I don’t know about you, but I’m favorably impressed with the Federal Communications Commission customer service. For one thing, they process new license applications with an alacrity we could only dream of back in the good, old days. Folks that pass the Tech test generally have to wait less than a week before their callsigns appear on the FCC’s online database.
Another thing I’m impressed with is the Univeral Licensing System (ULS). This online database is easy to search, and if you want or need to download the information, it’s very easy to do so. You can search by zip code, and then have the database generate a delimited text file that you can then import into a spreadsheet or database program of your own.
I recently did this, generating a mailing list of all licensed amateurs living in zip codes starting with “481.” (There is, by the way, 4222 licensed amateurs living in those zip codes, which make up most of Southeastern Michigan.)
When I first tried this, I didn’t think that I got all the data that I’d requested, so I e-mailed tech support. Within 24 hours, I got back an e-mail explaining where I went wrong. On top of that, I just got a phone call from someone representing the FCC asking about my experience using tech support.
The moral of the story is that while we can perhaps question their recent rule-making, we certainly can’t complain about how they are administering the licensing system.
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