Pick the ULS search that matches the object in your hand
An FCC license search looks up wireless authorizations in the Federal Communications Commission's Universal Licensing System (ULS). The FCC's ULS page, updated July 20, 2026, separates four public searches:
- License search, for licenses across services.
- Application search, for applications across services. A filed application is not a granted license.
- Archived license search, for licenses the current file no longer treats as live.
- Ownership disclosure search, for ownership filings linked from a license.
Start on the FCC's ULS page and follow its search links so you are not on a copy that sells public call signs. Antenna structure registration, fee payment, and the forms used to apply are listed nearby and are not the license search.
People usually arrive with one of three scraps: a call sign heard on the air or printed on a radio, a company name on an invoice, or an FRN from a filing. Each scrap belongs in a different box.
Call sign, FRN, and the name on the door
| What you have | What it identifies | What it does not identify |
|---|---|---|
| Call sign | A specific authorization | Every radio the company owns, or the person holding the microphone |
| FRN | The FCC's registration number for that licensee | An IRS EIN, a SAM Unique Entity ID, or a state corporate number |
| Licensee name | The name on that authorization | A trade name, a domain, or a state contractor license |
An FRN is worth using once a contract or a prior license prints it. Names collide, and licensees abbreviate. The FEIN guide and the SAM.gov entity search cover the other federal numbers. The WHOIS guide covers domain registration, which is a different agency and a different object. None of those records grants a radio authorization.
If the only name you have is a marketing name, find the legal licensee before you declare the call sign "not in the database." A business entity search can connect a brand to a legal name. It still does not show the license.
Status and authorization type
The advanced license search lets you restrict status and authorization type. Status values on that form include active, expired, canceled, terminated, and termination pending. Authorization types include a regular authorization and special temporary authority (STA), plus developmental and demonstration authorizations.
Those words are the result. An expired license is a historical fact about that call sign. It is not a finding that the company is unlawful in general, and an active license is not a finding that every radio on the job site is covered. Read the radio service code on the detail page. An industrial-business pool license, an amateur license, and a microwave authorization are different permissions even when the licensee name looks related.
Grant date, effective date, and expiration date are also different. A grant in the file with an expiration next year is not the same sentence as "they renewed last week" unless the effective or grant date says so.
Special temporary authority is a real authorization with a short life. Do not describe an STA as a ten-year license because a different call sign held by the same name has a long expiration.
Mailing city is not the tower
ULS marks the city, state, and ZIP filters with a note: they match the licensee's mailing address, not the transmit locations. If you are trying to confirm a tower, a rooftop, or a control point you can see, open the license and read the control-point and location fields. Filtering the search to your town will miss a licensee that receives mail in another state and operates locally. It will also include licenses mailed to your town for sites elsewhere.
That is the same discipline as any official name search. Geography on the form is only as good as the field definition.
A radio license is not a trade license
Contractors, electricians, locksmiths, and low-voltage installers sometimes mention "we're FCC licensed" while selling work in a home. ULS can confirm a radio authorization. It cannot confirm a state occupational license. Use professional license lookup for the board that actually issues that trade credential. Florida's DBPR guide is an example of one state's portal, not a national FCC substitute.
A license also does not prove identity at the door. Anyone can read a call sign off a public record. Match the licensee name to the company, then contact the company through a number you looked up yourself if money or access to the building is involved. The public record is not a caller-ID database.
Ownership filings are the right next click when the question is who controls the licensee, not when the question is whether a technician is allowed to pull wire in your state. The FCC page lists ownership disclosure as its own search. A parent company on that filing can differ from the licensee name on the call sign and from the brand on the van.
A routine that stays inside the record
- Open ULS from the FCC's own wireless licensing page.
- If you have a call sign, search that first, in license search.
- If you have an FRN, search the FRN before the name.
- If you only have a name, search it, then check expired and canceled status before you say nothing exists. Repeat in the archive search when the license may be old.
- Open the detail. Write down call sign, radio service, status, authorization type, grant date, expiration, licensee name, and FRN.
- If location matters, read the site or control-point fields, not only the mailing city that matched your filter.
- If the person is selling a state-regulated trade, leave ULS and verify that license with the state board.
Lookup Plainly does not grant, renew, or transfer FCC licenses. Fee payment and new applications happen in the FCC's own filing side of ULS. A third party that calls and demands immediate payment to "keep your FRN from being auctioned" is not this search. Verify any fee claim on the FCC site before you pay.
An illustrative call-sign check
This walkthrough uses placeholders, not a real licensee.
A building owner is handed a card that says "Licensed, call sign W7EXAMPLE, FRN 0000000000." License search on the call sign returns one row. The detail page shows radio service IG, status Active, authorization type Regular, a grant date, and an expiration date eight years later. The licensee name is Northline Warehousing LLC. The FRN matches the card. The mailing city is in another state. The control point on the detail page is the warehouse address in the owner's city.
What the owner can write down: call sign, service code, status, authorization type, both dates, licensee name, FRN, and the control-point address. What the owner cannot write down: that the technician in the lobby is an employee of Northline, or that Northline is licensed to install the building's fire alarm. The fire-alarm credential, if one is required, is a state license. The out-of-state mailing city is not a contradiction once the control point matches the building.
If license search has no row, the next search is the archive, then application search. An application with no grant is not a license. An expired row is a past authorization. Neither one becomes active because the card says it is.