How Vanity Callsigns Work
Any US ham with an individual or club license can ask the FCC for a callsign of their choosing. You apply online through the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) using your FRN, and you list up to 25 callsigns in order of preference. The FCC gives you the first one on your list that it can assign when it processes the application. If none of them can be assigned, you keep the call you have.
Your license class sets which calls you can ask for. Amateur Extra can request any group, from the short 1×2 and 2×1 calls down. Advanced can request 2×2 calls starting with K, N or W. General and Technician can request 1×3 calls. Anyone can request a 2×3. Callsigns with Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean or Pacific prefixes (such as KL7, KH6 or KP4) go only to people whose mailing address is there. This page marks those “local only.”
The 2-year wait. When a license expires, its call is not available to anyone else for 2 years, and during those 2 years the former holder can still renew. When a license is canceled or surrendered, the wait is 2 years from that date. When a ham passes away, it is 2 years from their death or from their license’s expiration, whichever comes first. A close relative of a ham who has died, or their club, can ask for the call without waiting. We show the day after the 2-year mark as the first safe day to apply.
One application a day. If the FCC receives more than one vanity application from you on the same day, it processes only the first one. Put all your choices on one application instead.
Popular calls can draw several applications the day they come free, so keep a backup list and don’t give up after one try.
- FCC Universal Licensing System (apply here) ↗
- FCC: Vanity call signs ↗
- The rule itself: 47 CFR § 97.19 ↗
OneShack is independent and not affiliated with the FCC. This finder is a planning aid; the FCC’s records decide what can be assigned.