02/20/2026
ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio¿ reports that the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) adopted changes to its rules to require that
every holder of an FCC Registration Number (FRN) update their contact
information in the CORES[1] system (email and postal addresses) within ten
business days of a change.
Because every FCC licensee-including amateur radio operators-must have an FRN to
file applications, this requirement applies to all licensed amateurs. FRN
contact information is handled separately and apart from contact information
related to a license in the License Manager System[2]. Both records must be kept
up-to-date, and each requires a separate update.
Until now, no specific deadline existed for updating FRN or license contact
information. Instead, the amateur rules at sections 97.21 and 97.23 provide that
a license may be suspended or revoked "if FCC correspondence is returned as
undeliverable because of an incorrect address/email." These provisions remain in
effect as well as the 10-day deadline applicable to FRN information.
If your FRN information is current and has not changed, no immediate action is
required, but you must adhere to the 10-day rule for future changes. It is
recommended to periodically check both the CORES[3] and License Manager
System[4]s to ensure contact information is accurate, even if no changes have
occurred.
The new deadline (section 1.8002(b)(2) of the Commission's Rules) became
effective on February 5 as part of a proceeding that was limited to further
constraining robocalls. Although the proceeding focused on robocall issues, the
10-day update requirement applies broadly to all FRN holders. On February 6 the
FCC confirmed in a Public Notice that the new deadline applies to all FRN
holders. The amendment replaces language adopted in 2001 that required FRN
holders to keep their contact information up-to-date but had not imposed a
deadline for doing so.
Numerous requests for clarification from non-robocaller interests led the FCC to
issue a Public Notice on February 6[5] (see also PDF[6]) clarifying that fines
imposed on those subject to the robocall rules for not keeping contact
information up-to-date do NOT apply to licensees such as radio amateurs, but
that the 10-day deadline does apply to all FRN holders.
See the following resources for updating FRN and license information.
FCC Tutorial on updating FRN information:
https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/html/Update_FRN_Information.htm[7]
ARRL information on how to update license information:
https://www.arrl.org/call-sign-renewals-or-changes[8]
For assistance, call the FCC FRN Help Desk: (877) 480-3201 (available 8 AM to 6
PM ET).
[1] https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do
[2] https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp
[3] https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do
[4] https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsEntry/licManager/login.jsp
[5] https://www.fcc.gov/document/wcb-reminds-rmd-filers-new-base-forfeitures [6]
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-133A1.pdf
[7] https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/html/Update_FRN_Information.htm
[8] https://www.arrl.org/call-sign-renewals-or-changes
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