1.25 Meter Ham Radio Band

The 1.25-meter amateur radio band is a portion of the VHF radio spectrum, comprising frequencies stretching from 222 MHz to 225 MHz. Other names for this ham band include the 220 band and the 222 band. The FCC took away from ham operators frequencies from 220 MHz to 222 MHz in 1988. There remains a secondary allocation for amateur use at 219-220 MHz, however, FM voice is not permitted within this secondary allocation.

In 2001 the FCC allocated the 216-220 MHz band to the fixed and mobile services (co-primary), although some government systems in the band will remain. The decision was made that limited secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 219-220 MHz is being maintained. The amateur allocation at 219-220 MHz is secondary to the Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (AMTS). Within the 1 MHz of spectrum, Amateurs may install and operate point-to-point digital message-forwarding systems, but only under strict limitations that require coordination with and sometimes approval by AMTS licensees. As the FCC takes more spectrum away from other users, including hams, and auctions it off for private business use, the ARRL and ham operators will continue to lose ground unless a change occurs in the current political climate.

One of the challenges for ham operators is the lack of 1.25-meter radio equipment available on the commercial market. As of this writing there is no current all-mode amateur transceiver for this band. Any all mode transceivers are out of production, and the small handful of current production models are FM only. 1.25 Meter Ham Radio Transceivers are primarily FM mode.

Note: The 222 MHz band plan was adopted by the ARRL Board of Directors in July 1991.

According to eham.com the calling frequency for 1.25m is 223.500 which falls within the 223.400 - 223.520 FM simplex range of the band. The conventional spacing of 20kHz is used between channels for the 1.25M band.