looking for "licensed first" info USA

[VK2ICJ]

Greetings all,

  I'm curious if there is a way to search for a US ham and see how long he or she has been a ham.   The ACA here in Oz has when first licensed.  Just Curious


73

Chris

VK2ICJ

[N0IU]

Good question Chris!

About the best you can do is go to a site like qrz.com and look for the license expiration date and subtract 10 years (The term of our license). Of course that still doesn't answer your question!

73,
Scott N0IU

[KA5ZCB]

 http://www.vanityhq.com/

 in the Upper-Left of their main-web-page
  is a  FORM-box, enter the  CallSign
  it has a  'best known'  history...
  but the ones I've inquired about seem
  to fade out to say...  Pre-1980 (or so)
  thus, that may be when their early Digital-data
  started...

 be sure to spell my name correctly,
 if you're going to send a 'check'.

[K3GM]

You can also access Operation CQ from the above mentioned site.  But the information provided is complied from visitors who have provided the information regarding their call sign's history.

[WA9FZB]

I'd also guess the online data only goes back as far as the available digital history.  My own history online starts in 1981, but I have been licensed for many years before that (same call, too).

[WT0A]

AE7Q website

[N6AJR]

look in old call books.  Fcc does not keep the old stuff , at least not in a form  we can use.

[KZ1X]

Depending on the call sign, you can often take a good guess based on sequence, provided it's not a vanity call.

For example, if you are "in the know" you'd see my current call sign was issued in sequence sometime in 1984 or 1985.  But, then you look up my call and see it used to be a 2x3 before I got my Extra ... and that old Group D Novice call was issued, again in sequence, sometime in early 1979.

Now, none of this is written down anywhere, you'd have to either know this sort of thing by having been there, or be buddies with somebody who does/was.

[VK2ICJ]

Thanks for all the help.  I did some playing around with  current calls but found that if someone upgraded thier license and changed the call it didn't go further back.  Using myself for example.  I'm now VK2ICJ in Australia however I also hold the call N9VKC in the US before that I was KB9IKQ.  I can find no mention of KB9IKQ prior 1993 when I was issued N9VKC.   The reason I ask is I have an old friend who is now SK and I was curious how long they were hams.  I guess if it was 30 or more years it will be difficult if not impossible to find out when they first got thier ticket?

73

Chris