FCC Licenses Scraper

FCC Licenses Scraper

Scrape FCC licenses from the Universal Licensing System by state, call sign, licensee name, or status, up to a million per run. Every record comes with its call sign, licensee, radio service, and location. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

The FCC's Universal Licensing System holds every wireless license in the United States, but its web search is slow and manual. This Actor reads the public license database directly, filtered by state, call sign, licensee name, or application status, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape FCC ULS for
Telecom sales teams	Build lead lists of license holders by state and radio service
Market researchers	Track which companies hold spectrum licenses in a region
Compliance officers	Audit license status and expiration dates for regulatory checks
Journalists	Investigate who owns wireless spectrum in a local area

What it does

This Actor collects FCC licenses from the Universal Licensing System by state, call sign, licensee name, or application status, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 📍 State filter: pick any US state or territory to limit results to that jurisdiction.
• 🔎 Call sign search: enter an exact call sign like WQJW268 to pull a single license.
• 🏢 Licensee name match: find every license held by a company or person using a substring.
• 📋 Status filter: restrict to Active, Pending, Deleted, Granted, or Terminated licenses.
• ⚙️ Max items control: set a hard cap from 1 to 1,000,000 records per run.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with FCC ULS data

📈 Build telecom lead lists.

A sales team scrapes all Active licenses in Texas to get licensee names and addresses for outreach.

🗺️ Map spectrum ownership.

A researcher pulls every license in California to see which companies hold the most frequencies.

✅ Audit compliance.

A compliance officer checks Terminated licenses for a company to confirm they are no longer operating.

📰 Investigate local spectrum.

A journalist searches a licensee name to find all call signs and locations tied to that entity.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Reads the public ULS database directly, no registration or OAuth
Fixed schema	Every license returns the same flat fields for easy import
Bulk export	Pull up to a million records per run to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML
Targeted filters	Combine state, call sign, name, and status to narrow results

How it compares

No other Store actor targets FCC ULS the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	FCC Licenses Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When FCC ULS changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from state, call sign, licensee name, and application status, alone or together, and filters run as each license is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
  "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
  "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$2.10
1,000 results	$21.00
10,000 results	$210.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the FCC Licenses Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to FCC ULS through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/fcc-licenses-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that your filters are not too narrow. For example, an exact call sign with a status filter may return nothing if that license has a different status. Try removing one filter at a time.

Why did the run stop before reaching my max items?

The Actor stops when it has read all matching licenses in the ULS. If fewer than your max exist, you will get all of them.

Why is the run slow?

Large state-wide queries with no other filters can take time because the ULS returns many pages. Add a call sign or licensee name to speed it up.

Why are some fields empty?

Not every license has every field populated in the ULS. Empty fields mean the FCC did not record that data for that license.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What is the FCC Universal Licensing System?	The ULS is the FCC's public database of all wireless licenses, including amateur, commercial, and public safety radio services. This Actor reads that database directly.
Do I need an FCC account or API key?	No. The Actor accesses the public ULS search interface, so no login or key is required.
Can I filter by state?	Yes, use the State Code input to select any US state, territory, or Puerto Rico.
Can I search by call sign?	Yes, enter an exact call sign like WQJW268 in the Call Sign field to return that specific license.
Can I search by licensee name?	Yes, the Licensee Name Contains field matches any part of the licensee name, so you can find all licenses for a company or person.
What application statuses can I filter?	Active, Pending, Deleted, Granted, and Terminated. Leave the field empty to return all statuses.
How many licenses can I get in one run?	Set the Maximum licenses input from 1 to 1,000,000. The default is 10.
What format is the output?	Each license is returned as a flat row with fields like call sign, licensee name, radio service, and location. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Does this include amateur radio licenses?	Yes, the ULS includes amateur licenses along with commercial and public safety services. Use filters to narrow to what you need.
Is the data live?	Yes, the Actor queries the ULS at run time, so you get the current license records as of the run.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Federal Communications Commission. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.