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Application Land Mines
Not everything is as it seems. Please read the following... There is a two year waiting period after a call sign/license becomes inactive before it can be re-issued under the program. Visit the FCC's FAQ or the ARRL's page for more information. Also, The FCC will not grant certain call signs for amateur use. For instance, calls which end in "QRZ" or "QTH". Please make sure your choices conform to the FCC's call sign guidelines. Although FCC Part 97 states an expired call becomes available 2 years after it expires, in fact, the "real" FCC waiting period is a very generous 2 years. For example, a call sign, W1LID, expired on 1/1/97. If you add 2 years to that expiration date, 01/01/99 is the end of the frozen call sign period. However, your application for W1LID must NOT be dated before 01/02/99 or it will be dismissed by the FCC. Applications filed online will be dated that day. Exception: Applications filed online during the weekend, or on a holiday, will receive the following business day's date. Your application "received" date must not violate the 2-year wait.The FCC gives the benefit of the doubt to the former licensee and gives them until the last dying millisecond to get their old call sign back. This is why you have to wait what seems to be 2 years + 1 day to "officially" apply for a call sign coming out of its waiting period. A recent FCC rule change gives online applications and mail-in applications equal preference for same day filings. Applications are NOT processed by the date/time stamp when the application was filed. They are taken in random order based upon the day you filed. does not guarantee that your application will be processed ahead of some one who filed at 03:00am the same day. Do not combine your application with a license renewal if you have more than 90 days left in your license term. Select when completing your application. If you select "renewal" and "modification", and your license expiration is more than 90 days away, your application will be and your your license will not be renewed. Some call signs are geographically restricted. Mainly, 2x1's, 2x2's, like AH7Q, and some 2x3's whose second prefix character is an "H", "L" or "P", such as WP4ABC. Your mailing address on record with the FCC must be in restricted area of the call sign you desire in order to be eligible for one of them. Hams who live in the 48 states are not eligible for geographically restricted call signs. For more information on the FCC regulations governing these restricted call signs, visit the FCC's web page, Amateur Station Sequential Call Sign System. If you are in the process of a license upgrade through a VEC session, or any another means, do not apply for a call sign which is exclusively for your new license class until your license upgrade shows in the FCC's database. Your license class AT THE TIME OF FILING YOUR APPLICATION is the one that counts. If your license upgrade and your application hit the FCC's desk on the same day, you have no guarantee that your license upgrade will be processed before your application. If you modify an application that is already in the FCC's system, you will reset the processing clock back to the beginning. This will delay the approval (or dismissal) of your application. Do not submit an application as "former holder" for your current call sign. This doesn't make sense, and the FCC will automatically dismiss your application if you do. Do not submit an application, and select "former holder" for a call sign you never had. Not only will the FCC check your former holder claim, but hams who monitor vanity activity will also check your former holder claim. If something is fishy about your claim, the FCC will be notified. When filing online, do not use a "Ø" (slashed zero, ASCII #216) in place of the zero digit in call signs. The ULS system will not translate that character as zero, and your application will be dismissed. Use the zero that's on the keyboard. Here are some important facts about applications for U.S. Mail Filing and Online Filing. All Types of Filing:
U.S. Mail Filing Information:
U.S. Mail Filing, overnight delivery Information:
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