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Getting a ticket: Searchable in a database?
- Thread starter Reptile
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2009
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you can list a po box
cockpitbob
NES Member
Realtor is correct. The FCC only requires a mailing address so they can get hold of you by mail. They don't require your physical address. Still, when people hear your call sign they'll be able to go to qrz.com or the FCC's site and get your name, PO box and town.
...and honestly....if a person wants to find out where you live, there are TONS more other places to find you. Own a house? Public Record. Buy anything with a CC, your name has been sold millions of times.
I put my QTH in as my physical. For one reason, I can't be bothered to check a PO box at all...not even weekly. As an unintended benefit, the QRZ iPhone app has a cool feature where if you put in another callsign, it will use your QTH as the starting point and then give you a range and bearing to the callsign you just entered. Good for figuring out if you can possibly simplex the person. On HF, it would be cool to know how far you are from the other station.
I put my QTH in as my physical. For one reason, I can't be bothered to check a PO box at all...not even weekly. As an unintended benefit, the QRZ iPhone app has a cool feature where if you put in another callsign, it will use your QTH as the starting point and then give you a range and bearing to the callsign you just entered. Good for figuring out if you can possibly simplex the person. On HF, it would be cool to know how far you are from the other station.
This.
My wife and I were recently mailing out things to some of my mother-in-law's friends. We didn't have addresses for everybody. It's amazing how easy it is to find addresses by doing some Googling. Before you worry about your ham license making you visible online, you should google your name and town - your address is likely already on Google.
one-eyed Jack
Manufacturer
This. Jack W1FKG.
cockpitbob
NES Member
I use my home address too. The one thing I won't do is get one of those vanity plates for my car with my call sign. In my mind it would make it just a little too easy for some road-rage psycho to find me.
Ham radio call signs are Google searchable. Enter any call sign into the search bar of a Google browser and if they used their physical address to get the license that's what you'll see. So unless you want to pay for and use a post office box people will be able to find your physical address with your call sign. Like others I couldn't be bothered going through the expense and the time of having a post office box. And I also agree that people could find me in other manners I however don't ask for trouble. I don't have ham radio call plates and I don't give non hams my call sign.
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one-eyed Jack
Manufacturer
I've been running a ham plate for almost 50 years. Have shot only a few road rage nuts, so it's working for me. Jack.
I do not have much of a google footprint.
Basically I don't want somebody to google my name and town and have my home address pop up early in google search results.
I am going to get a small PO Box.
This has been the only thing really keeping me from getting my "ticket".
Thank You all for answering!
Basically I don't want somebody to google my name and town and have my home address pop up early in google search results.
I am going to get a small PO Box.
This has been the only thing really keeping me from getting my "ticket".
Thank You all for answering!
CatSnoutSoup
NES Member
Years ago sitting around at lunch on a job a young fella looking at my truck ask, "What does the lightning bolt on your license plate stand for?"
I told him the state of Massachusetts required me to have the plate with the lightning bolt as a warning signifying that my car alarm was equipped with a Taser.
Kid was not the brightest bulb and after that it was comical to see how careful he was getting in and out of his car if parked next to my truck.
![[grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif "Grin [grin]")
Ok, I want to do an experiment.
Give me a name of a HAM licensee.
Give me his home town.
I want to look it up on google to see how high the listing is.
$70 a year is a lot for a PO Box just for a HAM license.
John J Caron, Leominster
This is a random name I chose from a zip code license search.
I did the search myself, the first hit is a city-data ham list containing names and addresses of hams in Leominster. Second hit is a resume for the guy that also has his address. Have you already tried your name and town?
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Heh...I just googled my callsign and the first link was for QRZ.com's callsign lookup tool.
I don't know why he's getting all in a tither about this. If you don't want your name out there...stay off the interwebs and don't use ANY service connected to a computer/internet.![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
Good luck with that.
I don't know why he's getting all in a tither about this. If you don't want your name out there...stay off the interwebs and don't use ANY service connected to a computer/internet.
Good luck with that.
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Last edited by a moderator:
All my posts in this thread mention address. Ie Town.
From my research, it appears that whenever a HAM (name) is googled, their callsign and address pops up right away in google.
This is what I was hoping to avoid.
The work around is to get a USPS Post Office box at a cost of $70 per year.
Isn't that what Realtor already said?
Dude, get your ticket...the hobby is a freakin' blast. You learn so much and you have the opportunity to give back to the community in a lot of ways.
You won't regret it.
Earlier you said "name" now its "name and address" if you ALREADY have that info, then what difference does it make if the guy is a ham or not?
-Mike
Mike,
I need to correct myself...
I meant if I google my name and town at the same time.
Sorry for being confusing for saying "address".
In the coming months I hope to delve into being a HAM.
Before I apply I'll get the PO Box.
Even at $70 a year and if I only use it for that purpose - it would be worth it.
In the event of a disaster I want to be in "the know".
You can only get so much info from scanners and it would be cool to help out the community if called upon.
cockpitbob
NES Member
This^^
Ham radio isn't a hobby, it is 99 hobbies. Community service. Prepper related. You build it. Just being social chatting with people on other continents or just on the local repeater with a hand held. Contesting. Simple geek stuff like talking to someone 1,000 miles away by bouncing off a ham satellite in orbit with a$30 handheld radio with a $30 antenna. Super geek stuff like bouncing off the moon with a high power station and big antenna. Morse code. Digital modes. Sending emails thousands of miles over the airwaves with no internet on your end. Something for everyone.
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