[QCWA] finding operator locations by ZIP code + easy access to FCC's callsign database

[Richard Rucker]

Begin forwarded message:
>
> Want to locate all the hams in a particular ZipCode - and see their  
> location on a map?
> Try this:
>
> http://www.arrl.org/fcc/hamszip.html
>
> I got mesmerized by the map, and took a while to discover what  
> could be done from the list of callsigns on the right side of the  
> page.
>
> Have fun!
>
> Denny/W3DRY


It works.   The Yahoo! map that came back for my ZIP = 22030 showed  
far more amateur locations within a stone's throw of my house than I  
expected.

Note that if you move your cursor over any one callsign in the list  
on the right, then that ham's address is shown in a pop-up box and  
the corresponding location icon on the map is color-inverted for easy  
spotting.

If you click on any one callsign in the list, then a new browser  
window opens with the results of an "FCC License Data Search" for  
that callsign.  For example, when I clicked on my own callsign, the  
request URL contained this info:

     <http://www.arrl.org/fcc/fcclook.php3?call=KM4ML>

and the window displaying the server's response contained my address  
info + my licensing information as currently stored in the FCC's  
database.

I noted that Brad Flippen, K6HPR, is still listed. Brad has been a  
Silent Key since 1998. Apparently, his family didn't know to submit  
the proper notice-of-change form at the time. His license for K6HPR  
is set to expire in October this year, so that's likely when his  
record will be removed and his call returned to the pool of available  
call signs.

The server response page includes this statement:   "Changes must be  
submitted to the FCC using the proper form."
The words "submitted to the FCC" are in blue and underlined,  
indicating that they constitute a clickable link to these change  
forms on-line.  Now that's handy!  That's a keeper as well.

I have bookmarked both of these links and put them in a folder on my  
desktop named "call sign lookups."  Inside are two subfolders named  
"lookup by call sign" and "lookup by ZIP code."  Each says enough to  
remind me that to do a

     Lookup by call sign, I must replace the last argument in the URL  
(which now shows "KM4ML")  with the call sign of interest.

     Lookup by ZIP code, I must enter the ZIP code in the first page  
presented to me by the ARRL server.

Dick, KM4ML