|". Please e-mail corrections and additions to me.
INTRODUCTION
This is a list of FCC license data sources available to scanner listeners.
The FCC master contains a wealth of data about every non-government license
in the United States. Most of the sources below contain a subset of this
data, although a few contain all of it. Government licenses are not
administered by the FCC, and the data is not available to the public.
If you are interested in purchasing the data, you might want to consider
forming a co-op of people in your area to share the cost. As far as I
know, this is legal since the information is in the public domain.
However, most software supplied to view or manipulate the data is
copyrighted and must be purchased separately by each user.
Prices are rounded to the nearest dollar and include shipping, if known.
C.E.T.
CET sells records of all stations inside a 30-mile radius for $80. (Major
cities cost extra.) A 70-mile search costs $178. The data is provided on
floppy disks and is available in ASCII columnar and comma-delimited
formats.
CET does not provide data for licenses that do not contain specific
geographic coordinates (i.e., mobile-only systems) or specific operating
frequencies (e.g., amateur radio).
To do the search, CET requires the latitude and longitude of the center of
the 30-mile radius. I calculated mine from a USGS topographic map I
obtained at a local nautical supply store. Alternatively, you can obtain
the coordinates for your town from the University of Michigan's geographic
name server. Run "telnet 141.212.99.9 3000" and enter your zip code. For
my area, the server returned the coordinates of the main post office.
CET can be reached at 800-445-0297.
GROVE
Grove sells FCC data on disk by state. The first state is $40, and each
additional state is $30 (add $10 for CA, FL, TX). The disk comes with a
database search program. Grove Enterprises can be reached at
800-438-8155.
MICROFICHE
Lee Reynolds (lee@tosspot.sv.com) has made available copies of the entire
FCC master on microfiche for $75 a copy. There are three sets in all - by
callsign, geographic area, and frequency - for a total of about 200 fiche.
| His current set is from early 1993. E-mail Lee for more information. [As
| of 8-Apr-94 the above e-mail address was not valid. If you know how to
| contact Lee, please let me know.]
The Bearcat Radio Club sells the FCC master by state for $15. Bearcat
Radio Club can be reached at P.O. Box 291918, Kettering OH, 45429.
PERCON
PerCon sells a variety of FCC data on CD-ROM and floppy. CD-ROMs are
available by state, region, or category, and floppies are available by
state. Also available is a CD-ROM of the entire US (2.5 million records).
Data is updated approximately every six months.
State floppies are $35 per state. CD-ROMs are $100 each. Quantity
discounts available. PerCon can be reached at 716-386-6015.
POLICE CALL
This is probably the most cost-effective source of public service license
information. The detail is limited, but the information that is there is
often more useful than the FCC master. For example, an entry in Police
Call that reads, "Portland Police, Net 3, North Precinct," reads,
"Portland, City of" in the master.
Police call is available in 9 volumes covering different regions of the
US. It can be purchased at Radio Shack stores for $10 per volume.
SCANWARE ASSOCIATES
ScanWare Associates sells a PC-based database program called the FCC
Frequency Retrieval System V2.0. It comes with FCC data for one state,
covering all services from 10 kHz through 2036 MHz. Data is updated
approximately every six months (last update was Dec. 1, 1993).
Cost is $35 for the first state and $20 for each additional state. (Add $5
for CA, FL, TX, NY.) Quantity discounts available. Fully working
shareware copy downloadable from their BBS at 206-871-4228 (FCC200.ZIP).
ScanWare Associates can be reached at 206-698-1383 (voice) or 206-698-8207
(fax).
APPENDIX
Here is table of data fields in the FCC master. Fields provided by various
products are indicated by "*" or the field length, if known.
PERCON PERCON PERCON POLICE SCAN
DESCRIPTION SIZE CET GROVE FLOPPY US CD OTHER CD CALL WARE
| Frequency (or Lower Limit) 16 11 12 16 16 16 * 11
Upper Frequency Limit 16 16 16 11
| Callsign 10 8 10 10 10 10 * 10
| Service Code 2 2 2 2 2 2 * 2
Licensee DBA Name 40 40 40 40 40
Licensee State 2 2 2 2
Licensee Zip 9 5 9 9
Licensee Address 35 30 35
Licensee City 20 15 20 20
| Licensee Name 200 32 30 100 *
Applicant Phone 10 10
| Transmitter Latitude 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
| Transmitter Longitude 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
Transmitter Elevation 5 5 5 5 5 5
Transmitter Height 5 5 5 5 5
Transmitter HAAT 5 5 5 5
Transmitter Effective Height 5 5 5
TX Antenna Structure Height 5 5 5
Transmitter Address 80 80 80 80
| Transmitter City 20 10 12 20 20 20 * 20
| Transmitter County 30 10 20 30 30 30 30
| Transmitter State 2 2 2 2 2 2 * 2
Class of Station 4 4 4 4 4 * 4
Type of Message Service 1 1
Area of Operation 1 1
Radius of Operation 4 4 4
Antenna Type 10 10 10
Antenna Elevation Angle 6 6
Antenna Azimuth 6 6
Antenna Polarization 3 3 3
Antenna Gain 4 4
Antenna Path Length 6 6
Antenna Beam Width 8 8
ERP Out 8 4 8 8 8
ERP Units 2 1 2
ERP Indicator 1 1
Power Out 8 4 8 8 8
Power Out Units 2 1 2
Power Out Indicator 1 1
Emissions 15 15 15 15
License Issue Date 6 6
License Expiration Date 6 4 6
Operation Begin Time 4 4
Operation End Time 4 4
Number of Vehicle Mobiles 4 4 4 4 * 4
Number of Portable Mobiles 4 4 4 4 * 4
Number of Aircraft Mobiles 4 4 4 4 * 4
Number of Marine Mobiles 4 4 4 4 * 4
Number of Pager Mobiles 5 4 5 5 5
ERP = Effective Radiated Power, HAAT = Height Above Average Terrain