FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554
April 21, 2009
DA 09-890
Mr. William A. Bentley
13082 CR 2320
Tyler, Texas  75707
Re:  March 3, 2008 letter
Dear Mr. Bentley:
This is in response to your March 3, 2008 letter concerning the information on the Commission’s 
web site regarding amateur service licensees.  Specifically, you suggest that the Commission not include 
contact information (address or phone number) for amateur service licensees who are minors, and limit the
information about minors to their name, call sign, and state.  
In your letter, you express the concern that individuals listening to communications on amateur 
radio frequencies can determine your name, address, station location, and phone number based on hearing 
your amateur station call sign and searching the FCC web site.  In fact, however, the contact information 
available to the public consists of only your name and mailing address.  While the Commission collects 
other information (such as phone number and email address) in order to facilitate official communication 
with licensees, these fields are optional for amateur applicants and licensees, and any information that is 
provided in these fields is not made available to the public.  We also note that our licensing database no 
longer contains station location information.  Therefore, an individual who hears a call sign cannot use 
our web site to determine the station location.  
Section 97.23 of the Commission’s Rules requires that each amateur service license grant must 
show a mailing address in an area where the amateur service is regulated by the FCC, and where the 
licensee can receive mail delivery by the United States Postal Service.  One purpose of this requirement is 
to enable amateur licensees to contact each other to resolve interference disputes and for other legitimate 
purposes.  With regard to your concern that an individual who hears your call sign could learn where you 
live, we note that the rules do not require a licensee to use his or her residential address as the mailing 
address.  Licensees who are concerned about their residential address appearing in the amateur service 
database may use, among other alternatives, a post office box, a business address, the address of another 
property the licensee owns, or the address of a friend or relative as the mailing address.  
Consequently, we conclude that your concerns can be addressed without removing amateur 
licensees’ mailing addresses from the publicly available licensing information.  I hope that this letter 
responds to your inquiry.   
Sincerely, 
Scot Stone
Deputy Chief, Mobility Division
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau