BE Informed No. 58

HOW TO DOWNLOAD QUERIES FROM THE FCC DATABASE

Directions on performing a query download from search results in the FCC Universal Licensing System or Antenna Structure Registration system, and then importing the raw data into Excel or Access spreadsheets.

   Go to http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls and select the License or Application Search function. 

   Enter your search criteria; on your search results screen, there will be a Query Download hyperlink near the top of your screen. The raw data will be emailed to you in the form of .DAT files (Note:  .DAT files must be saved as .txt files prior to using an import wizard; do this by saving the .DAT files with WordPad.)  Each row of data begins with a 2-letter code; these codes represent the tables that contain specific sets of data. For further information on what data you will find in the tables as well as the table headers, see

http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/data/documentation/pa_ddef35.pdf.

   It's usually easier to separate the text file into the various tables and save each of the tables into a separate .txt file; you can then pick which tables you would like to import. After you have completed importing the files, you will need to copy and paste the column headers from http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/data/documentation/pa_ddef35.pdf into your spreadsheet.   Once you have the .txt files you wish to import saved, follow the steps below to import this data into Excel:  The *.txt file must be saved to the computer/network drive first before importing. 

1. Open MS Excel.

2. Click on File Menu, Select Open (Can also click on the Data Menu, select Import External Data, and select Import Data)

3. On Files of Type, change File Type "All Files".

4. Browse and open the .txt file you wish to import.

5. Text Import Wizard will come up, Choose Delimited and click Next.

6. For Delimiters, check "Other" and enter the pipe symbol. ( | ) Shift + back slash is the pipe symbol.  Uncheck "Tab".

7. Click on Next and then on the next screen click on Finish.  This will import .txt  into Excel.  Please reference http://wireless.fcc.gov/uls/index.htm?job=transaction&page=weekly.   This web-page lists the Database Documentation for the database and the Database Field Definitions for column headers.

   Should you have any further questions or need additional information, please submit a request for help at http://esupport.fcc.gov/index.htm, or call the ULS Customer Support Hotline at 1-877-480-3201, selecting option 2 after the main menu recording.

October 28, 2010