Congratulations! Welcome to your new privileges in the amateur radio fraternity.

If you are a new "ham", you will have to wait until the FCC has issued you a new callsign, before you can transmit. Since the Laurel VEC reports test results electronically, you may only have to wait until tomorrow morning to get your callsign.

If you are upgrading your license class, you may use your new privileges immediately, but you must add a suffix to your callsign until your new license class is reflected in the FCC ULS database. If you upgraded to General and are using your new General privileges, you should identify as (your callsign) followed by "temporary AG" (or on CW, your callsign followed by "/AG"). If you upgraded to Extra and are using your new Extra privileges, you should identify as (your callsign) followed by "temporary AE" (or on CW, your callsign followed by "/AE"). This only applies if you are using your new privileges after you passed your exam and until your upgrade is reflected in the FCC ULS database.

To check the FCC ULS database for your new callsign or upgrade, you may go to the FCC's License Search * page, pull down the "By Call Sign" menu and change it to "By FRN", enter your FRN, and click the "Search" button. If the FCC has granted your application and entered your license in their database, your new call sign will be shown. Click on your callsign to get all of the information on your new license. On the Amateur License page, at the top under your callsign and name, there will be a link that says, "Reference Copy". You may click on that link to download a reference copy of your new license as a printable .pdf file.

There are times when the Reference Copy of your license is appropriate and all that you need to show, but anyone can use the procedure above for downloading a reference copy of your (or anyone's) license. Only you, however, may download an Official Copy of your license. In order to do this, you should go to the FCC's Universal Licensing System * page and click on "File Online" (toward the top middle of the page). This should take you to the License Manager Login page, where you should log in with your FRN and password. (If you registered for the old, legacy ULS system, use your old password, otherwise, use the password you chose for the CORES system (where your username is your email address)). Once you are logged into the License Manager, you should see toward the top of the page:

Change your paper authorization preferences here, or download your official electronic authorizations now.

Click on the "now" after "download your official electronic authorizations" to get to the "Download Authorizations" page. Under "Search Options", enter your callsign and click SEARCH. Your callsign should appear under "My Authorizations" in the "Filter by Radio Service" box. Highlight your callsign and click ADD, and it should appear under "Authorizations to Download". Then simply click on the DOWNLOAD button in the lower right corner of the page. A "pop-up" should appear, allowing you to save the .pdf file. (If you have blocked "pop-up" windows, you may have to re-enable them just for this site, or altogether, then re-disable them after you have your .pdf file.) Once you have downloaded the .pdf file, you may log out of the FCC License Manager.

* Note: these links open in a new tab or window