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From: bill@thd.tv.tek.com (William K. McFadden)
Subject: FCC License Data Sources
Message-ID: <1994Mar1.200054.18641@tvnews.tv.tek.com>
Followup-To: rec.radio.scanner
Sender: news@tvnews.tv.tek.com (news user)
Organization: Tektronix TV Measurement Systems, Beaverton, OR
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 1994 20:00:54 GMT
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[last changed 01-Mar-94]

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.  You do
  this at your own risk, however.

| 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.

  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.  CD-ROM sets are
| available at a discount.  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.)  Discounts available for 6 or more states.  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   *     16     16      16       *    11
| Upper Frequency Limit         16             16             16            11
| Callsign                      10   8   *     10     10      10       *    10
| Service Code                   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   *                   100       *
| Applicant Phone               10                            10
| Transmitter Latitude           6   6   *      6      6       6             6
| Transmitter Longitude          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   *     20     20      20       *    20
| Transmitter County            30  10   *     30     30      30            30
| Transmitter State              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

-- 
Bill McFadden    Tektronix, Inc.  P.O. Box 500  MS 58-639  Beaverton, OR  97077
bill@tv.tv.tek.com, ...!tektronix!tv.tv.tek.com!bill      Phone: (503) 627-6920
How can I prove I am not crazy to people who are?
