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

[Walcott, Paul]

Some browers seem to be smart enough to strip the chevrons themselves,
others do not.  I know I just clicked on the link you gave, chevrons and
all and it worked just fine.  I'm not really sure about the details of
what I'm using though because I'm on the system at my work QTH and I
don't keep up with what the IS folks do here.

One other comment - that hamzip website is really neat.  I have to be
careful or I'll spend too much time when I'm supposed to be working
looking at it.

73's,
Paul
WD8H



-----Original Message-----
From: qcwa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:qcwa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Richard Rucker
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 11:29 AM
To: Ch91 at mailman.qth.net; members at mailman.qth.net; Ch91 at mailman.qth.net;
friends at mailman.qth.net
Cc: QCWA Reflector
Subject: [QCWA] Update to: finding operator locations by ZIP code + easy
access to FCC's callsign database

I should point out that when you see "chevrons" bracketing a URL,  
like this:

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

You need to avoid copying the chevrons when you paste that URL into  
your Internet browser's "go to" data field; otherwise, the URL won't  
work. Legitimate URLs don't begin and end with chevrons.

The reason I bracket URLs with chevrons in email messages is to  
ensure that the various email clients at the receiving end don't  
insert a Carriage Return or a Line Feed within the URL in order to  
limit displayed or printed line lengths.  Most email clients are  
written to follow the rule:  Don't insert  a Carriage Return or Line  
Feed character inside a chevron pair.

In this case, the URL was short enough,  and it began near the  
beginning of a new line started by a hard Carriage Return inserted by  
me, so  this problem would not likely have occurred.  In general,  
however, the email client at the receiving end is in charge of  
formatting incoming text messages.  Too often a URL without  
protective chevrons is broken into two pieces because your email  
client decides to line-wrap the URL by inserting a line break  
character somewhere within it. That leaves the front part on one  
line, and the last part of the URL on the next, with an unwanted  
character in between.

If you now try to copy both pieces of the URL together and then paste  
it into your browser's "go to" data field, you will have included the  
Carriage Return character, or Line Feed character, or both (on Windoz  
machines), and the URL will no longer function.  Legitimate URLs  
don't contain line-control characters.

So, the rule is:  For a URL, use what's inside the "chevrons".

73, Dick Rucker, KM4ML



From: Richard Rucker <rrucker at verizon.net>
Date: July 17, 2006 8:41:16 AM EDT
Subject:  finding operator locations by ZIP code + easy access to  
FCC's callsign database
>
> 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 Rucker,
KM4ML
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