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Amateur radio frequency allocations

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Amateur radio frequency allocation is done by national telecommunications authorities. Globally, the ITU oversees how much radio spectrum is set aside for amateur radio transmissions.

Radio amateurs use a variety of transmission modes, including Morse code, radioteletype, data, and voice. Specific frequency allocations vary from country to country and between ITU regions as specified in the current ITU HF frequency allocations for amateur radio. The modes and types of allocations within each range of frequencies is called a bandplan, and may be set by international agreements, national regulations, or agreements between amateur radio operators.

Amateur radio operators should first consult their local regulatory body for further information. Some bands may not be available or may have restrictions on usage in certain countries or regions.

FCC Part 97.301 (courtesy of ARRL) includes a table comparing frequency allocations for all three regions. [1]

Band characteristics

Medium frequency

See also: Medium frequency
  • 160 meters – 1.8-2 MHz(1800–2000 kHz) – Often taken up as a technical challenge in a manner similar to 6m. Most useful at night, though notoriously noisy. In many locations, a separate specialized receive-only antenna (such as a shielded loop) is necessary for successful operation on the band. Also known as the "top band" and the "Gentlemen's Band", in apparent contrast to the supposedly freewheeling 80m allocation. Allocations in this band vary widely from country to country.

There are also some permits at 137kHz and 500kHz depending on Administration.

High frequency

See also: High frequency
  • 80 meters – 3.5-4 MHz (3500–4000 kHz) – Best at night, with significant daytime signal absorption. Works best in winter due to atmospheric noise in summer. Only countries in the Americas and few others have access to all of this band, in other parts of the world amateurs are limited to the bottom 300 kHz or less. In the US and Canada the upper end of the subband from 3600–4000 kHz, which permits use of single-sideband voice, is often referred to as 75 meters. Operators in this sub-band have a reputation for rowdiness similar to CB operators.
  • 60 meters – 5 MHz region – A relatively new allocation and only available in a small number of countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Iceland. In most countries, the allocation is channelized and may require special application, and in the USA it is mandatory to operate in upper sideband mode.
  • 40 meters – 7.0–7.3 MHz – Considered the most reliable all-season DX band, and most popular at night, and extremely useful for medium distance contacts during the day. Much of this band is shared with broadcasters, and in most countries only the bottom 100 kHz or 200 kHz are available to amateurs.
  • 30 meters – 10.1–10.15 MHz – a very narrow band, which is shared with non-amateur services. It is recommended that only Morse Code and data transmissions be used here, and in some countries amateur voice transmission is actually prohibited. Not released for amateur use in a small number of countries. Due to its location in the centre of the shortwave spectrum, provides significant opportunities for long-distance communication at all points of the solar cycle. 30 meters is a WARC band. "WARC" bands are so called due to the special World Administrative Radio Conference allocation of these newer bands to amateur radio use. Almost all radio amateur contests are not allowed on all three WARC bands.
  • 20 meters – 14.0–14.35 MHz – Considered the most popular DX band; usually most popular during daytime. QRP operators recognize 14.060 MHz as their primary calling frequency in that band. Users of the PSK31 data mode tend to congregate around 14.071 MHz. Analog SSTV activity is centered around 14.230 MHz.
  • 17 meters – 18.068–18.168 MHz – Similar to 20m, but more sensitive to solar conditions. It is often used for extended, informal chats known as "ragchews". 17 meters is a WARC band.
  • 15 meters – 21–21.45 MHz – Most useful during solar maximum, and generally a daytime band.
  • 12 meters – 24.89–24.99 MHz – Mostly useful during daytime, but opens up for DX activity at night during solar maximum. 12 meters is a WARC band.
  • 10 meters – 28–29.7 MHz – Best activity is during solar maximum; during periods of moderate solar activity the best activity is found at low latitudes. The band offers useful short- to medium-range groundwave propagation, day or night. Also the site of frequent illegal unlicensed operation ("bootlegging") and freeband activity by operators using modified Citizen's Band or amateur radio equipment.

Characteristics above HF

While "line of sight" propagation is a primary factor for range calculation, much of the interest in the bands above HF comes from use of other propagation modes. A VHF signal transmitted from a hand-held walkie-talkie will typically travel about 5-10 km depending on terrain. With a low power home station and a simple antenna range would be around 50 km. With a large antenna system like a long yagi, and higher power (typically 100 or more watts) contacts of around 1000 km are common. Ham operators seek to exploit the limits of the frequencies' usual characteristics looking to learn and experiment with radio technology. They also seek to take advantage of "band openings" where due to various natural occurrences, radio emissions can travel well over their normal characteristics. There are numerous causes for these band openings and many hams listen for hours to take advantage of their rare manifestations, which may be of fleeting duration.

Some openings are caused by intense ionization of the upper atmosphere, known as the ionosphere. Other band openings are caused by a weather phenomenon known as an inversion layer, where warm air traps colder air beneath it, which forces the radio emission to travel over long weather layers. Radio signals can travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres due to these weather layers.

For example, the longest distance contact reported due to tropospheric refraction on 2 meters is 4754 km between Hawai'i and a ship south of Mexico, with reports of one way reception of signals from Réunion to Western Australia, a distance of more than 6000 km. [2]

Ionospheric, or skywave propagaton also occurs on 6, 4 and 2 meters, and very occasionally on higher frequencies. The longest terrestrial contact ever reported on 2 meters was between a station in Italy and one in South Africa, at a distance of 7784 km, using anomalous enhancement of the inonosphere over the geomagnetic equator.[3]

Amateur television

Main article: Amateur television

Amateur television (ATV) is the hobby of transporting broadcast- compatible video and audio by amateur radio. It also includes the study and building of such transmitters and receivers and the propagation between these two.

In NTSC countries, ATV operation requires the ability to use a 6 MHz wide channel. All bands at VHF or lower are less than 6 MHz wide, so ATV operation is confined to UHF and up. Bandwidth requirements will vary from this for PAL and SECAM transmissions.

ATV operation in the 70 cm band is particularly popular, because the signals can be received on any cable-ready television. Operation in the 33 cm and 23 cm bands is easily augmented by the availability of various varieties of consumer-grade wireless video devices that exist and operate in unlicenced frequencies coincident to these bands.

ATV operation may be enhanced by using specially-equipped repeaters.

See also slow-scan television.

ITU Region 1

ITU Region 1 corresponds to Europe, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. For ITU region 1, Radio Society of Great Britain's band plan will be more definitive (click on the buttons at the bottom of the page).

  • Low Frequency (LF) (30 to 300 kHz)

...

  • Very High Frequency (VHF) (30 to 300 MHz)

However there are also 4m amateur allocations in other ITU Region 1 countries e.g. Ireland 70.125 to 70.450 MHz

Table of Amateur MF and HF Bandplans

The following charts show the voluntary bandplans used by amateurs in Region 1. Unlike the USA slots for the various transmission modes are not set by the amateur's licence but most users do follow these guidelines.

160 Metres

160 Metres 1810 1838 1838 1840 1840 1843 1843 2000
IARU Region 1
IARU Region 2 1800 - 1840
IARU Region 3 1800 - 1840
Note: Region 2 QRP/DX window is 1830-1850

80 Metres

80 Metres 3500 3580 3580 3600 3600 3620 3620 3800
IARU Region 1

60 Metres

60 Metres 5258.5 5278.5 5288.5 5366.5 5371.5 5398.5 5403.5
 United Kingdom FA FB FC FK FL FE FM
Note: 60 Meter emissions are limited to UK NoV-endorsed Full licence holders only

in 3kHz channels with the specified lower frequency limits, 200 watts

40 Metres

40 Metres 7000 7035 7035 7040 7040 7043 7043 7100 7100 7200
IARU Region 1
Note: 7100-7200 allocated on a secondary non-interference basis

30 Metres

30 Metres 10100 10140 10140 10150
IARU Region 1

20 Metres

20 Metres 14000 14070 14070 14099 B 14101 14350
IARU Region 1

17 Metres

17 Metres 18068 18095 18095 18109 B 18111 18168
IARU Region 1

15 Metres

15 Metres 21000 21070 21070 21110 21110 21120 21120 21149 B 21151 21450
IARU Region 1

12 Metres

12 Metres 24890 24915 24915 24929 B 24931 24990
IARU Region 1

10 Metres

10 Metres 28000 28070 28070 28190 B 28225 29200 29200 29300 29300 29510 29510 29700
IARU Region 1 Satellite D/L

Key

= CW and data (<200 Hz bandwidth)
= CW, RTTY and data (< 500 Hz Bandwidth)
= CW, RTTY, data, NO SSB (<2.7 kHz)
= CW, phone and image (<3 kHz bandwidth) SECONDARY
= CW, phone and image (<3 kHz bandwidth)
= CW, data, packet, FM, phone and image (<20 kHz bandwidth)
= CW, RTTY, data, test, phone and image
= Reserved for satellite downlink
= Reserved for beacons

ITU Region 2

ITU region 2 consists of the Americas, including Greenland. The frequency allocations for United States hams in ITU Region 2 are:

Medium Frequency (MF) (300 kHz to 3 MHz)

High Frequency (HF) (3.0 - 30.0 MHz)

Very High Frequency (VHF) (30 to 300 MHz)

Ultra High Frequency (UHF) (300 MHz to 3 GHz)

Super High Frequency (SHF) (3 to 30 GHz)

Extremely High Frequency (EHF) (30 to 300 GHz)

The ARRL has a detailed band plan for US hams showing allocations within each band.

RAC has a chart showing the frequencies available to amateurs in Canada.

Table of Amateur MF and HF Allocations in the United States and Canada

160 m 1800 - 2000
 Canada
 United States 1800 2000
General, Advanced, Extra
80 / 75 m 3500 - 4000
 Canada
 United States 3500 3525 3525 3600 3600 3700 3700 3800 3800 4000
Novice / Technician
General
Advanced
Extra
60 m 5330 - 5406
 United States 5330.5 5346.5 5366.5 5371.5 5403.5
General, Advanced, Extra
Note: US licensees operating 60 m are limited to emissions of upper sideband suppressed carrier, 2.8 kHz bandwidth (2K80J3E), 50 watts PEP ERP relative to a 1/2 wave dipole, on the carrier frequencies indicated on this chart
40 m 7000 - 7300
 Canada
 United States 7000 7025 7025 7125 7125 7175 7175 7300
Novice / Technician
General
Advanced
Extra
30 m 10100 10150
 Canada
 United States
Note: US limited to General, Advanced and Extra

licensees; 200 watts PEP

20 m 14000 - 14350
 Canada
 United States 14000 14025 14025 14150 14150 14175 14175 14225 14225 14350
General
Advanced
Extra
17 m 18068 - 18168
 Canada
 United States 18068 18110 18110 18168
General, Advanced, Extra
15 m 21000 - 21450
 Canada
 United States 21000 21025 21025 21200 21200 21225 21225 21275 21275 21450
Novice / Technician
General
Advanced
Extra
12 m 24890 - 24990
 Canada
 United States 24890 24930 24930 24990
General, Advanced, Extra
10 m 28000 - 29700
 Canada
 United States 28000 28300 28300 28500 28500 29700
Novice / Technician
General, Advanced, Extra
Note: The 10 meter table is one-third scale, relative to the other tables

Key

= CW, RTTY and data (US: < 1 kHz Bandwidth)
= CW, RTTY, data, MCW, test, phone and image
= CW, phone and image
= CW and SSB phone (US: Novice/Technician 200 watts PEP only)
= CW, RTTY, data, phone and image
= CW (US: Novice/Technician 200 watts PEP only)
= Upper sideband suppressed carrier phone, 2.8 kHz bandwidth (2K80J3E), 50 watts ERP referenced to dipole

ITU Region 3

ITU region 3 consists of Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Asia south of Siberia. The IARU Region 3 Bandplan [4]

The Wireless Institute of Australia has charts for Amateur frequencies for Australia.

The New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART) has charts for Amateur frequencies and repeater lists for New Zealand.

The Japanese have charts for Amateur frequencies in Japan

Space Operations

The ITU regions apply for stations operating within 50 kilometres (31 mi) of the Earth's surface. Separate international agreements coordinate band use for amateur satellite and space operation.

References

  1. ^ Larry D. Wolfgang et al., (ed), The ARRL Handbook for Radio Amateurs, Sixty-Eighth Edition , (1991), ARRL, Newington CT USA ISBN 0872591689 Chapter 37
  2. ^ http://df5ai.net/ArticlesDL/HadleyCellProp.pdf
  3. ^ http://sektion-vhf.ssa.se/dxrecord/dxrec.htm
  4. ^ http://www.jarl.or.jp/iaru-r3/
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