ITU Radio Band Numbers 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 A B C D E F G H I J K L M IEEE Radar bands HF VHF UHF L S C X Ku K Ka Q V W edit

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 1 Bands 1.1 Notes 2 Named frequency bands 2.1 General 2.2 Amateur radio frequencies 2.3 IEEE US 2.4 EU, NATO, US ECM frequency designations 2.5 Waveguide frequency bands 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Bands

Band name	Abbr	ITU band	Frequency and wavelength in air	Example uses
subHertz	subHz	0	< 3 Hz > 100,000 km	Natural and man-made electromagnetic waves (millihertz, microhertz, nanohertz) from earth, ionosphere, sun, planets, etc[citation needed]
Extremely low frequency	ELF	1	3–30 Hz 100,000 km – 10,000 km	Communication with submarines
Super low frequency	SLF	2	30–300 Hz 10,000 km – 1000 km	Communication with submarines
Ultra low frequency	ULF	3	300–3000 Hz 1000 km – 100 km	Communication within mines
Very low frequency	VLF	4	3–30 kHz 100 km – 10 km	Submarine communication, avalanche beacons, wireless heart rate monitors, geophysics
Low frequency	LF	5	30–300 kHz 10 km – 1 km	Navigation, time signals, AM longwave broadcasting, RFID
Medium frequency	MF	6	300–3000 kHz 1 km – 100 m	AM (medium-wave) broadcasts
High frequency	HF	7	3–30 MHz 100 m – 10 m	Shortwave broadcasts, amateur radio and over-the-horizon aviation communications, RFID
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
Ultra high frequency	UHF	9	300–3000 MHz 1 m – 100 mm	Television broadcasts, microwave ovens, mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, GPS and two-way radios such as Land Mobile, FRS and GMRS radios
Super high frequency	SHF	10	3–30 GHz 100 mm – 10 mm	Microwave devices, wireless LAN, most modern radars
Extremely high frequency	EHF	11	30–300 GHz 10 mm – 1 mm	Radio astronomy, high-frequency microwave radio relay
Terahertz	THz	12	300–3,000 GHz 1 mm – 100 μm	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

[edit] Notes

• In theory, any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum may be used for information-carrying, so that there is no upper or lower limit to the frequencies of radio transmission.^{[dubious – discuss]}
• 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.
• The ELF, SLF, ULF, and VLF bands overlap the AF (audio frequency) spectrum, which is approximately 20–20,000 Hz. However, sounds are transmitted by atmospheric compression and expansion, and not by electromagnetic energy.
• The SHF and EHF bands are sometimes not considered to be a part of the radio spectrum, forming their own microwave spectrum.

[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

^[2]

Band	Frequency range	Origin of name
HF band	3 to 30 MHz	High Frequency
VHF band	30 to 300 MHz	Very High Frequency
UHF band	300 to 1000 MHz	Ultra High Frequency Frequencies from 216 to 450 MHz were sometimes called P-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] 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 [3]
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

[edit] See also

• Frequency allocation

[edit] References

• ITU-R Recommendation V.431: Nomenclature of the frequency and wavelength bands used in telecommunications. International Telecommunication Union, Geneva.
• IEEE Standard 521-2002: Standard Letter Designations for Radar-Frequency Bands
• AFR 55-44/AR 105-86/OPNAVINST 3430.9A/MCO 3430.1, 27 October 1964 superseded by AFR 55-44/AR 105-86/OPNAVINST 3430.1A/MCO 3430.1A, 6 December 1978: Performing Electronic Countermeasures in the United States and Canada, Attachment 1,ECM Frequency Authorizations.