fcc

Query the FCC database for fm, am, and tv information.

This gem uses the new FCC apis and the old FCC apis and combines records to be the most complete version possible. The old (transition.fcc.gov) API provides way more data than the new one does.

Install

gem install fcc

Requirements

Ruby 2.0.0 or higher

Get station information by call sign

station = FCC::Station.find(:fm, "KOOP")

if station.exists? && station.licensed?
  #Basic attributes, available quickly because the FCC actually caches these in a CDN: 
  station.id #=> 65320
  station.status #=> LICENSED
  station.rf_channel #=> 219
  station.license_expiration_date #=> "08/01/2021"
  station.facility_type #=> ED
  station.frequency #=> 91.7 
  station.contact #=> <struct FCC::Station::Contact>
  station.owner #=> <struct FCC::Station::Contact>
  station.community #=> <struct FCC::Station::Community city="HORNSBY", state="TX">

  # Extended attributes, takes several seconds to load initially because the FCC is running this endpoint on a 1960s era mainframe operated by trained hamsters. 
  station.station_class #=> A
  station.signal_strength #=> 3.0 kW
  station.antenna_type #=> ND
  station.effective_radiated_power #=> 3.0 kW
  station.haat_horizontal #=> 26.0
  station.haat_vertical #=> 26.0
  station.latitude #=> "30.266861111111112"
  station.longitude #=> "-97.67444444444445"
  station.file_number #=> BLED-19950103KA


  station.to_json #=> 
                [{:band=>"FM",
                :signal_strength=>"3.0 kW",
                :latitude=>"30.266861111111112",
                :longitude=>"-97.67444444444445",
                :station_class=>"A",
                :file_number=>"BLED-19950103KA",
                :effective_radiated_power=>"3.0 kW",
                :haat_horizontal=>"26.0",
                :haat_vertical=>"26.0",
                :antenna_type=>"ND",
                :operating_hours=>nil,
                :licensed_to=>"TEXAS EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING CO-OPERATIVE, INC.",
                :city=>"HORNSBY",
                :state=>"TX",
                :country=>"US",
                :id=>"65320",
                :call_sign=>"KOOP",
                :status=>"LICENSED",
                :rf_channel=>"219",
                :license_expiration_date=>"08/01/2029",
                :facility_type=>"ED",
                :frequency=>"91.7",
                :contact=>
                 {:name=>"Federico Pacheco",
                  :title=>"",
                  :address=>"3823 Airport Blvd. Suite B",
                  :address2=>"",
                  :city=>"Austin",
                  :state=>"TX",
                  :zip_code=>"78722",
                  :phone=>"(512)472-1369",
                  :fax=>"",
                  :email=>"federico.pacheco@koop.org",
                  :website=>"koop.org"},
                :owner=>{:name=>"TEXAS EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING CO-OPERATIVE, INC.", :city=>"AUSTIN", :state=>"TX", :phone=>"(512)472-1369"},
                :community=>{:city=>"HORNSBY", :state=>"TX"}}]

end

Caching

Extended attributes take several seconds to load from transition.fcc.gov. In order to work around this, we query the entire dataset and then cache the result locally for 3 days (using the lightly gem). To use your own cache, set FCC.cache= to your cache class (Rails.cache, maybe?) which should have a #fetch method that should take a key and a block like cache.fetch(key) { // yield for expensive fetch }}.

Get all station call signs on a particular service (:fm, :am, :tv)

results = FCC::Station.index(:fm).results
#=> [{"id"=>"198674", "callSign"=>"KANC", "frequency"=>"99.7", "activeInd"=>"Y"}, {"id"=>"174558", "callSign"=>"WUMZ", "frequency"=>"91.5", "activeInd"=>"Y"}, {"id"=>"184688", "callSign"=>"WHVC", "frequency"=>"102.5", "activeInd"=>"Y"} ....

Contributing to fcc

Check out the latest master to make sure the feature hasn't been implemented or the bug hasn't been fixed yet
Check out the issue tracker to make sure someone already hasn't requested it and/or contributed it
Fork the project
Start a feature/bugfix branch
Commit and push until you are happy with your contribution
Make sure to add tests for it. This is important so I don't break it in a future version unintentionally.
Please try not to mess with the Rakefile, version, or history. If you want to have your own version, or is otherwise necessary, that is fine, but please isolate to its own commit so I can cherry-pick around it.

fcc

Development