Explanation: There are some call signs, in particular 1x2's, that are very rare to come by. There are only a limited number available and that number is far outweighed by amateur operators who are seeking them. When a call does come available and shows up on the available list, it's almost like a feeding frenzy. Everyone applies for it and you then wait for the roll of the dice, so to speak, to see if you have gotten lucky. There is no guarantee that you will be the one who actually receives it. And contrary to the uninformed opinion it's not on a first come first serve basis. The first ones to apply on any given day after the call becomes available are all in the running for the requested call.

Wouldn't it be nice if there were some way to hedge your bet? Well, obviously there is or I wouldn't be writting this. The trick is to find a call sign which is held by a silent key and the FCC has not yet become aware that the call sign holder is now a silent key. You simply notify the FCC that the call holder is a silent key and they will then cancel their ticket. If the silent key has been a silent key for more than two years then his/her call will then become immediately available. Since it is not generally known that this call sign is becoming available you can apply for the call before it shows up on anyone's radar. By the time they see that it has become available, you have already applied for it and are virtually assured of getting the call.

Finding a silent key: So how does one go about finding a silent key? The trick is to find a site that allows you to look up a particular call sign and that will give you not only the name and address of the individual whose call you enter but will also provide you with the individual's birth date. You will find exactly this at www.qrz.com. You won't get a birth date for every call but you will for many of them. Now, to narrow your search, you would only be concerned with those calls whose birth date indicates that the call sign holder is fairly old.

You are now armed with a name, address and birth date. With this information you are now ready for the next step, finding the individual listed in a Social Security Death Index. The best place I have found for obtaining this kind of information is by going to RootsWeb.com. You can then search for any records having the same name as the call sign holder. Once you get the list back, carefully compare the last known residence with the address you already have. If they match, then check the birth dates. If both the name, address and birth dates match then you have successfully found a silent key. This next part is very important. The silent key must have passed away at least two years ago. This is important because the FCC reserves the call for two years after the individual has passed away in order to allow for family members who may wish to begin using the call. If you cancel the silent key's call prior to the completion of the two-year wait you will have defeated the whole process of searching for a silent key as the call will be cancelled and that call will become known to the general ham community. You then no longer have the opportunity of applying for it before anyone else knows it is available.

Cancelling a Silent Key's License: Once you have a silent key who has been a silent key for over two years you need to inform the FCC of this information. The first step in doing so is to print the Social Security Death Index infromation for the individual in question. Before you print the information I would recommend that you perform the search again on RootsWeb.com's site but this time take the social security number that is listed from the prior search and include that in the search criteria. This way it will bring back only one record, the one for the individual in question. Then print the information. This information along with a cover letter will then be faxed to the FCC requesting that the individual's call sign be cancelled. The letter should look something like this:

Note: Instead of providing the Social Security Death Index information, and really the preferred information but much more difficult to obtain, you may provide proof of death in the form of a copy of the death certificate or a copy of an obituary with the date of death listed.

Help Request: If you can scan and attach the required information, you can point your web browser to the FCC's help request page at https://esupport.fcc.gov/onlinerequest.htm and submit the cancellation online. One of the advantages of this method is that you are given a tracking number that you can use to track the status of your request. Simply fill in the requested fields with the subject of "Deceased Amateur License Cancellation" and paste the information as listed above into the "Problem Description" field. You can then attach the required supporting documentation by clicking on the "Add Attachments" link. Then submit your request and you should receive your tracking number which will allow you to track your progress.

Fax: You can fax this information along with the call sign to:

Federal Communications Commission
Attention: Amateur Division
Fax number 717-338-2850.

Mail: And finally, you can mail this information to:

Federal Communications Commission
Attention: Amateur Division
1270 Fairfield Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325.

Monitoring Call Sign Cancellation: Once you have filed the cancellation you will want to pay close attention to the FCC's record of the call sign to see when it gets marked cancelled. It can take up to 17 days for this to happen but has been known to happen in just a few days. The best way I have found to monitor the cancellation process is to go out to the FCC's web site and do a search on the call in question. You can get there by going to the FCC Search Page. Enter the call sign of the license in question and then from the returned list of call signs click on the silent key you are interested in. This will take you to a page showing his/her specific information and the current status. Bookmark this page and at the end of each day or periodically through the day check it to see if it has been marked cancelled.

When To File For the Call: Because of the time span for cancelling a call there is some differences of opinion as to when the best time to actually file for the call is. If you wait until the call is actually cancelled to file there is the potential that someone else might see that the call was cancelled and also file for the call. You then lose the advantage that you gained by cancelling the call. The chances of this happening are slim but it is possible.

For this reason there are some who feel that it is best to wait a couple of days after submitting the cancellation and then go ahead and file at that time. Using this method you have already file prior to the cancellation happening and there is virtually no chance of anyone else beating you to the punch. The disadvantage of this method is that it takes at least 17 days for your application to be processed and it may take longer than this for the call sign to be processed and cancelled. So your application could be denied before the call sign actually gets cancelled. However, one way around this is if you are getting close to your application being ruled on and it has still not been cancelled then you can go out and modify your application slightly. This will reset the process date for your application and give you another 17 days. The danger in this is if for some reason someone else saw that you filed for the call sign and then gambled that there might be a problem with how early you filed they might then also file for the call sign a few days after your initial filing. If you then modify your application then your process date might be later than their process date and if the call gets cancelled after their process date and prior to your new process date then the call would be awarded to them.

Personally, I feel that either method should work just fine since the chances of either negative scenario happening are quite low. I will leave it to you to decide which method you feel has the best chance of succeeding.