Radio spectrum

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ITU Radio Band Numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ITU Radio Band Symbols
ELF SLF ULF VLF LF MF HF VHF UHF SHF EHF
NATO Radio bands
ABCDEFGHIJKLM
IEEE Radar bands
HF VHF UHF L S C X Ku K Ka Q V W
vde

Radio spectrum refers to the part of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponding to radio
frequencies – that is, frequencies lower than around 300 GHz (or, equivalently, wavelengths
longer than about 1 mm).

Different parts of the radio spectrum are used for different radio transmission technologies and
applications. Radio spectrum is typically government regulated in developed countries, and in
some cases is sold or licensed to operators of private radio transmission systems (for example,
cellular telephone operators or broadcast television stations). Ranges of allocated frequencies are
often referred to by their provisioned use (for example, cellular spectrum or television spectrum).
[1]

Contents
[hide]

 1 Bands
 2 Named frequency bands
o 2.1 General
o 2.2 Amateur radio frequencies
o 2.3 IEEE US
o 2.4 ITU
o 2.5 EU, NATO, US ECM frequency designations
o 2.6 Waveguide frequency bands
 3 See also
 4 References
 5 External links
[edit] Bands
A band is a small section of the spectrum of radio communication frequencies, in which
channels are usually used or set aside for the same purpose.

Above 300 GHz, the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by Earth's atmosphere is so great

that the atmosphere is effectively opaque, until it becomes transparent again in the infrared and
optical window frequency ranges.

To prevent interference and allow for efficient use of the radio spectrum, simlar services are
allocated in bands. For example, broadcasting, mobile radio, or navigation devices, will be
allocated in non-overlapping ranges of freqeuncies.

Each of these bands has a basic bandplan which dictates how it is to be used and shared, to avoid
interference and to set protocol for the compatibility of transmitters and receivers.

As a matter of convention, bands are divided at wavelengths of 10n metres, or frequencies of

3×10n hertz. For example, 30 MHz or 10 m divides shortwave (lower and longer) from VHF
(shorter and higher). These are the parts of the radio spectrum, and not its frequency allocation.

Frequency
ITU
Band name Abbr and Example uses
band
wavelength in air
Natural and man-made electromagnetic waves
< 3 Hz
sub-hertz subHz 0 (millihertz, microhertz, nanohertz) from earth,
> 100,000 km
ionosphere, sun, planets, etc.[citation needed]
Extremely
3–30 Hz
low ELF 1 Communication with submarines
100,000 km – 10,000 km
frequency
Super low 30–300 Hz
SLF 2 Communication with submarines
frequency 10,000 km – 1000 km
Ultra low 300–3000 Hz
ULF 3 Communication within mines
frequency 1000 km – 100 km
Submarine communication, avalanche
Very low 3–30 kHz
VLF 4 beacons, wireless heart rate monitors,
frequency 100 km – 10 km
geophysics
Low 30–300 kHz Navigation, time signals, AM longwave
LF 5
frequency 10 km – 1 km broadcasting, RFID
Medium 300–3000 kHz
MF 6 AM (medium-wave) broadcasts
frequency 1 km – 100 m
Shortwave broadcasts, amateur radio and
High 3–30 MHz
HF 7 over-the-horizon aviation communications,
frequency 100 m – 10 m
RFID
Very high VHF 8 30–300 MHz FM, television broadcasts and line-of-sight
frequency 10 m – 1 m ground-to-aircraft and aircraft-to-aircraft
 communications. Land Mobile and Maritime
Mobile communications
Television broadcasts, microwave ovens,
Ultra high 300–3000 MHz mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth,
UHF 9
frequency 1 m – 100 mm GPS and two-way radios such as Land
Mobile, FRS and GMRS radios
Super high 3–30 GHz Microwave devices, wireless LAN, most
SHF 10
frequency 100 mm – 10 mm modern radars, communications satellites
Extremely
30–300 GHz Radio astronomy, high-frequency microwave
high EHF 11
10 mm – 1 mm radio relay, microwave remote sensing
frequency
Terahertz imaging – a potential replacement
for X-rays in some medical applications,
ultrafast molecular dynamics, condensed-
300–3,000 GHz
Terahertz THz 12 matter physics, terahertz time-domain
1 mm – 100 μm
spectroscopy, terahertz
computing/communications, sub-mm remote
sensing

[edit] Named frequency bands

[edit] General

Broadcast frequencies:

 Longwave AM Radio = 148.5 – 283.5 kHz (LF)

 Mediumwave AM Radio = 530 kHz – 1710 kHz (MF)
 Shortwave AM Radio = 3 MHz – 30 MHz (HF)

Designations for television and FM radio broadcast frequencies vary between countries, see
Television channel frequencies and FM broadcast band

[edit] Amateur radio frequencies

The range of allowed amateur radio frequencies varies between countries. The article Amateur
radio frequency allocations lists frequencies allocated for amateur radio use.

[edit] IEEE US

Band Frequency range Origin of name[2]

HF band 3 to 30 MHz High Frequency
VHF
30 to 300 MHz Very High Frequency
band
UHF 300 to 1000 MHz Ultra High Frequency
 Frequencies from 216 to 450 MHz were sometimes called P-band:
band
Previous, since early British radar used this band but later switched
to higher frequencies.
L band 1 to 2 GHz Long wave
S band 2 to 4 GHz Short wave
C band 4 to 8 GHz Compromise between S and X
X band 8 to 12 GHz Used in WW II for fire control, X for cross (as in crosshair)
Ku band 12 to 18 GHz Kurz-under
K band 18 to 27 GHz German Kurz (short)
Ka band 27 to 40 GHz Kurz-above
V band 40 to 75 GHz
W band 75 to 110 GHz W follows V in the alphabet
mm band 110 to 300 GHz

[edit] ITU

The ITU radio bands are designations defined in the ITU Radio Regulations. 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.[3]

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.)[4]

Table of ITU Radio Bands

Band Frequency Wavelength
Symbols Typical sources
Number Range Range
10,000 to
1 ELF 3 to 30 Hz deeply-submerged submarine communication
100,000 km
1000 to
2 SLF 30 to 300 Hz submarine communication, ac power grids
10,000 km
100 to
3 ULF 300 to 3 kHz earth quakes, earth mode communication
1000 km
4 VLF 3 to 30 kHz 10 to 100 km near-surface submarine communication,
30 to
5 LF 1 to 10 km AM broadcasting, aircraft beacons
300 kHz
300 to
6 MF 100 to 1000 m AM broadcasting,
3000 kHz
7 HF 3 to 30 MHz 10 to 100 m Skywave long range radio communication
8 VHF 30 to 1 to 10 m FM radio broadcast, television broadcast, DVB-
 300 MHz T, MRI
microwave oven, television broadcast, GPS,
300 to mobile phone communication (GSM, UMTS,
9 UHF 10 to 100 cm
3000 MHz 3G, HSDPA), cordless phones (DECT), WLAN
(Wi-Fi), Bluetooth
DBS satellite television broadcasting, WLAN
10 SHF 3 to 30 GHz 1 to 10 cm
(Wi-Fi), WiMAX, radars
directed-energy weapon (Active Denial
30 to System), Security screening (Millimeter wave
11 EHF 1 to 10 mm
300 GHz scanner), intersatellite links, WiMAX, high
resolution radar

[edit] EU, NATO, US ECM frequency designations

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

[edit] Waveguide frequency bands

Band Frequency range [5]

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
Y band 325 to 500 GHz