I can't access History Cards and some other FCC technical information, like Proofs for licensed FM DA antennas, on FCCdata.org. Not sure if the problem is the fcc data site or the fcc.gov site.
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Can't Access History Cards And Some Other Information From FCCdata.org
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
I was able to successfully pull up the history cards for WOWO without any hassle. So perhaps it was a brief maintenance problem in D.C.
It's been a problem for several weeks. The FCC website seems to be rejecting API calls from REC's fccdata.org. I have been able to retrieve history cards by going directly to the fcc.gov/media site's Databases and Searches, though it is painfully slow. I haven't been able to access other accompanying technical information yet. The FCC's systems generally seem to be a train wreck at the current time.
CDBS is a little, uh, creaky. I bet someday they pull the system down as all the History Cards and other imported letters are mirrored in LMS now. There are some issues with dates for call signs in LMS, though.
We have been having many problems with our connections with FCC systems, which shows that the FCC is having issues. During the time that ULS was having issues with reliability, so was CDBS. However, since far fewer people interact with CDBS (since the public portion of CDBS is now "view only" and is not being used for any interactive application filing), we did not see the big move to completely shut down public access to even view the system like we did with ULS.
During the time when ULS was down, there was also news about a Russian group claiming to have hacked US government systems. This created a ton of conspiracy theories, especially among the amateur radio community.
Over the past year or two, REC has been archiving all of the history card PDFs on CDBS. We have a copy of them. We just do not have the resources to easily host them (those card files take up a lot of space). We could possibly convert to LMS for retrieving the cards. Since LMS uses a completely different file naming structure than CDBS (which identified each document by a simple integer), we would have to do a huge mass-run through a new interface that would scrape the facility information screens in LMS (similar to how we do it with our eLMS interface that provides the real time FM information as well as the Actions and Applications information on FCC.today) to get the new file names and be able to link to those. This type of scraping can be resource intensive and we normally limit our "mass runs" to weekends, especially holiday weekends. Due to resource requirements, projects and commitments related to the LPFM filing window and the release of the public notice regarding our petition for rulemaking in RM-11952 (Translator Reform), it may be some time before we try to do such a run.
On the issue of FCCdata not properly handling import letters (which include the history cards) correctly, this is the first I was made aware of this issue. I encourage people who experience frequent issues with FCCdata or any site in the REC universe (recnet.com, fccdata.org, fcc.today, lpfm.app, lpfm.us, mylpfm.com, etc.) to please report it. This morning (at 5:30 mind you
), I sent a fix (actually one character of code) that may address this issue. Hopefully this is what it takes. I think the reason why some are having issues and others are not is because some browsers will convert http:// to https:// if a security certificate is present while some browsers may not do the redirect either due to design, a setting or other software outside of the browser preventing it.
FCCdata has links in two different places for the history cards. One was in the header at the top of the page (the grey area). The other is in the import letter history. These two links use different methods to link to the document. The link on the header went to a page at the FCC website that would translate a facility ID number into the import letter number and display the document from CDBS. It appears that the FCC has discontinued this redirect script. Until we can develop a remedial measure, REC has turned off those history card links inside the header. To see the history card, scroll to the bottom of the screen where the import letter history is. You will see the item in there marked as "History Card" and should have a 01/01/1980 date on it.
During the time when ULS was down, there was also news about a Russian group claiming to have hacked US government systems. This created a ton of conspiracy theories, especially among the amateur radio community.
Over the past year or two, REC has been archiving all of the history card PDFs on CDBS. We have a copy of them. We just do not have the resources to easily host them (those card files take up a lot of space). We could possibly convert to LMS for retrieving the cards. Since LMS uses a completely different file naming structure than CDBS (which identified each document by a simple integer), we would have to do a huge mass-run through a new interface that would scrape the facility information screens in LMS (similar to how we do it with our eLMS interface that provides the real time FM information as well as the Actions and Applications information on FCC.today) to get the new file names and be able to link to those. This type of scraping can be resource intensive and we normally limit our "mass runs" to weekends, especially holiday weekends. Due to resource requirements, projects and commitments related to the LPFM filing window and the release of the public notice regarding our petition for rulemaking in RM-11952 (Translator Reform), it may be some time before we try to do such a run.
On the issue of FCCdata not properly handling import letters (which include the history cards) correctly, this is the first I was made aware of this issue. I encourage people who experience frequent issues with FCCdata or any site in the REC universe (recnet.com, fccdata.org, fcc.today, lpfm.app, lpfm.us, mylpfm.com, etc.) to please report it. This morning (at 5:30 mind you
), I sent a fix (actually one character of code) that may address this issue. Hopefully this is what it takes. I think the reason why some are having issues and others are not is because some browsers will convert http:// to https:// if a security certificate is present while some browsers may not do the redirect either due to design, a setting or other software outside of the browser preventing it.FCCdata has links in two different places for the history cards. One was in the header at the top of the page (the grey area). The other is in the import letter history. These two links use different methods to link to the document. The link on the header went to a page at the FCC website that would translate a facility ID number into the import letter number and display the document from CDBS. It appears that the FCC has discontinued this redirect script. Until we can develop a remedial measure, REC has turned off those history card links inside the header. To see the history card, scroll to the bottom of the screen where the import letter history is. You will see the item in there marked as "History Card" and should have a 01/01/1980 date on it.
Just loaded a History Card with no problem, to check the historical timeline when a license to cover was filed, and when it was granted.
On the issue of FCCdata not properly handling import letters (which include the history cards) correctly, this is the first I was made aware of this issue. I encourage people who experience frequent issues with FCCdata or any site in the REC universe (recnet.com, fccdata.org, fcc.today, lpfm.app, lpfm.us, mylpfm.com, etc.) to please report it. This morning (at 5:30 mind you
Thank you! The links for imports are working much better now. The only problem I'm still having are with the minor "notices" (consummation, resumption of operation, etc.). This is a valuable resource and it's great to have it again.
The applications are now available in the new format. Exhibits I downloaded are in pdf form. Haven't tried to print any yet. You really need to print them out to best analyze them. Thanks for all your help.
Adding https does work!