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Does anyone know why, and how long the FCC GMRS Licensing web site has be down for "System Maintenance"?


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Guest Ed Simeone
Posted

I have been trying to apply for a GMRS license for about a week and all the FCC page says "System Maintenance". I called the FCC and got the same answer, and the person I spoke to said they had no idea when the system would be back up. How can "System Maintenance" last over a week, when such procedures usually a done in a few hours the middle of the night?

Are they rewriting the code from the ground up? Has anyone else called the FCC and gotten the same answer?

Posted
27 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

Summed up into one sentence: "At this time, the FCC has stated they do not have a target for the ULS systems to be back online."

At least since June 14:

From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 14, 2023
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB010
ARLB010 FCC Universal Licensing System Applications Are Unavailable
Posted
49 minutes ago, back4more70 said:

I passed my ham general test last weekend, and I have been waiting for the upgrade to show up.  Granted, I can /AG until then, but I feel bad for the dude who passed his technician test and can't do a thing yet.

We offered a ham exam session today (walk-in only) and thankfully we had nobody show up.

Normally I feel bad for getting my VEs to show up and get "nothing but a chat" out of the Saturday morning.

However, in this case, I am glad that we did not have any exam-takers who would and up as "frustrated" as you describe!

73,

Also: Congrats on passing the general exam !!!  - now keep going as long as you are in "learning mode" !!!

Posted
2 hours ago, WRXD372 said:

Summed up into one sentence: "At this time, the FCC has stated they do not have a target for the ULS systems to be back online."

At least since June 14:

From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 14, 2023
To all radio amateurs
SB QST ARL ARLB010
ARLB010 FCC Universal Licensing System Applications Are Unavailable

It went down for "scheduled maintenance" on the 9th, was supposed to be back up on Monday the12th, but never came back.

I'd been watching closely for my own upgrade to show up (passed for general on the 3rd, tried extra on a whim, but came up short). Some of the batch processing feeds made it out because it wasnt showing on the 8th (Thursday) and I missed checking on the 9th before it went down, but the update has hit QRZ.

Posted
5 hours ago, Guest Ed Simeone said:

I have been trying to apply for a GMRS license for about a week and all the FCC page says "System Maintenance". I called the FCC and got the same answer, and the person I spoke to said they had no idea when the system would be back up. How can "System Maintenance" last over a week, when such procedures usually a done in a few hours the middle of the night?

Are they rewriting the code from the ground up? Has anyone else called the FCC and gotten the same answer?

Since June 9.  I don’t know if this is related to the Russian criminal hack of the US government computers:

FCC ULS down, Amateurs Unable to Submit Applications, Filing Deadlines Extended

The FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) has been experiencing an outage since Friday, June 9, 2023. Amateur licensees are unable to submit applications or process renewals. Filing deadlines have been extended. The FCC has been communicating updates with VECs, including ARRL VEC about the situation, which remains fluid. As of late afternoon on Thursday, June 15, 2023 the FCC had no timeline for when the ULS would be back online.

For the latest information, watch the ARRL News feed. The story about the issue posted there will remain updated with the latest information.”

Posted
49 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

... I don’t know if this is related to the Russian criminal hack of the US government computers:...

An attack of this magnitude and the best they can do is shut down Communication Licensing ?!? 😲

 

Posted
59 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:

... passed for general on the 3rd, tried extra on a whim, but came up short..

Congrats on your upgrade !!! Keep listening to that "whim" and try again 😉

Posted
5 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:

... didn't do too badly ...

I guess they asked the wrong questions because you had the answers to the once they did not ask 😇

👍 Keep going 👍

Posted
On 6/17/2023 at 6:39 PM, back4more70 said:

I passed my ham general test last weekend, and I have been waiting for the upgrade to show up.  Granted, I can /AG until then, but I feel bad for the dude who passed his technician test and can't do a thing yet.

That would be me. Passed my test on the 10th. Have my antenna up and everything. Just waiting for my callsign. Heck, I can't even sign up for most Amateur Radio websites right now since I don't have a callsign. Check about a dozen times a day. I'm pretty bummed.

Posted
2 hours ago, gadgetwiz said:

... Passed my test on the 10th ...

... I'm pretty bummed ...

I totally understand the "bummed" part :(

Congrats anyways !!!

Posted
2 hours ago, gadgetwiz said:

That would be me. Passed my test on the 10th. Have my antenna up and everything. Just waiting for my callsign. Heck, I can't even sign up for most Amateur Radio websites right now since I don't have a callsign. Check about a dozen times a day. I'm pretty bummed.

There's always the listening part :)

Posted
10 hours ago, gadgetwiz said:

Passed my test on the 10th

Congrats to you on your exam. The callsign will come through eventually, in the meantime enjoy SW listening, useless banter on forums, annoying youtube videos, and 4th of July preparations.

Posted
2 hours ago, gadgetwiz said:

Haha. My Yaesu radio won't even let me past the callsign screen.

Will it allow you to change it later?  I would assume so. If so, put anything in there, unless you’re signing for a digital ID for C4FM. 
Also, if you put your GMRS call in your sig sometimes some wud might be able to find you in the ULS. Of course the problems right now affect that. 

Posted

Works for me. Searching the database actually seemed a bit quicker.

Just wish the FCC would state what the problem was. If it was just a corrupted database, that's fine. If they were hacked, I'd like to know. I just did a credit card payment a few weeks ago and would like to know if the card was possibly compromised.

I have a debit card I usually use online that I keep $20 on. I transfer money to it and use it for anything I purchase online. The one time I didn't do this was with the FCC, just forgot.

Posted
2 hours ago, WRXD372 said:

I am still getting the "maintenance" screen :(
 

I think that’s just a notice they may still have interruptions, I see the maintenance screen also but the system is up and working.

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