# FCC Geographic Census Block Lookup (`crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup`) Actor Look up FCC Census Block FIPS codes, county, and state data for any US GPS coordinate using the official FCC GeoData API. Supports single and batch coordinate lookups. Useful for broadband mapping, service area analysis, regulatory compliance research, and location-based FCC data enrichment. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation, Integrations - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## FCC License Database Scraper Scrape the FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) — the official database of all FCC radio licenses in the United States. Search by callsign, licensee name, city/state location, or radio service type. Returns full license details including grant dates, expiration, frequency data, and official FCC URLs. **No API key required.** Uses the FCC public API. --- ### What You Can Scrape - AM/FM/TV broadcast station licenses - Amateur (ham) radio licenses - Industrial/business and private land mobile licenses - Microwave, paging, cellular, and experimental licenses - License grant/expiration dates, status, and grantee details - Frequency ranges and channel assignments --- ### Input | Field | Type | Description | |-------|------|-------------| | `mode` | select | Search mode (see modes below) | | `callsign` | text | Callsign to search (e.g. KCBS, W1AW) | | `licenseeName` | text | Licensee name (e.g. CBS Radio, Verizon) | | `city` | text | City name (e.g. Los Angeles) | | `state` | select | US state or territory (e.g. CA, NY) | | `radioService` | select | Radio service type (AM, FM, TV, Amateur, etc.) | | `status` | select | License status filter (Active, Expired, Cancelled, etc.) | | `maxItems` | integer | Max records to return (default: 50, max: 2000) | #### Modes | Mode | Description | |------|-------------| | `searchByCallsign` | Search by exact or partial callsign | | `searchByName` | Search by licensee or applicant name | | `searchByLocation` | Search by city and/or state | | `byService` | Browse licenses for a specific radio service type | --- ### Output Each record contains the following fields (only non-empty fields are included): | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | `callsign` | FCC callsign (e.g. KCBS) | | `licenseeName` | Name of the licensee/grantee | | `radioService` | Radio service code (e.g. FM) | | `radioServiceDesc` | Human-readable service description | | `status` | License status (Active, Expired, etc.) | | `frn` | FCC Registration Number | | `licenseId` | Internal FCC license key | | `fileNumber` | FCC file number | | `city` | City where licensed | | `state` | State code (e.g. CA) | | `country` | Country code | | `grantDate` | Date license was granted | | `expirationDate` | License expiration date | | `effectiveDate` | Effective date of license | | `channel` | Channel number (broadcast stations) | | `frequencyLower` | Lower frequency bound | | `frequencyUpper` | Upper frequency bound | | `url` | Direct link to FCC ULS license page | | `recordType` | Always `"license"` | | `scrapedAt` | ISO 8601 timestamp of when record was scraped | --- ### Example Input (Daily Test) ```json { "mode": "searchByLocation", "city": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "maxItems": 10 } ```` ### Example Output Record ```json { "callsign": "KCBS", "licenseeName": "CBS RADIO INC.", "radioService": "FM", "radioServiceDesc": "FM Broadcast", "status": "Active", "frn": "0001606539", "licenseId": "3600", "city": "San Francisco", "state": "CA", "country": "US", "grantDate": "05/02/2011", "expirationDate": "12/01/2029", "url": "https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=3600", "recordType": "license", "scrapedAt": "2026-06-02T10:00:00+00:00" } ``` *** ### Data Source All data is sourced from the **FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS)** public API at `data.fcc.gov`. This is a free, publicly accessible government database requiring no authentication. The FCC ULS contains records for millions of licensed radio stations, amateur operators, and wireless service providers across the United States. *** ### FAQs **Does this require an API key?** No. The FCC ULS API is completely free and open to the public. **How current is the data?** The FCC ULS database is updated in near-real-time as licenses are granted, modified, or cancelled. **Can I search for amateur radio callsigns?** Yes — use `mode=searchByCallsign` with any amateur callsign (e.g. W1AW, K6ABC). **What radio services are supported?** All FCC-licensed services including AM/FM broadcast, TV broadcast, amateur radio, cellular, paging, microwave, industrial/business, and experimental licenses. **How many records can I retrieve?** Up to 2,000 records per run. For bulk data, consider running multiple searches or increasing `maxItems`. **Why are some fields missing?** Only fields with actual data are included — empty fields are never added to keep output clean. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): Whether to look up a single coordinate or a batch of coordinates. ## `latitude` (type: `number`): Latitude of the location to look up (decimal degrees, e.g. 40.7128 for New York City). Used in mode=lookupCoordinate. ## `longitude` (type: `number`): Longitude of the location to look up (decimal degrees, e.g. -74.0060 for New York City). Used in mode=lookupCoordinate. ## `label` (type: `string`): Optional label or name for this location (e.g. 'HQ', 'New York City'). Included as-is in output. ## `coordinates` (type: `array`): List of coordinate objects for batch lookup. Each object should have `latitude`, `longitude`, and optionally `label`. Used in mode=batchLookup. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Maximum number of records to return. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "lookupCoordinate", "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City", "coordinates": [ { "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City" }, { "latitude": 34.0522, "longitude": -118.2437, "label": "Los Angeles" }, { "latitude": 41.8781, "longitude": -87.6298, "label": "Chicago" } ], "maxItems": 5 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `records` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped FCC Census Block records. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "lookupCoordinate", "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City", "coordinates": [ { "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City" }, { "latitude": 34.0522, "longitude": -118.2437, "label": "Los Angeles" }, { "latitude": 41.8781, "longitude": -87.6298, "label": "Chicago" } ], "maxItems": 5 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "lookupCoordinate", "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City", "coordinates": [ { "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City", }, { "latitude": 34.0522, "longitude": -118.2437, "label": "Los Angeles", }, { "latitude": 41.8781, "longitude": -87.6298, "label": "Chicago", }, ], "maxItems": 5, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "lookupCoordinate", "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City", "coordinates": [ { "latitude": 40.7128, "longitude": -74.006, "label": "New York City" }, { "latitude": 34.0522, "longitude": -118.2437, "label": "Los Angeles" }, { "latitude": 41.8781, "longitude": -87.6298, "label": "Chicago" } ], "maxItems": 5 }' | apify call crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/fcc-geographic-block-lookup", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "FCC Geographic Census Block Lookup", "description": "Look up FCC Census Block FIPS codes, county, and state data for any US GPS coordinate using the official FCC GeoData API. Supports single and batch coordinate lookups. Useful for broadband mapping, service area analysis, regulatory compliance research, and location-based FCC data enrichment.", "version": "2.0", "x-build-id": "iCaJQ3nqFSTpwPBDR" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~fcc-geographic-block-lookup/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-fcc-geographic-block-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~fcc-geographic-block-lookup/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-fcc-geographic-block-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~fcc-geographic-block-lookup/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-fcc-geographic-block-lookup", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "lookupCoordinate", "batchLookup" ], "type": "string", "description": "Whether to look up a single coordinate or a batch of coordinates.", "default": "lookupCoordinate" }, "latitude": { "title": "Latitude", "minimum": -90, "maximum": 90, "type": "number", "description": "Latitude of the location to look up (decimal degrees, e.g. 40.7128 for New York City). Used in mode=lookupCoordinate." }, "longitude": { "title": "Longitude", "minimum": -180, "maximum": 180, "type": "number", "description": "Longitude of the location to look up (decimal degrees, e.g. -74.0060 for New York City). Used in mode=lookupCoordinate." }, "label": { "title": "Label (optional)", "type": "string", "description": "Optional label or name for this location (e.g. 'HQ', 'New York City'). Included as-is in output." }, "coordinates": { "title": "Coordinates (batch mode)", "type": "array", "description": "List of coordinate objects for batch lookup. Each object should have `latitude`, `longitude`, and optionally `label`. Used in mode=batchLookup." }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max Items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 500, "type": "integer", "description": "Maximum number of records to return.", "default": 50 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```