so i passed my general back in March and ive been using my sequential call which is fine but its kind of long and awkward to say on the air. a buddy at the club mentioned vanity calls and i started looking into it on the ULS but honestly the whole thing is kind of confusing to me.

from what i can tell you just submit an application and then wait 18 days and if nobody else applied for the same call you get it? but what if multiple people want the same call, is it just whoever applied first or is there actually a lottery involved. i keep reading different things and some of the stuff i find is pretty old so im not sure whats still accurate.

also is there any advantage to being a higher class licensee when applying for a vanity call or does that not matter anymore. i thought i read somewhere that extras get priority but again not sure if thats current. anyone gone through this recently and can walk me through roughly how it works now

yeah the process has changed a few times over the years so thats probably why you're finding conflicting info. the way it works now is there's a 30 day filing window actually, not 18 — or wait, maybe i'm mixing that up with something else. point is there IS a window period and if only you apply for a specific call during that window, you get it automatically. if multiple people apply for the same call during the window then yes it goes to a tiebreaker and license class does still factor in — extras get priority over generals who get priority over techs, and if it's still tied after that i believe it comes down to application timestamp.

the main thing is picking a call that not many other people are going to want. really popular ones like short 1x2 or 2x1 calls in certain districts get a ton of applicants. something more obscure in a less sought after district you might just waltz right in. ae5ab.com has a good vanity call search tool that shows you what's available and what class you'd need to qualify for a given format. definitely worth poking around there before you apply.

i just did this like two months ago so its pretty fresh. went for a 2x3 call in my district and honestly it was pretty painless, just filed through the FCC ULS online and waited. got it without any issue because i dont think anyone else wanted that particular call lol. the hardest part for me was just deciding WHICH call i actually wanted, i spent way too long on that part.

one thing to double check — make sure the call you want is actually available and in the right format for your license class. generals cant hold 1x2 or 2x1 format calls, only extras can. there's different formats for each class so just look that up before you get your heart set on something you cant actually get yet