Radio Frequencies, Bands, and Channels

Radio frequency transmissions are divided up into contiguous bands for different purposes. These groupings are usually due to the different physical characteristics or behavior of radio waves at different frequencies (more on this below). To understand the properties of different radio waves, let's first calculate the wavelength of some typical radio frequencies found in each of the main broadcast bands. As explained above, this is performed by dividing the speed of light by the frequency of interest:

• Band: MF — Medium Frequency — AM (amplitude mall/ago/0 Radio Band (535-1705 kHz)

Channel: AM Radio — 1120 kHz 300 million meters/sec ÷ 1120 thousand cycles /sec = 268 meters (880 feet)

• Band: VHF — Very High Frequency FM Viequeney moduilatiaii) Radio Band (88-108 MHz)

Channel: FM Radio — 98.1 MHz 300 million meters/sec = 98.1 million cycles/sec = 3 meters (10 feet)

• Band: VHF — Very High Frequency — Television Band (54-216 MHz)

Channel: VHF TV, Channel 8-183 MHz 300 million meters/sec ÷ 183 million cycles/sec = 1.64 meters (5 feet)

• Band: UHF — Ultra High Frequency — Television Band (470-806 MHz)

Channel: UHF TV, Channel 40 — 629 MHz 300 million meters/sec ÷ 629 million cycles/sec = 0.48 meters (19 inches)

• Band: SHF — Super High Frequency — Broadcasting Satellite Ku Band (11-14 GHz)

Channel: Direct Broadcast Satellite, Transponder 30 — 12.647 GHz 300 million meters/sec ÷ 12.647 billion cyclesfsec = 2.37 centimeters (1 inch)

As this summary of the Electromagnetic Spectrum illustrates, the wavelengths of different broadcast bands vary quite a bit, from hundreds of feet to an inch or less. Because of these differing wavelengths, there are major physical differences in the design of antenna types used to transmit and receive signals in different bands. The amplitudes (or power) of these signals also greatly influence the design and size of these antennas.

Each radio band is divided into individual channels, and each of these channels includes a range of frequencies. The range of frequencies included in a channel from lowest to highest is known as the channel's batidwidin. (The term may also refer to any particular range of frequencies, not just those in RF.) For simplicity, however, a channel is often identified by its reizterfrequency, so that only one numerical value (rather than two) will have to be cited when referring to a particular channel. If the center frequency is given and the channel bandwidth is known, the upper and lower frequency limits of the channel can be easily derived. For example, a channel with a 2 kHz (2,000 Hz) bandwidth centered at 100 kHz occupies the spectrum between 99 kHz and 101 kHz.

The UHF and SHF bands have further subdivisions, with bands that are used for terrestrial radio links, satellite links, and for satellite broadcasting. These include the L, Cyan, X, Ku, IC, and Ka bands, with frequencies ranging from about 1 GHz to 40 GHz.

United States Frequency Allocations Chart

The United States Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) - Office of Spectrum Management released this chart to the public in 2003. This is an enormous chart that would make an excellent poster to hang on your wall. It is very detailed. Click the icon below for a direct link to the file.

The NTIA's Office of Spectrum Management is in charge of regulating use of spectrum allocated to the Federal Government. It serves in a manner equivalent to the FCC for this purpose. It is also the part of the Department of Commerce that oversees ICANN.

Wavelength Table

Meter Band 	Frequency Range and Use
--------------------------------------------------
160 meter 	1800 - 2000 kHz ham radio
120 meter 	2300 - 2498 kHz broadcasting
90 meter 	3200 - 3400 kHz broadcasting
80 meter 	3500 - 4000 kHz ham radio
60 meter 	4750 - 4995 kHz broadcasting
49 meter 	5950 - 6250 kHz broadcasting
41 meter 	7100 - 7300 kHz broadcasting
40 meter 	7000 - 7300 kHz ham radio
31 meter 	9500 - 9900 kHz broadcasting
30 meter 	10100 - 10150 kHz ham radio
25 meter 	11650 - 11975 kHz broadcasting
22 meter 	13600 - 13800 kHz broadcasting
20 meter 	14000 - 14350 kHz ham radio
19 meter 	15100 - 15600 kHz broadcasting
17 meter 	18068 - 18168 kHz ham radio
16 meter 	17550 - 17900 kHz broadcasting
15 meter 	21000 - 21450 kHz ham radio
13 meter 	21450 - 21850 kHz broadcasting
12 meter 	24890 - 24990 ham radio
11 meter 	25670 - 26100 kHz broadcasting
10 meter 	28 - 29.7 MHz ham radio 
6 meter        50 - 54 MHz ham radio since 1947
5 meter        56 – 64 MHz taken from ham radio in 1946
4 meter        70.000 MHz – 70.500 MHz
2 meter        144 MHz to 148 MHz for ham
1.25 meter     219 - 225 MHz
70 centimeter  420 - 450 MHz ham 462 - 468 MHz non-ham public
33 centimeter  902.000 MHz – 928.000 MHz
23 centimeter  1.240 GHz – 1.300 GHz
13 centimeter  2.300 GHz – 2.450 GHz

Due to errors from HAM designations versus actual wave conversion formula 17-meter ham radio band is actually higher in frequency than the 16-meter broadcasting band.

Band name	Abbreviation	ITU band	Frequency and wavelength in air	Example uses
Tremendously low frequency	TLF		< 3 Hz > 100,000 km	Natural and artificial electromagnetic noise
Extremely low frequency	ELF		3–30 Hz 100,000 km – 10,000 km	Communication with submarines
Super low frequency	SLF		30–300 Hz 10,000 km – 1000 km	Communication with submarines
Ultra low frequency	ULF		300–3000 Hz 1000 km – 100 km	Submarine communication, communication within mines
Very low frequency	VLF	4	3–30 kHz 100 km – 10 km	Navigation, time signals, submarine communication, wireless heart rate monitors, geophysics
Low frequency	LF	5	30–300 kHz 10 km – 1 km	Navigation, clock time signals, AM longwave broadcasting (Europe and parts of Asia), RFID, amateur radio
Medium frequency	MF	6	300–3000 kHz 1 km – 100 m	AM (medium-wave) broadcasts, amateur radio, avalanche beacons
High frequency	HF	7	3–30 MHz 100 m – 10 m	Shortwave broadcasts, citizens' band radio, amateur radio and over-the-horizon aviation communications, RFID, over-the-horizon radar, automatic link establishment (ALE) / near-vertical incidence skywave (NVIS) radio communications, marine and mobile radio telephony
Very high frequency	VHF	8	30–300 MHz 10 m – 1 m	FM, television broadcasts and line-of-sight ground-to-aircraft and aircraft-to-aircraft communications, land mobile and maritime mobile communications, amateur radio, weather radio
Ultra high frequency	UHF	9	300–3000 MHz 1 m – 100 mm	Television broadcasts, microwave oven, microwave devices/communications, radio astronomy, mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, GPS and two-way radios such as land mobile, FRS and GMRS radios, amateur radio
Super high frequency	SHF	10	3–30 GHz 100 mm – 10 mm	Radio astronomy, microwave devices/communications, wireless LAN, most modern radars, communications satellites, satellite television broadcasting, DBS, amateur radio
Extremely high frequency	EHF	11	30–300 GHz 10 mm – 1 mm	Radio astronomy, high-frequency microwave radio relay, microwave remote sensing, amateur radio, directed-energy weapon, millimeter wave scanner
Terahertz or Tremendously high frequency	THz or THF	12	300–3,000 GHz 1 mm – 100 Template:Mum	Terahertz imaging – a potential replacement for X-rays in some medical applications, ultrafast molecular dynamics, condensed-matter physics, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, terahertz computing/communications, sub-mm remote sensing, amateur radio

ITU

The ITU radio bands are designations defined in the ITU Radio Regulations. Article 2, provision No. 2.1 states that "the radio spectrum shall be subdivided into nine frequency bands, which shall be designated by progressive whole numbers in accordance with the following table<ref>ITU Radio Regulations, Volume 1, Article 2; Edition of 2008. Available online at [1]</ref>".

The table originated with a recommendation of the IVth CCIR meeting, held in Bucharest in 1937, and was approved by the International Radio Conference held at Atlantic City in 1947. The idea to give each band a number, in which the number is the logarithm of the approximate geometric mean of the upper and lower band limits in Hz, originated with B.C. Fleming-Williams, who suggested it in a letter to the editor of Wireless Engineer in 1942. (For example, the approximate geometric mean of Band 7 is 10 MHz, or 10⁷ Hz.)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Table of ITU Radio Bands

Band Number	Symbols	Frequency Range	Wavelength Range†
4	VLF	3 to 30 kHz	10 to 100 km
5	LF	30 to 300 kHz	1 to 10 km
6	MF	300 to 3000 kHz	100 to 1000 m
7	HF	3 to 30 MHz	10 to 100 m
8	VHF	30 to 300 MHz	1 to 10 m
9	UHF	300 to 3000 MHz	10 to 100 cm
10	SHF	3 to 30 GHz	1 to 10 cm
11	EHF	30 to 300 GHz	1 to 10 mm
12	THF	300 to 3000 GHz	0.1 to 1 mm

† This column does not form part of the table in Provision No. 2.1 of the Radio Regulations

IEEE

Radar-frequency bands according to IEEE standard<ref name=ieee>IEEE Std 521-2002 Standard Letter Designations for Radar-Frequency Bands.</ref>

Band designation	Frequency range	Template:Citation needed
HF	0.003 to 0.03 GHz	High FrequencyTemplate:Refn
VHF	0.03 to 0.3 GHz	Very High Frequency<ref name=ieee_names />
UHF	0.3 to 1 GHz	Ultra High Frequency<ref name=ieee_names />
L	1 to 2 GHz	Long wave
S	2 to 4 GHz	Short wave
C	4 to 8 GHz	Compromise between S and X
X	8 to 12 GHz	Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair). Exotic.<ref name="Friedman2006">Template:Cite book</ref>
Ku	12 to 18 GHz	Kurz-under
K	18 to 27 GHz	German Kurz (short)
Ka	27 to 40 GHz	Kurz-above
V	40 to 75 GHz
W	75 to 110 GHz	W follows V in the alphabet
mm	110 to 300 GHz​Template:Refn	Millimeter<ref name=ieee />

EU, NATO, US ECM frequency designations

Radar-frequency bands as defined by NATO for ECM systems<ref name="BelovSmolskiy2012">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Friedman2006">Template:Cite book</ref>

Band	Frequency range
A band	0 to 0.25 GHz
B band	0.25 to 0.5 GHz
C band	0.5 to 1.0 GHz
D band	1 to 2 GHz
E band	2 to 3 GHz
F band	3 to 4 GHz
G band	4 to 6 GHz
H band	6 to 8 GHz
I band	8 to 10 GHz
J band	10 to 20 GHz
K band	20 to 40 GHz
L band	40 to 60 GHz
M band	60 to 100 GHz

Waveguide frequency bands

Band	Frequency range <ref>www.microwaves101.com "Waveguide frequency bands and interior dimensions"</ref>
R band	1.70 to 2.60 GHz
D band	2.20 to 3.30 GHz
S band	2.60 to 3.95 GHz
E band	3.30 to 4.90 GHz
G band	3.95 to 5.85 GHz
F band	4.90 to 7.05 GHz
C band	5.85 to 8.20 GHz
H band	7.05 to 10.10 GHz
X band	8.2 to 12.4 GHz
Ku band	12.4 to 18.0 GHz
K band	15.0 to 26.5 GHz
Ka band	26.5 to 40.0 GHz
Q band	33 to 50 GHz
U band	40 to 60 GHz
V band	50 to 75 GHz
W band	75 to 110 GHz
F band	90 to 140 GHz
D band	110 to 170 GHz
Y band	325 to 500 GHz

Comparison of radio band designation standards

Frequency		IEEE<ref name=ieee />	EU, NATO, US ECM	ITU
				no.	abbr.
			A		TLF
3 Hz				1	ELF
30 Hz				2	SLF
300 Hz				3	ULF
3 kHz				4	VLF
30 kHz				5	LF
300 kHz				6	MF
3 MHz		HF		7	HF
30 MHz		VHF		8	VHF
250 MHz			B
300 MHz		UHF		9	UHF
500 MHz			C
1 GHz		L	D
2 GHz		S	E
3 GHz			F	10	SHF
4 GHz		C	G
6 GHz			H
8 GHz		X	I
10 GHz			J
12 GHz		Ku
18 GHz		K
20 GHz			K
27 GHz		Ka
30 GHz				11	EHF
40 GHz		V	L
60 GHz			M
75 GHz		W
100 GHz
110 GHz		mm
300 GHz				12	THF
3 THz