Radio Spectrum Relevant to Amateur Radio
Radio Spectrum Relevant to Amateur Radio
The term radio waves is generally used for the electromagnetic spectrum up to 3000 GHz in frequency. National Frequency Allocation Plan 2022 is the latest available document for India. India comes in the Region 3 of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
National Frequency Allocation Plan 2022 includes both amateur service and amateur satellite service along with other allocations for the radio spectrum. It can be downloaded from the Department of Telecommunications website at: https://dot.gov.in/whatsnew/national-frequency-allocation-plan-2022 and is a 218 page document. Please verify directly with Department of Telecommunications website as there could be transcription errors and changes in future.
Low Frequency or LF band is from 30 to 300 kHz. NFAP 2022 mentions that amateur service using the alloted frequencies in the band 135.7-137.8 kHz shall not exceed a maximum radiated power of 1 W and should not cause harmful interference to stations of radionavigation.
Medium Frequency or MF band is from 300 kHz to 3 MHz. According to NFAP 2022, amateur service using the alloted frequencies in the band 472-479 kHz shall not exceed 1 W and should not cause harmful interference to stations of the aeronautical radionavigation service.
High Frequency or HF band is from 3 to 30 MHz, the band mainly used for long distance communications prior to the satellite era. According to NFAP 2022, the frequencies alloted for amateur service in HF band are 1 800-1 825 kHz, 3 500-3 700 kHz, 3 890-3 900 kHz, 5 351.5-5 366.5 kHz (maximum power 15 W), 7 000-7 100 kHz for amateur and amateur satellite, 7 100-7 200 kHz for amateur, 10 100-10 150 kHz, 14 000-14 250 kHz for amateur and amateur satellite, 14 250-14 350 kHz for amateur, 18 068-18 168 kHz for amateur and amateur satellite, 21 000-21 450 kHz for amateur and amateur satellite, 24 890-24 990 kHz for amateur and amateur satellite and 28-29.7 MHz for amateur and amateur satellite. World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) bands are shown in red colour.
Very High Frequency or VHF band is from 30 to 300 MHz, typically having line of sight propagation. Very popular for simplex operation and split operation through repeaters. According to NFAP 2022, the frequencies alloted for amateur service in VHF band are 50-54 MHz (shared with other services), 144-146 MHz for amateur and amateur satellite and 146-148 MHz (shared with other services).
Ultra High Frequency or UHF band is from 300 to 3000 MHz, again with line of sight propagation. According to NFAP 2022, the frequencies alloted for amateur service in UHF band are 430-440 MHz (shared with other services), 1 240-1 300 MHz (shared with other services) and 2 300-2 450 MHz (shared with other services) [Qatar Oscar 100 Geostationary Satellite uplink comes in this range].
Super High Frequency or SHF band is from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, also known as microwave band. According to NFAP 2022, the frequencies alloted for amateur service in SHF band are 3 300-3 500 MHz (shared with other services), 5 650 – 5 830 MHz (shared with other services), 5 830-5 850 MHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite (space-to-Earth), 10-10.45 GHz (shared with other services), 10.45-10.5 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite [Qatar Oscar 100 Geostationary Satellite downlink comes in this range], 24-24.05 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite and 24.05-24.25 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur
Extremely High Frequency or EHF band is from 30 to 300 GHz. According to NFAP 2022, the frequencies alloted for amateur service in EHF band are 47-47.2 GHz for amateur and amateur-satellite, 76-81 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite, 122.25-123 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur, 134- 141 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite and 241-250 GHz (shared with other services) for amateur and amateur-satellite.