The Radio Spectrum - UK Allocations

Latest revision : 12.feb.2012   (tidied up, many updates)


A guide from 0 Hz to 30 EHz (DC to Gamma rays). The main bands, all frequencies in MHz unless otherwise stated. With grateful thanks to OFCOM (previously the UK Radiocomms Agency) for so openly publishling all you need to know... even if actually tuning in to anything other than Broadcasting/CB/Ham is not allowed, that's the rules, folks. Which is why there are no details of Private systems here... this page details frequency ranges and channel schemes that could be used for various services, but not actual, specific instances - unless the details are so commonly available elsewhere that they can't be considered secret. OFCOM themselves are now making licence details public, so the PMR bands usage is now public domain.

As recommended by Short Wave Magazine (UK) - "Excellent... well worth a look"

established in 1997 - 15 years already!
DISCLAIMER: This page is provided for interest/curiosity only. Private services should remain that way, if you listen without a licence (you can't get them) to anything other than licenced Broadcasting or Amateur Radio (& CB) you are breaking the law. Even having a private frequency stored in a receiver's memory channel is considered to be proof of intercepting messages that are not intended for you. Penalties include heavy fines and/or imprisonment.
You have been warned.

Under Section 5(b) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 it is an offence to use radio equipment with intent to obtain information as to the contents, sender or addressee of any messages, whether or not the information is passed on, which the user has not been authorised to receive.

Eavesdropping is tempting because wide-area mobile comms are obviously designed to cover a large area and so it really is quite easy to receive at least base stations and repeaters. If you say they deserve to be heard if they don't encrypt their voice traffic in any way - I would say you need to consider the harsh economic reality of replacing huge numbers of radios, but it will happen. You may think that the USA has things right, as they may listen to their public services (but not cellphones) but you can't argue with our law unless you can get it changed, and unprocessed bacon might fly. There may well be a large number of cases of the US public assisting their law officers after having heard about incidents on their scanners, but I don't think that justifies the personal details of victims of crime being known. If anything, maybe there should be a clear channel in each area that the public MAY listen to, where the police actually ask the public for their assistance. Could be tricky from a legal liability angle though! Please don't tell me you think you have a right to listen to the movements of covert investigations...

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HINT: There is a glossary at the end of this page to explain all the funny acronyms!
So what's the point of this page? Personally, I've been fascinated by the magic of radio all of my life, fiddling around with radios since primary school, and over the years having read a fair bit about communication systems and the radio spectrum, I've now got a lot of radio information rattling around in my head. I thought it would be nice to share it with the world, via the web, to show what a crowded resource the RF spectrum is; how every nook and cranny is allocated to some service or other; how OFCOM has to balance the needs of various services when they are asked for more spectrum. Also, with all that RF energy passing through your body, don't you think you have a right to know exactly what sort of emissions are zapping through you? (I'm not saying you have a right to know the content of the messages, only the nature of the delivery). Also, Amateurs should be aware of the services that could be affected should their equipment not be up to the required standard. Likewise to anyone foolish enough to consider operating an unlicenced pirate station - just don't - there really isn't any point is there? And lastly, because published books are often out of date or plainly wrong in these matters.


This revision of the page may be the last major update you'll be getting for a while. I'll keep things up to date if they change, but I'm happy with the layout and not much is changing these days. Unless new channel plans or allocations come along, this is just about it. I'll keep things as accurate as I can, but it's now too much work to go checking all the links. I've researched all the topics that interest me and I've done my best to share what I've found. If you want to know more, firstly read the entire OFCOM site, then learn to use the major search engines effectively, and join some of the many expert mailing lists.
Errors and Omissions are most likely to appear above the range of most scanners (1.3GHz), as that is of little interest to most of us, and it's mostly digital these days.
Many thanks to those who have had the patience to keep replacing the page each time I updated it. Thanks everyone, I hope it's been worthwhile - "The Author"

I think it has been VERY worthwhile, I've learnt a lot from this. I'd like to thank The Author for all their hard work. It has been a pleasure hosting the page. Thank you!! - RF-man


So if you've ever wondered what's beyond the dial on your ordinary radio, this is the page for you. Just be aware that you shouldn't tune in to anything private - if someone is talking loudly in the street and you can easily overhear, you still don't morally have the right to listen do you? If the vast amount of broadcasts and ham radio conversations aren't enough to amuse you (and the rest of what life in general has to offer) then that's quite sad. If I ever have time to switch on my receiver (to see what the propagation's like) the only bands I need to go to are amateur ones. And good music is much more satisfying. If you can find it.

In a decade or so there may not be all that much else to listen to anyway on current scanners, as almost all radio users head towards digital systems, often secure ones too. Maybe the spectrum will one day consist of just one system for mobile access to THE NET which provides for all possible communication needs - a load of buzzing noises wherever you tune, except for the long-established amateur bands. Then you scanner owners can relax, you won't be able to do anything illegal with them if you try - unless you decide to throw them through someone's window!

A scanner is already useless except for listening to the hams, airband, marine and a few businesses. Those who were only into the naughty stuff will have to adjust to a world where shopwatch schemes and the occasional search and rescue mission provide the only interest - or find another hobby. Those who are genuinely interested in radio will have no choice but to go down the amateur route.

I would say that if you have an interest in these matters, devote your energies now to Amateur Radio PLEASE! We need more activity in the bands. Amateur radio covers bands from Low Frequencies (with 2km wavelengths) to ultra-high micro-wave bands (wavelengths in millimetres) with modes ranging from good old-fashioned morse code (CW) to AM/FM speech (communications bandwidths) to advanced narrowband speech (Single Side Band) to Television (slow scan like FAX through to full motion/definition FMW broadcast quality) to digital/data modes like RTTY and Packet. Transmissions can be direct, fixed and mobile (and Maritime Mobile), via satellite, bent through the troposphere, bounced off various layers of charged particles in the upper atmosphere, or even bounced off the moon (EME), or shooting stars (MS)! And all for just 15 quid per year - bargain. Go on, prove you know what you're talking about, get a callsign soon. Even if you don't ever use it...     See the OFCOM web-page info, or the Radio Society for Good Buddies site for more details, or the UK Ham Radio FAQ. And the G7KPF Quick Links. Join and support the RSGB too, it's a good idea as they do tend to negotiate new bands for us.

Here then, is my quick tour of the spectrum of 2012, with links to other sites where appropriate.
All information sourced from freely published books, magazines and web-sites (RA,ERO), without the need for a scanner, as part of an ongoing quest to figure out what lies beyond the broadcasting bands...

Bands (MHz)


Services

Broadcasting - LW,MW,SW, 87.5-108, DAB, TV, you're invited to listen (there's money in it, or a license fee to justify!).

Amateur & CB - HF, 50, 70, 144, 430 MHz etc. Can be good, can be dull - you decide. You may listen. (The rules)

Aeronautical - "airband" - HF, 108-137 MHz. You may not listen, but it seems to be tolerated.

Maritime - HF, 156-163 MHz. Probably tolerated, but no listening unless licensed, and on-board.

...thou shalt NOT listen...

Low Power / Short Range Devices - Cordless telephones / headphones / microphones, remote control etc.

PMSE - SAB/SAP - when TV/radio/film/programme makers use radio. Managed by JFMG (2012 frequencies):
a) Radiomicrophones - carrying "programme audio" obviously,
b) Talkback - on-site comms (simplex or continous duplex) or wide-area comms back to base,
c) Links - mobile "programme audio" back to base, or Fixed links between sites.
Like the military and many low-power devices, they seem to crop up all over the spectrum! However, some of the assignments in shared bands (mainly BBC) are to cease in 2000, leaving mostly primary bands.
As Bands I, III, IV and V are designated BROADCASTING it seems logical that broadcasters may also use these bands for mics and comms either at UHF on locally unused "in-band" channels, or (also for links) in the VHF bands that are no longer used for broadcasting.
Around 174MHz is very popular for mics, as well as other parts of Band III that coincide with French TV carriers and so are not used for PBR.
Note that JFMG also deal with Special Event short-term assignments for local comms, e.g. Ascot.

PMR - channels are allocated in all bands to different categories such as :
. National exclusive,
. Wide Area Shared "G3" - taxis "T1", despatch "H4" etc. - 30kms range,
. ...& Medical (ambulance service - high band)
. CBS (follow the link for Common Base channels),
. On-site shared - dual "C2" or single "O5" - 3km range max., why not use PMR446?!
. Suppliers Light (was Short Term Hire) (up to 1 year), demo (28 days), "parking" (3 months), Test&Dev,
. specific uses i.e. Road Construction
. Simple UK Light (was 'UK General') "U3" - mobile only, anywhere in UK, 5W ERP max - Shared channels : 5 in low-band, 2 in mid-band, 5 in high-band, 3 at UHF. (in 2002 the UHF channels changed and various conditions too. No time limit now, so it's a good LICENSED replacement for SRBR and 446, 20 quid a year)
Which explains why that "spare channel" can't be used for anything else in your area!
Given that the number of users of PMR channels runs into tens of thousands ( 2003 report, 2000 report, and 1997 report) , it would be quite futile to attempt to list them all - it amazes me that publications even try.
Even worse, once a frequency/user tie-up makes it into print, no-one ever seems to doubt its validity and it's often printed way after it ceased to be used!
Fair enough to list national allocations, the general type of use for a channel - but to try and find EVERY assigment, EVERY taxi firm.... ho hum.

Military - various web pages will show that there is a world market for equipment operating in the bands such as HF, 30-87.5 (25kHz FM), 116-155 & 225-400 (25kHz AM), 470-512 etc. Note that whilst the odd Combat Net here and there may be "in the clear" any serious tactical use would be very hard to find. Frequency hopping and scrambling are used - after all, would you want your country defended by forces that could be easily monitored?
Operational use (like PMR) for base security, training, Mil. Police, MOULD etc. involves fixed frequencies, and various books show that Low VHF, Low Band, Mid Band, 406.1-420 and UHF1 are heavily used for these purposes. There is currently a general move from VHF to UHF, and the use of a TETRA system is being considered. This type of radio traffic is still not to be listened to!

...thou shalt definitely NOT listen...
(2009 update: and now everything is digital you can't anyway!)

Public Telecomms - paging, mobile telephone/data - the reason why scanner manufacturers HAD to include coverage of the 900MHz band (! there's nowt else up there to listen to). Eavesdropping on analogue mobile calls is quite rightly frowned upon.

Home Office for the Emergency Services - previous versions of this document did not mention these allocations, but as the bands are shown on OFCOM pages, and in various books, some are now included for the sake of clarity. Only the BANDS are shown, not actual frequencies in use. Do NOT listen in!


Notes

NOTE 1: Boundaries - a "equals" symbol (=) is used here to clarify a known boundary between two band sections, this usually means no transmissions on the frequency itself, but that use of the band includes RF emissions up to that point. This could be a point between two normal channels, such as the 165.04375 boundary between the last mid-band channel 165.0375 and the first high band channel 165.050, or even a "wasted" channel giving "guard band" separation between two types of service.
As an example, Band II is bounded by 87.5 to 108, whereas I try wherever possible to specify bands by the first and last channel centres, in this case 87.6 to 107.9 (in the USA, VOR tests are allowed on 108.0 just to confuse matters, so long as no interference is caused). (Some aero DME channels are tuned by selecting 108.0 even though there's no signal on 108!)
One exception is the international marine 156.0 boundary - used for channel 0 uniquely in the UK, which isn't at odds with the 154-156 use below I guess!
The RA/OFCOM usually specify bands as boundaries - hence I try here to show actual usage.

NOTE 2: Dots after a frequency signifies the start of a range, whereas a single spot frequency has no trailing dots - although this doesn't apply in the two-column section. Frequencies given relate to the center of the transmission (COFDM, FM, AM) (i.e. the unmodulated carrier with carrier-based systems such as FM/AM), or the absent carrier for SSB.

NOTE 3: Scanner folk often use the terms Simplex and Duplex wrongly to describe Single and Dual frequency systems. The term Simplex means taking turns to transmit, whether on one or more frequencies. The proper terms to use are S.F.S. (Single Frequency Simplex) and D.F.S (Dual..). Duplex only applies on telephone style systems where one party can interupt the other. Even TT (Talk-Through; repeaters) is still simplex. I use the abbrev.s Single and Dual. Any time I specify "Split" generally implies D.F.S., and details are given as base freq.s, with the change in frequency in +/- MHz needed to hear the mobile.
Even "Duplex" doesn't neccessarily mean two frequencies, new digital systems can rapidly take turns on the same freq. by time-compressing the audio data-stream!
ASSUMING you have permission to listen...
S.F.S. and TT (repeaters) are obviously very easy to monitor with just one memory (or in manual mode) and "scan delay" isn't a problem - the longer the delay the better, as many radio users seem to need a few seconds to think of a reply (TT "over" pips are generally a waste of time, most dimwits wait for the squelch crunch). This means conventional scanners are fine for monitoring amateur, CB, airband, ship-shore-ship, some PMR etc.
Private D.F.S is more tricky, depending on whether the base transmits pips to let other mobiles know the channel is busy. True D.F.S. with no "busy signal" just requires two scan memories and no scan-delay, which not all scanners allow. With "busy-pips" you'll need to be just a little smarter to catch all the action, should you have permission. Dare I suggest investing in a cheap-n-cheerful second receiver to take care of just the strong base freq.s while using the better set/antenna for the mobile side...
These difficulties could be quite easily overcome if the manufacturers thought just a teensy bit harder about the operation of their receivers. By the time they DO get such advances implemented, everything will be digital anyway!

NOTES: FM deviation and bandwidth :
Bandwidth = 2(PeakDeviation+HighestModulationFreq) ... this is Carson's Rule - a rule of thumb, but very close. For 3kHz maximum speech frequency comms :
BW= 2(5+3) = 16kHz (for 5kHz dev)
BW= 2(2.5+3) = 11kHz (for 2.5kHz dev)

"The -60 or -70dBc bandwidth is approximately twice the Carson bandwidth."

The modulation index is defined as the peak deviation divided by the highest modulating frequncy. "This would be 5/3 for NBFM and 2.5/3 for the really narrow stuff. Modulation indexes under 1 don't really work that well, 5/3 is almost 2, and broadcast FM uses 75/15 or 5. It depends on the type of Signal-to-Noise Ratio you need." Note also that true FM uses pre-emphasis per octave from 300 to 3000Hz - which matches the effect of Phase Modulation.

 deviation v. bandwidth (not accounting for frequency accuracy)

   kHz    kHz   max  band   mod
 spacing  dev   mod  width  index
    6.25   1     2     6    0.5      narrowband experimental
   10      2     3    10    0.66     CB/10m/6m
   12.5    2.5   3    11    0.833    PMR/2m
   15      3     3    12    1        (USA)
   20      4     3    14    1.33     (some amateur)
   25      5     3    16    1.66     70cm/marine
  WEFAX    9     4    26    2.25     137MHz etc
   WFM    75    15   180    5        Band II

"Analog FM doesn't perform as well in narrowband channels as it does in 25kHz
channels. If narrowband analog is deployed, there is a 6dB degradation in
performance from reduced deviation coupled with a 3dB improvement in receiver
noise performance due to the narrower IF filter, resulting in a 3dB overall
degradation. High-signal performance is reduced and a high SINAD cannot be
achieved because some FM sideband information is lost passing through the
narrow IF filter. Also, narrowband analog becomes more susceptible to noise
pops, giving up the advantage that normal analog FM enjoys." - in other words
a wider bandwidth system enjoys a higher S/N ratio due to increased deviation,
overcoming the additional noise getting through the wider receive filter.

But, enjoy your analogue FM while you can, because everything is heading towards
digital. Currently it seems that PBR in the UK is all heading towards a couple of
competing systems using the same voice codec (AMBE+2 at 3.6kbit/s), and both
modulate the RF with 4 level FSK. These two ETSI Euro standards vary by
bandwidth and channel sharing (timeslots) :

DMR Tier II (TDMA)
  Pulsed due to Time Division with 2 slots in a 12.5kHz channel
  Motorola's MotoTRBO is DMR-II
  DMR tier 1 is used on the 8 wider channels on digital 446 at 446.1-446.2
  DMR tier 3 is a trunked system under development.

NXDN (FDMA)
  Continuous with no timeslots, narrowband (6.25kHz)
  Kenwood's NEXEDGE and Icom's IDAS
  dPMR on the 16 narrow channels on digital 446

In the amateur world, VHF/UHF digital voice comms are mostly D-Star, which is an earlier
version of the AMBE codec at the same bitrate as the above, and continuous (FDMA) like NXDN
but FM modulated as GMSK.

I expect future scanners to decode all 3 open standards if the AMBE codec is licenced.



Electromagnetic spectrum...       (Radiocomms Agency allocations page)       try the glossary at the end for abbreviations

MHz

  0 Hz       No cycles per second - let's call it DC!

             The planet Earth itself hums accoustically (apparently) with around 50 persistent notes 
             between 2 and 7 milliHertz. We are talking of cycle lengths of several minutes here.

--0.000001--(1Hz, 1 per sec.)---
             
  Hz         Brainwaves... (Electrical activity in your thinking-gear)
   0.1...    Delta - Sleep
   3...      Theta - Sluggish, day-dreaming
   7...      Alpha - Relaxed and receptive
  13...      Beta  - Very alert
  30...      High Beta - Paranormal powers!



--0.00002=--(20Hz)--------------
             Audible if converted to soundwaves (like with, er, speakers)

             ELF,ILF,VLF Atmo-"sferics", "chorus", "tweeks" (1.5-5kHz), "whistlers" - natural phenomena
             mainly from lightening pulses trapped in "waveguides" between ion. layers


  0.000050     UK mains AC electricity (50Hz, 240V) - 6000 km wavelength

  0.000067...  CTCSS (Tone squelch) tones, background 
               (non standard 33 35.4 36.6 37.9 39.6 44.4 47.5 49.2 51.2 53 54.9 56.8 58.8 63)
               67 69.3/69.4 71.9 74.4 77 79.7 82.5 85.4 88.5 91.5 94.8 97.4 100 103.5 107.2 110.9 114.8 118.8
               123 127.3 131.8 136.5 141.3 146.2 151.4 156.7 159.8 162.2 165.5 167.9 171.3 173.8 177.3
               179.9 183.5 186.2 189.9 192.8 196.6 199.5 203.5 206.5 210.7 218.1 225.7 229.1 233.6 241.8
               250.3 254.1 Hz   (150 Hz is a military standard)  (DCS uses 134.4 baud rate)


  --sound---------   known as:           Headphones
      0 -    32 Hz   Extreme bass
     20 -    40 Hz   Low bass, bottom octave
     40 -    80 Hz   Mid bass
     80 -   160 Hz   Upper bass
    160 -   320 Hz   Lower midrange
   0.32 -  2.56 kHz  Midrange
   2.56 -  5.12 kKz  Upper midrange
   5.12 - 10.24 kHz  Highs
  10.24 - 20 kHz     Extreme highs, top octave



  ---music---
  0.000016,35  C-1 nice and bass-y (16Hz)
  0.000261,63  C3  note "middle C"  (see Piano Tuning)
       277.18  C# (these in Hz)
       293.66  D
       311.13  D#    To double a frequency in 12 equal steps (semi-tones) to complete
       329.63  E     one octave, multiply a note by 2 to the power of 1/12th to obtain
       349.23  F     the next note.    440 (A) x 1.059463094 = 466.16 (A#)
       369.99  F#
       392.0   G
       415.3   G#
       440.0   A   used for main reference
       466.16  A#
       493.88  B
  0.000523,25  C4  the note C again. Only an octave higher. (x2, yeah?)
      4186.00  C7  a really annoying 4kHz note C
      7902.13  B7
  0.012543,85  G8  highest midi note

  0.002700..   above 2.7 kHz not neccessary for comms speech, phones etc, and so for 
               phones it's filtered out. Hence too the 3kHz channel spacings on HF.
  0.015...     FM broadcast audio is filtered out above 15kHz
  0.019        FM stereo "pilot tone"
  0.020        approx. limit of human hearing (location : Bats 30k-80k, Whales 50k-200k)



--0.003=-----(3kHz)-------------
          VLF,LF: Mobile, Fixed, Navigation, DGPS, Time Signals (20,25,50,60,66.6,75kHz)
          Enormous wavelengths are very useful for penetrating rock (cave to surface - molephones) and
          the oceans (for submarines) but the antennas need to be rather large, or magnetic loops.
          See LW enthusiasts site http://www.lwca.org
 
  0.009   UK Thunderstorm detection system, airborne and ground based
          0.0102  ex Omega hyperbolic fix Nav. (& 11.05 & 11.33 & 13.6 kHz)  ** ceased sep.97 **
          0.016   ex GBR, Rugby. A BT service, closed 31.mar.2003
  0.060   MSF British Time signal 
          0.070...ex Decca Nav. purple slaves, to 72kHz   (5f) Llancarfan
          0.073   ex UK Ham 4km band ( 71.6= - 74.4= kHz)  ** UK only, 1996 until 30.jun.2003 **
          0.084=..ex Decca Nav. masters, to 86= kHz       (6f) Bolberry Down (f=14.046666.)
  0.100   NELS Loran-C Navigation. 4MW pulsed.  Loophead,Lessay,Sylt,Soustons (90 - 110)
          0.112...ex Decca Nav. red slaves, to 117.6kHz   (8f) Jersey
          0.126...ex Decca Nav. green slaves, to 129kHz   (9f) St.Marys
  0.13347 Mobile data service (& 146.705 kHz)
  0.13675 Ham 2km band (135.7= - 137.8= kHz)   ** new Euro band, 1998 **

          Decca involved a non-radiated fundamental freq around 14kHz, and a "chain" used
          freq.s that were 5,6,8 and 9 times that of the fundamental.   Ended 31.mar.2000




--0.1485=-----------------------     [checked 2012 - wiki link added]
  0.153.. LW Long Wave AM Broadcasting, to 0.279 - 9kHz channels (ITU Region1)  + some Nav. (NDB)
          See wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwave

    153   Germany, Romania, Algeria
    162   France (FSK data), Turkey           165 to 190kHz is 1800m band in NZ (5W ERP max)
    171   Russia, Morocco (ex possible future Dutch "Delta 171")
    177   Germany
    180   Turkey, Russia
    183   Germany
    189   Iceland, Russia  ex Italy

    198   UK BBC Radio 4  (FSK data) Droitwich, Burghead & Westerglen 
          used to be 200kHz(1500m) until Feb 1st 1988... ex BBC R2  ex Light Programme  ex National Prog.
          For as long as the remaining few valves last, then it will go silent!

    207   Germany, Morocco
    216   RMC Monaco,  ex Norway
    225   Poland, Turkey, Russia   spare UK INR allocation
    234   Luxembourg, Russia
    243   Denmark, Russia
    252   EIRE RTE R1 (ex TeamTalk 25/2/02) ex Atlantic 252, Algeria
    261   Moscow
    270   Czech
    279   Belarus,  ex planned MusicMann 279 (Isle of Man)

          On old radios, French GO=Grandes Ondes (LW), PO=Petites Ondes (MW), OC=Ondes Courtes (SW) 

          A conference in Prague in 1929 provided for the 9-khz channels (then called kilocycles) in the
          Europeen Broadcasting Area for LW and MW ... "a few hadn't moved even by 1964 (MW)"

          "LW .. built around 200 Khz being a frequency check by Droitwich, so went 200,209, 218,
          ..etc and 191, 182...etc the other way.  A lot later when PLL and synthesised tuning came in,
          the channels were changed to be multiples of 9, so the LW all moved down 2 Khz.
          Before that, the MW had moved (November 1978) UP freq by just 1 khz for the same reason,
          thus 908 (then the BBC Radio 4) became 909 (now 5 live)"

          LW : " lower freqs (up to 177 kHz?) moved in late 1987, the middle section (180-225) in
          February 1988 and the top end in Feb 1990. Atlantic 252 launched on 254 kHz in Sept 1989"

          "Before November 1978 the arrangement on Medium Wave was like this:
          Most channels were 9 kHz spaced, on a frequency which was a multiple of 9 kHz, minus 1 kHz.
          For example, London Radio 4 was 908 kHz, Radio 3 was 647 kHz, and Radio 1 was 1214 kHz.
          There was one 10 kHz spacing at the bottom end: 539 kHz (normal pattern), then 529 kHz.
          At the top end there were 8 channel spacings of 8 kHz. I assume this must have been done to
          get one extra channel when the top end of the band was extended from around 1550 kHz to 1606.5 kHz.
          The frequencies were 1538 kHz (normal pattern), then 1546, 1554, 1562, 1570, 1578, 1586, 1594, 1602."

          1967, 30th Sept : BBC Radio 1 launched, and BBC Light (29.jul.1945), Third (sept 1946) and Home (sept 1939)
           are reorganised as Radios 2,3 & 4        (timeline)
           Light Prog was Forces Prog (1940) renamed for peacetime.
           Home Service was merger of old National Prog (1930, previously 2LO (May 1922))  and Regional Prog (1930)

          BBC services moved on 23.nov.1978 :
           R1 from 1214kHz/247m to 1089/275 and 1053/285
           R2 from 200/1500 to 693 and 909 kHz
           R3 from 647kHz to 1215/247              "3rd Programme was on 464m (647kHz) from 1951"
           R4 from 908kHz (and others) to 200/1500

           R5 took over R2's 693/909 on 27.aug.1990
           INR1 : Classic FM (1992)
           INR2 : Virgin took over R3's 1215, launched 30.apr.1993 - Virgin became Absolute in 2008 (sold)
           INR3 : Talk Radio took over R1's 1053/1089 in Feb 1995

           R6 Music : (digital) 11 Mar 2002
           R1 Xtra  : (digital) 16 Aug 2002
           BBC7     : (digital) 15 Dec 2002 - relaunched as Radio 4 Extra on 2 April 2011



           More history from frequencyfinder.org.uk [2012]
           1922: BBC opened the first regular public broacasting station in the world on 14th November, London.
                 MW was 600 - 1000 kHz
           1926: 25kW LW station opened at Daventry on 187.5 kHz (1600 metres), October.

           1926: On 14.Nov.1926, first of many international re-plans, extending to 1200 kHz, with 10kHz spacing.
           1929: 2 re-plans, 13.Jan & 30.June - extended to 1500 kHz and abandoned 10kHz channel spacing.
                 Frequencies allocated to countries instead of to individual stations.
           1934: 15.Jan plan, included UK LW moving to 200 kHz. This plan lasted until...
           1950: March, new plan extended MW from 530 to 1600 kHz.
           1978: 9kHz plan introduced.



--0.2835=-----------------------
          Marine/Aero Navigation (NDB beacons) + Maritime Mobile (CW)

  0.472   472-479 Amateur 630m band (WRC-12) - worldwide secondary, limit of 1 W EIRP, likely to start 2013
            (followed experimental CW/PSK 600m band 0.495-0.510)
  0.500   Calling, Distress (CW) from 1906 until near turn of 21st century. WRC-12 reallocated to nav use.
  0.518   Navtex, (& 490 & 4209.5 kHz)



--0.5265=-MF--------------------
  0.531.. MW Medium Wave AM Broadcasting, to 1.602 - 9 kHz channels (to 1.700 in USA, 10kHz ch)
          See the British DX Club's Lists.

          Channels internationally assigned to countries with maximum power levels specified.
          Hence the terms "national clear channel" etc. A country's channel will thus be used
          for either national networks or for lower powered local stations. If the international
          plan (Geneva, 22.11.1975) exists anywhere on the web, do let us know!
          (update: thanks Adam G1 ZHD )


 --kHz--  UK band plan:    [checked 2012]  see mediumwaveradio.com & mediumwave.de, Wikipedia
   558    ILR Spectrum (London),    ex Pirates e.g. Laser 558
   585    BBC regional (Scotland)
   603    local (BBC/ILR)
   630    BBC local (2)
   648    UK:  ex National BBC World Service (ceased 2011)
   657    BBC local (2)
   666    local (BBC/ILR)
   693    National BBC R5 Live
   720    some BBC R4
   729    BBC local (1)
   738    BBC local (low power)
   756    local (1)
   765    BBC local (1)
   774    local (mainly BBC - some R4)
   792    local (BBC/ILR) (2)
   801    BBC local (1)
   810    BBC regional (Scotland)
   819    local (BBC/ILR)
   828    local (BBC/ILR)
   837    BBC local
   855    local (BBC/ILR)
   873    BBC local
   882    BBC regional (Wales)
   909    National BBC 5 Live
   936    ILR (2)
   945    ILR (2), University inductive loops
   954    ILR (2)
   963    ILR (2), University inductive loops
   972    ILR (1)
   990    local (BBC/ILR)
   999    ILR + University/Hospital Radio loops
  1017    ILR
  1026    local (BBC/ILR)
  1035    local (BBC/ILR)
  1053    INR3 Talk Radio UK
  1089    INR3 Talk Radio UK
  1107    ILR + INR3 Talk Radio 
  1116    local (BBC/ILR)
  1125    BBC regional (Wales)
  1134    RSL low power
  1143      CFA tests, 11/2000, Wooferton
  1152    ILR
  1161    local (BBC/ILR)
  1170    ILR
  1197    fill-in INR2 Virgin / Absolute
  1215    INR2 Virgin (once "Virgin 1215") / Absolute
  1233    fill-in INR2 Virgin / Absolute
  1242    local (ILR/INR2 Virgin / Absolute)
  1251    ILR (1)
  1260    local (BBC/ILR/INR2 Virgin / Absolute)
  1269    RSL Brands Hatch
  1278    ILR + RSL
  1287    RSL
  1296    National BBC World Service
  1305    ILR
  1323    local (BBC/ILR) + ex RSL
  1332    local (BBC/ILR)
  1341    BBC regional (Ulster)
  1350    RSL (Hospital RSL)
  1359    local (BBC/ILR)
  1368    local (BBC/ILR)
  1377    ILR (1)
  1386    RSL
  1395      the new 'Big L' bigl.co.uk  (3 December 2009 to 25 January 2011)
  1404    RSL
  1413    local (BBC/ILR/RSL)
  1431    ILR, RSL
  1440       ex The Great 208 - Radio Luxembourg (MW closed 30.dec.1991) started 1933, LW, moved 1439 2.jul.1951
  1449    BBC local (some BBC R4), RSL
  1458    local BBC/ILR)
  1476    ILR
  1485    local (BBC/BBC R4/ILR)
  1494    RSL Tooting
  1503    local (BBC/RSL)
  1521    local (BBC/ILR)    1520 was Radio Caroline (started 28 Mar 1964)
  1530    local (BBC/ILR)
  1548    local (BBC/ILR)
  1557    local (BBC/ILR)
  1566    ILR
  1575    RSL
  1584    local (BBC/ILR)
  1602    local (BBC/ILR), RSL   (top channel of Geneva Plan)

  1611    used elsewhere, but out-of-band





--1.6065=------------------------
          MF "Fixed & Mobile" -  Maritime / Land / Aero(OR)

  1.642...Cordless phones (CT0 base), to 1782 (8x 20kHz FM), 
          handsets duplex at 47.456-47.543 MHz (12.5kHz spacing, 6.25 offsets)
          Channel 7 (1762) may use 47.531 or 47.444
          To be phased out. No new equipment after apr.2005
          Handsets on 1690, 1710, 1730, 1750, 1770 may be unapproved USA gear (base 49.86-49.93)

          Amateur Radio 160m "Top Band" (1.81-2.0) shared (SSB used is mainly LSB below 10MHz)

          1.6 to 3.8MHz mostly known for maritime use (intership, trawler chat etc)
          (3kHz SSB channels 1635-1797 and 2053-2153?)

          UK "Fishphone" Coastal Radio Stations (BT) all closed by 30.jun.2000
          used 25 paired channels :
          Alpha    2751 2006 Shetland via Wick  ex Norwick
          Bravo    2841 2277 Shetland via Wick, ex Norwick
          Charlie  2604 2013 Shetland via Wick, ex Norwick
          Delta    1659 2084 Shetland via Wick, ex Norwick
          Echo     2705 2524 Wick
          Foxtrot  1797 2060 Wick
          Golf     1755 2099 Wick
          Hotel    2625 2108 Wick
          India    1856 2555 Stonehaven
          Juliet   1650 2075 Stonehaven
          Kilo     1946 2566 Stonehaven
          Lima     2607 1999 Stonehaven
          Mike     3617 3249 Stonehaven
          November 1731 2527 Cullercoats
          Oscar    2828 1953 Cullercoats
          Papa     3750 2123 Cullercoats
          Quebec   1925 2105 Humber
          Romeo    2684 2002 Humber
          Sierra   2810 2562 Humber
          Tango    2698 2016 Stonehaven
          Uniform  2628 2009 Niton
          Victor - Not Assigned 
          Whisky   2782 2111 Land's End
          X-Ray    3610 2120 Land's End
          Yankee   1710 2135 Portpatrick
          Zulu     1866 2534 Hebrides via Stonehaven 

          Coastguards working channels & Maritime Safety Info Broadcasts - cruising.org.uk/RYA
          1641, 1743, 1767, 1770, 1869, 1880, 1883, 1925, 2226, 2596, 2670, 2691, 2719


  2.182   Calling, Distress (Coastguards)


          "...UK, where anyone could hear the Met police on CW - the operator sat next to the driver with
          a Morse key and he would send 'coded' messages to Scotland Yard, like 'X231 Marble Arch to Oxford
          Circus' which didn't take a lot of imagination to decipher.  These were the Wolsley saloons with
          the bell on the front.  Frequency again was around 2 megs and it is the 1930s.

          "The  ground transmitter was GWW (?) at West Wickham, SE of London, which later became the Interpol
          link with France (FSB) and other continental countries, still using Morse and equally obvious
          'X-codes' well into the 1980's."





--2.85=---HF--------------------    the "real shortwave bands"!
          mobile, fixed, military, ISM, SRD, and...            "numbers stations"/more Guide/Newer  SGC Guide PDF

 
       o  AM Broadcasting
          Tropical bands around 2.4 MHz (120 metres), 3.3 MHz (90 metres) and 5 MHz (60 metres)
          kHz Bands (as used by the BBC) :
           3950= -  4000= 75 metres
           5900= -  6200= 49 metres  +5875
           7100= -  7350= 41 metres  (7200-7450 from 29.mar.2009)
           9400= -  9900= 31 metres  +9915
          11600= - 12050= 25 metres +12095
          13570= - 13870= 22 metres
          15100= - 15800= 19 metres +15070 
          17480= - 17900= 16 metres
        ( 18900= - 19020  15 metres  SSB broadcasting after 2007 )
          21450= - 21850= 13 metres
          25600= - 26100= 11 metres
          Band boundaries are often ignored by broadcasters trying to get a clear channel

          Pirates, typically abused areas :
           3880  -  4000  76 metres
           5700  -  5900  52 metres
           6200  -  6400..48 metres (very popular)
           6940  -  6955  43 metres (USA main - SSB)
           7395  -  7555  42 metres
           9180  -  9400  32 metres (experimental)
          11400  - 11600  25 metres
          15025  - 15835  19 metres



       o  Amateur Radio       - Current [2012] RSGB Band Plans
          160m  ( 1.81-  2.0)   shared  (SSB mainly LSB)  (1920s)
          80m   ( 3.5 -  3.8)   shared  (SSB mainly LSB)  (1920s)
          60m   ( 5.1 -  5.405) various arrangements worldwide since 2002
          40m   ( 7.0 -  7.1)   primary (SSB mainly LSB)  (1920s)
             &  ( 7.1 -  7.2)   primary (SSB mainly LSB)  (WRC-03. Shared from 31.oct.2004, primary 29.mar.2009)
          30m   (10.1 - 10.15)  shared  (SSB not recommended) (WARC 1979)
          20m   (14.0 - 14.35)  primary (1920s)
          16.5m (18.068-18.168) primary (WARC 1979)
          15m   (21.0 - 21.45)  primary (1940s)
          12m   (24.89- 24.99)  primary (WARC 1979)
          10m   (28.0 - 29.7)   primary (1920s)
          Note: the original bands were harmonically related 1.8, 3.6, 7, 14, 28 (ex 56 band!) etc

                                UK 'Fivemegs' NoV experiments (Aug 2002, for 4 years) 3kHz channels centered:
                                5260 1st Working Ch FA  speech    USB: 5258.5
                                5280 2nd Working Ch FB  cw / narrow data
                                5290 3rd Working Ch FC  wide data / speech
                                5368 (new 1 Aug 2006 - 30 Jun 2010)
                                5373 (new 2006)
                                5400 Primary   Calling Channel FE   nets/calling
                                5405 Secondary Calling Channel FM   calling only



       o  Standard Frequency references, and Time signals
          at 2.5, 5.0 (Rugby), 10.0 (Rugby), 15.0, 20.0, 25.0 etc.


       o  Maritime     more 
          Bands :
           4063= -  4438= kHz
           6200= -  6525=
           8195= -  8815=
          12230= - 13200=
          16360= - 17410=
          18780= - 18900=
          19680= - 19800=
          22000= - 22855=
          25070= - 25210=
          26100= - 26175=
          Note the "even MHz" 2,4,6,8,12,16,18 etc (& 0.5 is a quarter of 2!)
               whereas Aero has the "odd MHz" 3,5,9,11,13,15 etc.

          SSB  (3kHz SSB channels) :
    kHz
   2182        Calling, Distress    
   2046+ 2049  intership
   2053+ 2056  intership
   2241        British intership
   2246        British intership
   2301        British intership
   4000- 4060  shared with Fixed Service chs 1-21
   4146+ 4149  intership  4B & 4C  (4125=4A)
   4357- 4435  shore chs  401- 427 ( -292kHz split:  4065- 4143)    4417/ 4125 calling
   6224- 6230  intership  6A,6B,6C
   6501- 6522  shore chs  601- 608 ( -301kHz split:  6200- 6221)    6516/ 6215 calling
   8101- 8191  shared with Fixed Service chs 1-31
   8291        ch  833    GMDSS
   8294+ 8297  intership  8A & 8B
   8364        SAR
   8707- 8716  chs 834-837
   8719- 8812  shore chs  801- 832 ( -524kHz split:  8195- 8288)    8779/ 8255 calling
  12353-12365  intership
  13077-13197  shore chs 1201-1241 ( -847kHz split: 12230-12350)   13137/12290 calling
  16528-16546  intership
  17242-17407  shore chs 1601-1656 ( -882kHz split: 16360-16525)   17302/16420 calling
  18825-18843  intership
  19755-19797  shore chs 1801-1815 ( -975kHz split: 18780-18822)   19770/18795 calling
  22159-22177  intership
  22696-22852  shore chs 2201-2253 ( -696kHz split: 22000-22156)   22756/22060 calling
  25100-25118  intership
  26145-26172  shore chs 2501-2510 (-1075kHz split: 25070-25097)   26172/25097 calling

        12359 Herb VAX498 (nr Toronto) 20:00 - 22:00 UTC



       o  Aeronautical R or ER (En-Route on fixed airways; so mainly civil)  (3kHz SSB channels)   more
    kHz
   2851- 3019   NATS: 2872, 2899, 2971, 3016  (Ireland)
   3401- 3497   NATS: 3413 (VolMet), 3476      BT: 3482
   4651- 4696   NATS: 4675
   5481- 5676   NATS: 5505 (VolMet), 5598, 5616, 5649   BT: 5610, 5670 (Rugby)   Speedwing: 5535 (Cove)
   6526- 6682   NATS: 6622    BT: 6634  +EC!
   8816- 8960   NATS: 8831, 8864, 8879, 8891, 8906, 8957 (VolMet)  BT: 8960
  10006-10096
  11276-11396   NATS: 11279, 11336  BT: 11306
  13261-13357   NATS: 13264 (VolMet), 13291, 13306
  17901-17967   NATS: 17946
  21925-21997



       o  Aeronautical OR (Off-Route; so mainly military)  (3kHz SSB channels)      GHFS
          Watch for "Airfield colour states" every hour at the same minutes past the hour.
          Volmet weather info broadcasts are easy to find...
    kHz
   3023 - 3152   3023 SAR (night)   and up to 3230= ?
   3800 - 3950
   4700= -4995=  +CCF
   5450= -5480=       5450 RAF VolMet
   5680          GMDSS SAR (day)
   5684 - 5726   5711
   6685 - 6763   6739
   8965 - 9037   9031  "On-the-hour" and H+30 "Architect"
  11175 -11271   11175 is the "triple 1" calling channel      11253 RAF VolMet
  13200 -13257
  15010 -15097
  17970 -18027
  21870=-21924=  Fixed
  23200=-23350=



       o  Sounding - investigating the ionospheric conditions by sweeping 2 to 30MHz every
          5 minutes (100kHz per second). A chirp hits 7MHz at about 2:28 into each 5 minute segment


       o  In the remaining parts of HF, you'd be forgiven for thinking anything goes  :o)
          I presume "fixed" on its own means mobile so long as one station is fixed!
    kHz
   3155= -3400=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile
   4000= -4063=  Fixed + Sea Mobile (4000-4060 USB, ch1-21)
   4438= -4650=  Fixed + all Mobile         +CCF
   5005= -5450=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile  +CCF
   5730= -5950=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile
   6765= -7000=  Fixed + Land Mobile (6.78 ISM : 6.765-6.795, half of 13.56)
   7300= -8100=  Fixed + Land Mobile
   8100= -8195=  Fixed + Maritime Mobile (8101-8191 USB, ch1-31)
   9040= -9500=  Fixed
   9900= -9995=  Fixed
  10150=-11175=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile
  11400=-11700=  Fixed
  12050=-12230=  Fixed
  13360=-13600=  Fixed + all Mobile  (13.56 ISM : 13.533-13.587)
  13800=-14000=  Fixed + all Mobile + EC!
  14350=-14990=  Fixed + all Mobile
  15600=-16360=  Fixed
  17410=-17550=  Fixed
  18030=-18068=  Fixed
  18168=-18780=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile
  18900=-19680=  Fixed  (18.9 to 19.02 broadcasting after 2007)
  19800=-19990=  Fixed
  20010=-21000=  Fixed + all Mobile
  21750=-21870=  Fixed
  22855=-23000=  Fixed
  23000=-23200=  Fixed + all Mobile
  23350=-24890=  Fixed + Land Mobile
  25010=-25070=  Fixed + Land Mobile
  25210=-25550=  Fixed + Land & Sea Mobile
  25550=-25600=  Radio Astronomy



       o  Cadets - CCF etc.

                 CCF (Combined Cadet Force)
                 Equipment they use tends to read 2kHz higher - 5330 etc.
          2273
          2413
          2768
          3848
          4029 ?
          4363 ?middle of a Maritime SSB channels section
          4443
   4453 - 4498   4478 4953
   4918 - 4995   4973 calling, 4918 4921 4953
   5300 - 5346   5328 5343 calling
          6913
          7708
          7751   data

                 Sea Cadets (Sunday mornings)
          6992   RL25  and RL22 6806

                 RAF Cadets (Sunday 10-13 hrs, Tues & Fri 1930)
          3236   B3
          3615   A7,B7  3678 A6     3715 B6  3752 C6
          4610   A1     4782 B2     4925 B1
          5245   C1     5770 A2,C2  5792 C4
          7450   A5     7740 A4,B4



       o  Unlicensed pirate pseudo-hams.
          "Echo Charlie" band at 6.6MHz (please let me know what EC means!) has been around for decades.
          They argue that little real harm is done on the unused civil aero channels, but a lot of
          channels ARE used, especially between 6600 and 6635. Of the hundreds of stations active,
          some do venture down as far as 6530 but "most don't really go below 6635" has been heard.
          International flight control may be affected. There may be a dozen or more QSOs at any time!
    kHz (approx)
   3430 - 3500   86 or 85m, LSB/USB    calling  3475 LSB  much aero use... SAR on 3488 etc.
   6530 - 6700   45 metres, LSB/USB    calling  6670 LSB  Italy 6660  Sweden 6685  military above 6682!
  12105 -12256   22 metres, USB                           12.105 12.13 12.16
  13630 -14000   21 metres, USB/LSB    calling 13970 USB  13995?  much data use, but not all the time
  18010 -18050   16 metres, USB/LSB    calling 18030 USB  stay above 18030, it's military aero below!
  20900 -20980   14 metres, USB/LSB    calling 20930 USB  I'd stay below 20960, if I were you.

          I hesitate to include the following because the whole approach is subtly different...
  26185 -28000   11 metres, USB/LSB    calling 27555 USB  CB "Freeband"

            



--26.175=-------------------------
          Fixed & Mobile (not aero)

          The use of HF spectrum as we know it changes near 26.1MHz, where usage becomes more 
          like VHF/6 metres - services intended to be local, rather than long-distance.

          26 (25?!!) to 28 MHz littered with freeband unofficial CB channels. (+Callsigns)   more
          Very nicely operated SSB DX, putting Amateur radio to shame!

          26.185..CB freeband Lo-Lo channels 11-40, to 26.505 (mid band - 2 x 450kHz)  26285 calling
          26.3125.unapproved French cordless phones 15 x 25kHz, to 26.4875 (handsets +15: 41.3125-41.4875)
          26.330..New Zealand CB 1-40, to 26.770 (mid band -635kHz)    calling 26.5 (ch 15)

  26.225=.Paging, to 26.9325=  25kHz     STH Paging 26.835 & 26.92
  26.25   JFMG talkback (simp) 12.5kHz 20W, and 26.35, 26.45

           26.515..CB freeband Lo channels 1-40, to 26.955 (mid band - 1 x 450kHz)
                   Allowed in Hungary AM/FM 4W mobile, 1W base - and SSB 12 or 3W
           26.565..German CB ch.s 41-80, to 26.955 (straight 10kHz sequence)

  26.87 ..future SSB CB, to 26.96 (provisional plans - 1999)
          "The UK indicted their willingness to participate in this work, although they indicated 
          that they would be opposed to introducing AM/SSB CB operation."



  EU 40 
  26.965..CB, to 27.405 (PR27) 40 FM CEPT "EURO" channels   10kHz spacings with gaps  (+/-2kHz FM deviation)
          Allowed in the UK since 1988, this is now a Euro band as agreed by an ERC decision
          in 1996. These CEPT channels are the original USA freqs, known as the "mid" channels, or EU.
          Shared with ISM, and up to 27.28= with SRD (models - AM on colour coded channels)  (USA models)

  26.965  01
  26.975  02       +"Black" (Models code)
  26.985  03
  26.995     "Brown" / 3A
  27.005  04
  27.015  05       +27.020 "Brown/Red" (5a)
  27.025  06
  27.035  07
  27.045     "Red"     +Test/Dev / 7A
  27.055  08
  27.065  09       +27.070 "Red/Orange" (9a)
  27.075  10
  27.085  11
  27.095     "Orange"  +Railway SRDs / 11A
  27.105  12
  27.115  13       +27.120 "Orange/Yellow" (13a), +ISM (2x13.56!), ex Paging (Test/Dev.),  & 27.162
  27.125  14
  27.135  15
  27.145     "Yellow" / 15A
  27.155  16
  27.165  17       +27.170 "Yellow/Green" (17a)
  27.175  18
  27.185  19
  27.195     "Green" / 19A
  27.205  20           from 20 to 40  channel num = first two decimals except 23 to 25...
  27.215  21       +27.220 "Green/Blue" (21a)
  27.225  22
  27.235  24 !                    ex 22A
  27.245  25 !     +"Blue (UK)"   ex 22B before 1977
  27.255  23 !     +"Blue (US)"   ex top channel until 1977
  27.265  26       +27.270 "Blue/Grey" or sometimes "White" (26a) or even purple!
    to
  27.405  40           27.315 31 Calling?

          Packet (AX25) allowed 20.dec.2002 on channels 24,25 & 32

          pre-1958 : USA Ham band at 26.96-27.23 very underused, and there was little business/military
          use up to 28MHz. Model control on 27.255 was inadequate and shared with all sorts of paging.
          11.sep.1958 : CB starts, on 22 new 10kHz channels in the old ham band, fitted around 5 new model
          channels later known as 3A, 7A, 11A, 15A and 19A. The old model channel was allocated to CB as channel
          23 as well as remaining as the sixth model channel. The two-channel gap between 22 and 23 gave rise
          to pirate channels 22A and 22B in the Business Band that couldn't yet be used for CB.
          1.jan.1977 : more CB channels added - there had been plans for 99 channels up to 27.995 but it was
          decided not to allow a span of more than 440kHz - to prevent intermod breakthrough to any 455kHz
          receiver Intermediate Frequency stages. The business band lost 27.23 to 27.41 to CB, the new channels
          (24 onwards) filled in the reclaimed gap between 22 and 23, and then continued up to 27.405 to make 40
          channels in all. The five newer model freqs (50kHz apart) are now part of an allocation up to 27.28= in the
          UK with channel 25 now being "Blue" (27.245) and channel 02 now "Black", amongst other interleaved channels.

          The mid channels are transposed up and down the spectrum by multiples of 450kHz to create
          extra sets of 40 channels such as "hi" and "lo", including the gaps and sequence jumps!

          26.957 to 27.283 is still an 11m Amateur band in New Zealand!

          Around 2000 I wrote: "CB should be license-free! Wakey wakey, UK!
          Very commendable, I'm sure, but licensing is really needed as a mechanism to stop idiots using
          it - licenses can be revoked. Interesting issue. Maybe a license should be for life... (unless forfeited)."
          Then OFCOM announced 23.nov.06  "measures to remove the need for users of CB radio, of which there are
          currently 20,000, to obtain a licence from Ofcom"  - effective 8.dec.2006

          2012 UPDATE :
          ECC Decision (11)03 of 24 June 2011 paves the way for the use of 27 MHz SSB CB across the British Isles
          and Europe, permitting SSB equipment (12W PEP) within band 26.96-27.41 MHz (the EU 40 channels).
          Preferred date for implementation by national administrations is October 1, 2011.
          OFCOM have said they are likely to work on this after 2012 Olympics.



  main 11m 'freeband' 
          27.415..CB freeband Hi channels 1-40, to 27.855 (mid band + 1 x 450kHz)

          27.41=...                  Alarms (27.45 12.5kHz 0.5mW)
          27.41=...                  once considered for future Digital CB, to 27.51
                                     CB in Roumanie, to 27.66
          27.5= ... Mobile, to 28    Weather balloons (sondes)

  27.555  International "Freeband" calling, USB, hi channel 12
          Callers announce the freq they'll move to, usually between 27.41 and 28MHz in 5kHz chs. Very civilised!



  UK 40 
  27.601..CB, to 27.99125  (27/81) UK ONLY - 40 FM 10kHz channels allocated 2.nov.1981

  27.60125  ch 1     MHz = (channel x 0.01) + 27.59125        Ch = first two decimals -60 +1
    to
  27.99125  ch 40    (09 was emergency monitored)    14 some calling    19 mobile (27.78125)



          27.865..CB freeband Hi-hi channels 1-11a, to 27.995 (mid band + 2 x 450kHz)

          CB can be fairly useful (when you want to speak to normal people, not just radio 
          nutters), but what a pity we're stuck with an HF allocation clogged up with 
          foreign SSB rather too often...   We need a system that allows silent monitoring, 
          like CTCSS, or (even better) a 460 MHz system as they do in the USA, Australia etc.
          NOTE: (oct98) it looks like PMR 446 will do nicely, apart from the low power.

          For the unlicensed, or simply licensed, there are three main types of radio use:
          1) Low-power handheld - now well served by PMR 446
          2) Base/mobile use that is well served by CB SOME OF THE TIME
          3) DX-ing - wasn't well served at all, leading to the 27MHz SSB and 6.6MHz problems,
             although getting onto HF legally is now far more simple.
             6.6MHz SSB should eventually ease off, and to make matters bearable for FM
             users of 27MHz I would say CTCSS is needed. I can't see 11m SSB stopping yet!
           
          There is a need for the kind of local service that allows a low-powered
          service with roof-mounted antennas to acheive local CB-like ranges WITHOUT any
          possibility of SSB interference (i.e. above 30MHz) preferably using CTCSS/DCS as
          with PMR 446. With CTCSS, and given the current demand, I would imagine 20 channels
          or less would meet the demand. A 200kHz section of spectrum allocated throughout
          Europe somewhere between 30 and 217 is hardly asking too much is it? The same
          bandwidth as ONE radio mic channel? Or extend PMR 446 with 8 more channels,
          all available to handhelds with captive antennas, but the new channels available
          to base/mobile sets with external antennas and a couple of Watts of power.




--28.0=-------------------------    [checked and updated 2012]

  28=...  Amateur 10m band, to 29.7=  primary   CW,USB,Satellite,FM      (RSGB Bandplan 2012)
  28.32.. Voice... (and other modes 2.7kHz or less), to 29.1=

  29.00.. AM usually found here, to 29.1.. maybe 29.2 ...
          29.00
          29.01
          29.02
            to
          29.10

  29.11.. FM simplex (new from 2011, officially) - still "all modes" allowing AM
          29.11
          29.12
            to
          29.20

  29.21.. All modes - automatically controlled data stations (unattended) ...
          29.21  UK Internet voice gateway - unattended
          29.22  FM...
            to
          29.28
          29.29  UK Internet voice gateway - unattended

  29.3=.. Satellite, to 29.5=   (Not much remaining satellite use! So it gets used for FM DX)
          Current operational frequencies (AMSAT)     [updated 2012]
         (29.30-29.34  probably won't annoy anyone)
          29.35-29.40  RS-15    (Semi-Operational 2012)
          29.40-29.50  Oscar 7  (Semi-Operational 2012)   & 29.502

  29.51.. FM (6kHz), to 29.69   10kHz steps simplex or Repeaters (split: -0.1) 10 or 20kHz

          Various parts of these channels used for repeaters in different regions
          with the remaining channels used for simplex.

          29.51.. repeater inputs or simplex, to 29.59
          29.6    simplex calling

                  Repeaters shift -0.1 MHz  (10 x 10kHz :29.51-29.59)

                  Region 1        Region 2      Region 3
                  EU/Africa/CIS   Americas      Australia/East
          29.61   simplex         1
          29.62   simplex         2             1 (20kHz)
          29.63   simplex         3
          29.64   simplex *       4             2 (20kHz)         * GB3CJ (20kHz)
          29.65   simplex         5
          29.66     RH1           6             3 (20kHz)
          29.67     RH2           7
          29.68     RH3           8             4 (20kHz)
          29.69     RH4           9




--29.7=---VHF-------------------  (30.0 for the pedantic. I'm going by use)
          Mobile
          military  (30.3-30.5 and 32.15-32.45 EU1 harmonised)  Combat Net Radio, etc
          + SRD, mics, R/C Models, Cordless Phones, Alarms, Hospital Paging
          Military SINCGARS 2320 x 25kHz channels 30-88 MHz, Frequency Hopped (about 100x per second over
          portions of the band - typically 1200ch) 
          or Single Channel (AM/FM voice/data) with +/- 5 or 10 kHz shift - effectively 5kHz steps.

          USA :
          30-40 MHz allocated for private land mobile use in 1947
          25-30 MHz and 44-50 MHz bands allocated for private land mobile use in 1949
          20kHz channels were introduced in the 25-50 MHz band in 1957
          Parts of 25-50 MHz allocated to Highway Maintenance, Police and Special Emergency Radio Services in 1960
          On rare occasions ion layer conditions allow the reception of these signals over the Atlantic into Europe.


  31.0375.Cordless phone base, to 31.2125 (duplex, split +8.9: 39.9375-40.1125) 8 x 25kHz channels MPT1384
          new in 1997  10mW      (4 more channels in Europe(Netherlands), up to 40.2125)
          Some countries (i.e. Spain) use 31.025-31.325, 12 x 25kHz channels (+8.9)
          Australia has 30.075-30.3, 10 x 25kHz channels (+9.7: 39.775-40.0)
         
  31.725..Hospital Paging, to 31.775
          Speech in emergency only. Returns at 161/164

          34.25... unapproved New Zealand cordless phones 25kHz ch11-20, to 34.475 (handsets +6: 40.25-40.475)

          34.925 Alarms for elderly/infirm  & 34.95  & 34.975  500uW
  34.95.. Model aircraft,  to 35.3   (26x 10kHz)  100mW  channels 55 to 90 EU
          (was originally 35.0 to 35.25 in 1987 - changed when? 1999?)
          34.995=.. Euro Harmonised, to 35.225= (35.00-35.20)  ERC/DEC/(01)11: ERC Decision 12 March 2001  

  34.5=...Marine databuoys, to 34.995=
  35.225=.Marine databuoys, to 35.5=   25kHz, 250mW

          36.5.. Prefered band for use by visiting foreigners for temporary mics use, to 38.5 (espec. 36.7, 37.1, 37.9)

  36.7    Cordless domestic audio devices, & 37.1  (18kHz bandwidth each)
          commonly stereo left/right, deregulated, 10 micro-Watts max
 
          39.0= MBC Meteor Burst Comms, to 39.2= (8x 25kHz : 39.0125 to 39.1875) 500-1600km range
                now changed their minds to (7x 25kHz : 39.025 to 39.175)
                Proposed wideband systems at 37MHz
 
          39.9375...phone handsets, to 40.1125 - see 31.0375

  40.050  GB3RAL Beacon
  40.500  Distress, Rescue (often wrongly listed as 40.050)   40.5 x 3 = 121.5

  40.66=..ISM, to 40.7= (40.68 +/- 20kHz; = 3 x 13.56)   DEC(01)03 SRD    ** proposed new Euro amateur beacons band **
          40.665, 40.675, 40.685, 40.695 Baby Alarms, etc.
  40.665..Surface models,  to 40.995  (34x 10kHz)  100mW cars and boats  channels 665 to 995
          40MHz, 41MHz (France)

  41= ... Harmonised Military Band (EU1)

          46·5=.. meteor burst communications, to 47=   UK 46.4, 46.95, 46.975



--47=--------------------------
          Band I - TV Broadcasting (405 lines b/w BBC1 until 1984 - so, great for TV DXing now it's clear!)
          UK: Mobile - SRD, Radio Mics, Alarms

          Euro TV 7MHz ch.: E2 47-54, E3 54-61, E4 61-68
          Old UK  5MHz ch.: B1 41.25-46.25, B2 48-53, B3 53-58, B4 58-63, B5 63-68 (snd. @ +0.25, vis. @ +3.75)

          DAB, if implemented here:  2A 47.936 to 2D 53.072, 3A 54.928 to 3D 60.064, 4A 61.936 to 4D 67.072
 
          There was a pre-war (1928) 56MHz ham band, and the 5m band (58.5-60) for three years post-war.

          Many imported (UK unapproved) cordless telephones... base channels :
          43.72...US(25ch) & Dutch,   to 46.97  (handsets     48.76-49.99)  more
          45.25...Chinese 10 x 25kHz, to 45.475 (handsets +3: 48.25-48.475)
          46.51...Korean  15ch,       to 46.97  (handsets     49.67-49.99)
          47.64...Dutch               to 49.99  (handsets     67.55-71.805)
          48.99..."Supaphones"        to 49.82  (handsets     67.55-71.745)

          47.0 ... Future Euro-harmonised Paging band, to 47.25
  47.3=...Alarms & Cordless phones, to 47.55=
          47.310   Security alarms,  & 47.319, 47.331, 47.356
          47.4     Vehicle alarms
          47.419   CT0 base,    & 47.431  - duplex, see 77.5125 to be phased out. None new after April 2005
          47.443...CT0 mobile, to 47.544  - duplex, see 1642-1782 kHz   to be phased out

  47.550=.JFMG, to 48.880= - talkback (base - split to 52MHz) + links
          48.3     links - 200kHz stereo, 2/30/365 days
          48.4=... also used for low power conference/touring, to 48.55=
          48.425   links -  50kHz mono, + 48.475, 48.525  ( 2/30/365 days, directional TX antenna, 10W max ERP)

  48.880=.Paging - 12.5kHz - 48.975 to 49.4875  one-way only
          48.975   STH
          48.9875  STH
          49.2625  SRBR
          49.2875  SRBR
          49.425...Hospitals, to 49.475 (speech only in emergencies) returns at 161/164

          49.5= ... 
  49.82...SRD, to 49.98  baby alarms etc.  10mW max



  6m         [checked and updated 2012]      (RSGB Bandplan 2012)

  50=...  Amateur Radio 6m band, to 52= (varies in other countries).  Primary (51-52 secondary).
          Synchronised Beacon Project (others to move by Aug 2014), Telegraphy...
  50.10...SSB/Telegraphy - International Preferred, to 50.2
            50.11 Inter-continental SSB DX
            50.15   SSB centre-of-activity
  50.2..  SSB/Telegraphy - General Usage, to 50.3
            50.285  Crossband centre-of-activity
  50.3=.. MGM/Narrowband/Telegraphy, to 50.4      (MGM=Machine Generated Mode)
            50.305      PSK Centre of Activity
            50.31-50.32 EME 	
            50.32-50.38 MS
  50.4=.. Propagation Beacons Only...
  50.5=.. ALL MODES...
            (railway track to train video over 'leaky feeders' on 50.5)
            (50·5-51·0 Ocean Surface Current Radars. Short-term, NIB)

  50.51   SSTV (AFSK) 	
  50.52.. Internet voice gateway (10 kHz channels), (IARU common channel),  & 50.53 & 50.54
  50.55   Image/Fax working frequency 	
  50.60   RTTY (FSK) 	
  50.62.. Digital communications, to 50.7=
            50.63  Digital Voice (DV) calling 	
  50.71.. FM/DV Repeater Outputs (10kHz spacing), to 50.89  (split: +0.5)   R50-1 to R50-17
  50.9=.. general use, to 51.2=   ( secondary from 51= )
  50.91.. UK gateways, to 50.95
  51.21.. repeater inputs, to 51.39 (both UK and Euro systems)
  51.41.. FM simplex, to 51.59      (20kHz channels)
            51.51   FM calling channel
            51.53   GB2RS news broadcast and slow morse
  51.6=.. general use, to 51.8=
            51.65   Emergency and Community Events, & 51.75 (25kHz aligned), also 51.77 & 51.79
  51.81.. Euro. repeaters, to 51.99 (split: -0.6)   RF81 to RF99 - 20kHz spaced
  51.91.. Internet voice gateways, to 51.94

          USA 6m band is 2x the size, 50-54!    (ARRL Bandplans 2012)




  52.0=.. JFMG, to 52.95= - talkback (mobile - split to 48Hz) + links
          52.75  links - 200kHz stereo - TX antenna directional
          52.85=.also used for low power conference/touring, to 52.95=
          52.875 links -  50kHz mono  + short term OB, + 52.925
 
          52.95=... ?

  53.75=..JFMG, to 55.75= - links (5W)
          53.8    low power (10mW) 50kHz conference/touring, and 54.1 54.3 54.7 55.4 55.5 



          Band I 55.75000 - 68.00000 MHz ... channels will be made available to CBS & PBR services... 
          ... No assignments at present...  380 dual channels

          Here is an early plan, more recently 62.75-67.75 is one block with -7 split

          55.75=... PBR, see 62.75

                    ITT Industries Ltd (0787664) 25kHz
                    56.2125 56.2625 56.3125 56.3625

  57.5=...CBS (planned), to 60.75= (split +7: 64.5 -67.75)
          60.050  GB3RAL Beacon
  60.75=..JFMG links (5W)
          61.2    Audio Distribution   & 61.7, 62.3, 62.7
  62.75=..PBR (planned), to 64.5=  (split -7: 55.75-57.50)
          64.5=... CBS, see 57.5=
             
                   67.00625
                      to     PBR Tech. Assigned (split -7)   CSS Spectrum Management Services Ltd (0784033)
                   67.19375

          67.75... Land Mobile, single, to 68=
                   some JFMG (BBC) :
                   67.75625  (split +6.94375 : 74.7)
                   67.76875  (split +6.94375 : 74.7125)
                   67.78125  (spilt +7.4875  : 75.26875)
                   67.79375  (split +7.4875  : 75.28125)
                   67.80625
                   67.81875
                   67.83125  (split +7.4625  : 75.29375)

                   69.15625-69.18125  JFMG mobile :
                   69.1625  : 82.6625
                   69.175   : 82.675


                   Tech. Assigned (on-site data/speech) i.e. for Primex GPS sync Wireless clock system
                   67.94375 67.95625 67.96875 67.98125


          Euro Recommendation T/R 75-03 (Nice 1985) set 67.5-68 as a prefered band for UK use by visiting foreigners for
          temporary PMR use by "ITINERANT ENTERPRISES AND SPORTING EVENTS", but 75-03 has not been implemented by the UK

          There is a Euro plan (25-08) to re-organise 54-68:
          61.0125 ... Base, to 67.9875 (split -7: 54.0125-60.9875)




--68=-----Low Band-------------
          Mobile, military, emergency services    (French splits -4.05, -5, -3)
          Military PTARMIGAN access links

diagram of Low Band showing paired segments
There is a Euro plan (TR 25-08) to re-organise this band: 77.8125 ... Base, to 87.4875 (split -9.8: 68.0125-77.6875) single: 77.7-77.8 and 74.8-75.2 & 84.6-85 Various countries overseas allow FM broadcasting from 65-74 and 76-87.5 (eg OIRT), this often reaches us. 68.08125= start of VHF Low for PBR, boundary 68.0875.PBR, to 69.9875 single, dual: see 81.5875 68.55 OFCOM plan says this is single (unpaired) 68.625 demo/parking (68.816=.. JFMG, to 69.904= - Talkback base (12.5kHz - split to 75MHz) to cease in 2000) 4m [checked and updated 2012] (RSGB Bandplan 2012) -70=--...Amateur 4m band, to 70.5= (since 1956; when 70.2-70.4) Countries Secondary (Full/Intermediate Classes only). started as UK (G/M/2) only, with British Gibraltar (ZB) and Cyprus (5B), and Eire (EI) now with South Africa (ZS/ZR), and Slovenia (S5) Denmark (OZ) now allows (July 2003) 70.025, 70.05 and 70.1 (max 25W, 10 kHz) Faroes (OY) CW on 70.1 Greenland (OX) (Sept 2003) Croatia (9A) (2003) 70-70.45 (10W) 70.0... Beacons... -70.10= -Narrowband - CW/SSB 70.185 Cross-band centre-of-activity 70.2 SSB/CW calling -70.25= -all modes--- 70.25 Meteor Scatter calling 70.26 old calling frequency (from 1950s) still in use - AM/FM 70.270 MGM centre of activity (MGM=Machine Generated Mode) 70.2875 -70.294= --FM simplex--- (12.5 kHz channels) --- 70.3 RTTY/FAX 70.3125 data/digital 70.325 DX Cluster 70.3375 data/digital 70.350 (Emergency priority) 70.3625 data/digital 70.375 (Emergency priority) 70.3875 data/digital - gateways 70.4 (Emergency priority) 70.4125 data/digital - gateways 70.4250 (some use by GB2RS) 70.4375 data/digital 70.45 FM Calling channel 70.4625 data/digital 70.4750 70.4875 data/digital -70.5=--- 70.5125.H.O. ex Fire Service mainscheme (post WARC 79), base, to 71.5= 12.5kHz AM/FM (mobile 80-81.5) Migrated to Airwave TETRA by July 2010 71.5125.PBR, to 72.7875 single, dual: see 85.0125 72.375 STH/demo/parking 72.8... Land Mobile: MoD, to 76.7 (73.3-74.1 EU1 harmonised) Helicopters allowed 72.8-74.8 74.6875... JFMG, to 74.7125 - Talkback 75.0 CAA ILS runway marker beacons (Guard band 74.8-75.2) 200ft, 1 & 3.5 miles from touchdown. From 1950s. 75.2625=.. JFMG, to 75.3= - Talkback mobile (split to 69MHz) (airborne to be phased out) 76.7125.PBR, to 77.4875 single, dual: see 86.7125 ... 77.5... PBR, to 77.9875 single (used to be paired with 87.5 to 88) 77.5 PBR, and standard telemetry channel 77.5125 CT0 extended Cordless phones, & 77.55 (mobile; base at 47.431 & 47.419) to be phased out 77.625 once mobile paired with 82.8 base 77.6875 Simple UK Light (was UK General) Four channels between 77.75 and 77.9875 were once mobile paired with base at +8.7125/8.7 in the 86MHz single section, between 86.4625 and 86.6875 A new plan now shows 86.4625 - 86.7 split -8.7125 : 77.75 - 77.9875 77.725 well used, and 77.7375, nothing between here and 81.575 on OFCOM WTR 78=... Land Mobile: MoD (79-79.7 EU1 harmonised) Helicopters allowed 78-80 (Thailand yellow CB at 78.0 - 78.9875) (78.18375=... JFMG, to 78.25875= - wide area or location talkback - 12.5kHz) (78.190 78.2025 78.215 78.227 78.240 78.2525) 80... H.O. (Fire) mobile, to 81.5= (and 83.5-84) - see 70.5 Some vehicle-vehicle use (Eng & Wales - not Herts) 80-85 (mobile) and 95-100 (base) AM - used by Police starting from 1942-50 until move to 143-156 MHz in 1987-89. Before that, MF regional schemes at 1.6-1.8 MHz from 1940 using telegraphy, later telephony - until VHF move, 1947. 80.25-80.3875 used by ROC/WMO in 1980s, fairly clear ever since? (81.5 Radio Astronomy - Interplanetary Scintillation - Cambridge +/- 1MHz?) 81.5=...PBR / CBS - new for the late 1980s Lxxx = (freq - 78.2) / 0.0125 freq = (Lnumber x 0.0125) + 78.2 81.5125.PBR Single, to 81.575 (nothing on WTR except RAC Motor Sports Assoc Ltd) 81.5125 L265 81.575 L270 MSA, Rallies (from June 2003. Was 86.4375 AM from 1976) 81.5875.PBR, to 83.5 (split -13.5: 68.0875-70.0) or Single 81.6625.Data only (IR2008), to 81.8875 (ch 358-360?!) 81.8 L288 CBS predominantly ( 82.05 OFCOM plan says this is single (unpaired) 82.125 L314 Demo/"parking" (temporary use) (:68.625) 82.25 L324 Data Dominant, to 82.275 L326 82.2875 L327 Data only (IR2008) 82.3 L328 CBS predominantly, to 82.3375 L331 82.35 L332 Data only (IR2008) 82.3625 L333 Data only (IR2008) Somewhere around 82.5 OFCOM's channel numbering seems to miss 0.2MHz : Now Lxxx = (freq - 78.0) / 0.0125 freq = (Lnumber x 0.0125) + 78.0 82.5125 L361 Data only (IR2008) 82.5875.L367 Data only (IR2008), to 82.6125 L369 82.625 L370 Data Dominant 82.6375 DGPS - from autumn 2000 82.65 L372 Data Dominant 82.6625 JFMG Location TalkBack (base) :69.1625 82.675 JFMG Location TalkBack (base) :69.175 82.825 L386 Data Dominant 82.8375 L387 Data Dominant 82.8625 L389 Data Dominant 82.875 L390 CBS to CBS "predominantly" in 25kHz steps - and 83.0125 too 83.050 L404 CBS 83.1 highest PBR in this band on WTR 83.4 Humberside Fire Brigade (0129242) 83.5... H.O. 84 ... MoD, to 85= - RAF, Mil.Police (ISM at 84.0 +/- 4kHz) 84.3 mountain rescue 85 85= ... Private Business Radio, to 87.5= PBR listed so that you can avoid tuning in by accident. (same info can be found on Radiocomms Agency site anyway) Was the main place to find Water co.s, councils, AA/RAC, forestry, customs, taxis etc. 12.5kHz channels. Pre WWII VHF AM was in 200kHz channels, 100kHz in 1947, 50kHz late 40s, 25kHz 1956-1960, 12.5kHz 1969 - first Pye demonstration of 12.5kHz in 1957. Initial Pye gear 77-83 & 94-100 MHz. 85.1375-85.2 ex GPO/BT Lxxx = (freq - 85) / 0.0125 freq = (Lnumber x 0.0125) + 85 85.0125.PBR, to 86.2875 (split -13.5: 71.5125-72.7875) 85.0125 ch L001 85.875 STH (:72.375) or either, singly Also used for demos and parking 86.2875 ch L103 86.3....PBR single, to 86.7 86.3125 Land SAR 86.325 Land SAR, secondary, some areas 86.3375 Simple UK Light (was UK General), to 86.375 (4 ch) 86.675 JFMG, Talkback (12.5kHz) Wales and west. 86.4625 PBR, to 86.7 (split -8.7125: 77.75 - 77.9875) new plan 86.7125.PBR, to 87.4875 (split -10: 76.7125-77.4875) no longer extends to 87.9875 (or starts from 86.9625) 86.8125.JFMG, to 86.8375 - wide area duplex Talkback (12.5kHz) (+airborne) The 86.7= to 86.95= section used to be used for 10 x 25kHz links, same -10 split. 87.34.. Eurosignal paging, to 87.415 (4 x 25kHz channels A-D) heard in UK from Europe. info. Used to be a constant AM tone with pips and doodle-doo noises, as featured in the song Professionnels by Air (Premiers Symptomes), and could be heard on tuners at 87.5 Changed in March 1998 to bursts of FM data. French channel is 87.39 (C) 87.4875 L199 (highest freq. Low-Band channel) 87.49375= boundary (above 87.4875 by 6.25 kHz - half a 12.5 kHz channel) --87.5=------------------------ Band II - FM Broadcasting (100 kHz channels) 87.6-107.9 RDS Field Strength Independent Radio managed by the Radio Authority. See the British DX Club's Lists. Tuners. SBS. FM DX. 1937 : High HF USA 'Apex' wide-bandwidth AM stations at 25 to 44 MHz, 117 MHz 1939 : Band I Pioneering USA FM, from around 40 MHz up to 49.9 (100kHz steps) 42.1=ch21 49.9=ch99 1945 : Band II FCC allocates 88-108 for FM, June 27th. ch 201 88.1 to ch 300 107.9 (0.2MHz steps) 1946 : Band II FM moves from Band I in the USA - allocations in Sept 1945, moves complete by end of 1948 1955 : 88-94.6 3 BBC Programmes start, from Wrotham, Kent (Home Service, Light & 3rd Prog.) 1961 : Stockholm conference plans 87.5-100. Proposals for Bands I to V by Research Department 1962 : Aug 28 : Zenith-GE stereophonic system tests on the Wrotham transmitter (3rd Prog.) 1967 : 94.6-97.6 sub band opened (was mobile services). BBC services renamed R2,R3,R4 1969 : 105-108 JRC start to use (mobile services) - and other PMR (split: 138-141) 1970 : BBC local radio introduced in London in 1970, in the new sub band 1973 : Independent radio follows, Capital and LBC (later News Direct) same sub band 1979 : 100-108 allocated (WARC) but not all cleared for some time 1981 : Mixed polarisation introduced (Wrotham) 1984 : 104-108 Broadcasting is now the primary user 1985 : Sept 85 to Jul 87 : use of some (relatively unusual) 50kHz steps ends (i.e. 95.85) 1980s: 87.5-88 (end of) : end of use for base PMR (split -10: 77.5-77.9875) 1987 : August: UK tests of RDS 1988 : October: RDS launched at Earls Court Radio Show 1989 : 97-102 (end of) : permit ends for use by 999 Services AM RT base, 25kHz ch (split: 80-85) 1990s: 105-108 (early) : JRC mobile services complete move to 139/148MHz 1995 : 104-108 permit ends to use the sub band for PMR 2006 : Dec 8 : 'micro transmitters' legalised (50nW max ERP = -43dBm, 70dB less than PMR446!) "BBC sub-bands employ a "standard (2.2/5.2 MHz) spacing." 87.6... RSLs (87.7 primary) more 88.0= 88.1... BBC Radio 2 - used to share with R1 after 10pm, Saturday afternoons and Sunday evenings from 5pm 90.2... BBC Radio 3 92.4... BBC Radio 4, BBC Wales/Scotland 94.6... BBC Local, Radio 4, ILR (lower local sub-band, to 97.6) 96.1... ILR, some BBC 97.7... BBC Radio 1 (sub band used from 1988) 99.8... INR1 - Classic FM (+RDS DCI DGPS - Focus FM), ILR. Classic launched 7.sep.1992 102.0... ILR (upper local sub-band, to 108=) 103.5... BBC Local, Radio 4, ILR 105.0... ILR, regional, RSLs 107.0... RSLs, Small-scale and other low power broadcasting, to 107.9 The FM modulation has its own spectrum - 0-15kHz : Mono audio (L+R) 19kHz : "Pilot tone" to indicate if stereo present 23-53kHz : Stereo "difference" signal (L-R) consisting of lower and upper sidebands resulting from balanced AM modulation of a 38kHz carrier (phase locked to the 19kHz tone at half the freq.) 57kHz : (3 times 19kHz) RDS data carrier (data rate of 1187.5 bps) 4.8kHz b.width 60-99kHz : Subcarriers used in the USA for SCA Subsidiary Communications Authorization (Aus: ACS) typically FM on 67kHz and 92kHz (14kHz bandwidth) (sometimes 41,76,78.67 kHz) CCIR recommends only up to 76kHz Some history above was based on Overview of UK VHF radio planning. Would-be pirates should read this! ...although : "the current standards work well in practice, but they do not appear to reflect the way in which the majority of listening is done, and may be unnecessarily conservative." :o) Also, receiver standards are based upon current equipment, which may be very poor. I say to heck with that, assume decent equipment and let the cheapskates upgrade! Wenvoe R1/2 was 89.95, R3 92.125 . R4SW Oxford was 95.85; "All 50kHz offsets in Europe were removed by a Geneva Conference 7.12.1984 which reorganised the FM bands throughout Europe. The new frequencies were implemented about 2 or three years later. That was when BBC and ILR locals moved into their separate FM sub-bands and many UK transmitters were changed from horizontal to mixed polarisation. Note that almost all of the high power FM transmissions in the UK are actually on 200 kHz spacings (odd integers). Lower power ones use the 100 kHz offsets." Near 107.8 was used for Local Authority Alarms until the end of 1995, now on 160.55-160.575 and 168.2875 & 168.9375. Some old lists show freqs as 107.79375, 107.80625, 107.81875 Long distance reception is more common via the troposphere here, rather than the ionosphere... i.e a "lift" rather than "sporadic-E". "Tropo" tends to improve the higher the frequency, and lower frequencies are not affected; whereas ionospheric "skip" builds up from HF, maybe reaching as high as 150 MHz rarely - but leaves higher bands unaffected. DSI2 recommends that by 2020 when DAB is established, the band may be reduced to 97.5-108 for local and community broadcasting only. Polish DAB uses 105.008MHz -108=-------------------------- Aero. Navigation 108.05.. ILS/VOR/ATIS, to 117.95 (50 kHz channels) ILS within 108-112 There was a ham band at 112MHz (USA Amateur history), 2.5 metres, from 1938 to 1945 mil comms are sometimes reported here, usually 117-118. & Illegal WFM bugs, sometimes. -117.975=---------------------- 118 Air Band Aero. Mobile "Civil Air Band" - NATS National Air Traffic Services, Volmet See Javiation's list. RTCA. ICAO. Reporting Points Used by the military too, of course. 118.0... AM comms, to 136.99166 (2280 x 8.33 kHz channels) (USA Plan 2001-2010) 118-132 from 1947, extended to 117.975-136 in 1959 (most private ch WERE at the top, 129.7-132) The use of 136 - 137 dates from 1990, shared with satellite services until 1.1.2002 National (or wide area) channels : 118.675 Paragliding (below 5000ft) 119.7 'Civ / Mil Guard' (on Jeppesen charts) 121.5 Guard, Distress, EPIRBs (100mW) (?120.875 Distress, discrete?) satellite monitoring ceased 1.feb.2009 121.6 airfield Fire Services 121.65 ELT training (121.775 & others : US equipment) 121.7... common Ground frequencies, to 121.95 122.1 'Mil TWR' 122.475 Balloons primary, and Hangliders (1984) 122.95 Helicopter Common 'blind calls when landing/departing uncontrolled sites' 123.1 SAR 123.45 Air-Air (now allowed since 17.jun.2010) 123.5 'Air / Air (aerodromes without ATS/AFIS)' 129.825 Microlights 129.9 Gliders/Balloons - ground-ground and recovery only, Parachute aircraft-to-DZ 129.975 Gliders - local airfield air-ground only (within 10nm and below 3000 ft). (BGA, 1986) 130.0 'Air / Air (aerodromes without ATS/AFIS) - mountain airfields' 130.1 Gliders - "Primary: Competition start/finish lines;local flying Secondary: Training" 130.125 Gliders - "Primary: Training;cross-country locations Secondary: Local flying;competition lines" 130.4 Gliders - "cloud flying and relaying cross-country location messages only" 130.525 Parachute-DZ comms 131.725 ACARS Packet data (Europe & USA) & 131.525 [Hear it here!] 132.0... 8.33 sub-band, to 134.8 - for over FL245 (24,500ft/7.5km) - FL195 (6km) France (waived at present) Maastricht 132.635, 136.465 Brest 132.765, 133.635, 132.415, 132.510 France has some 8.33 channels outside of this range (noted in 2002 at least) 135.375 London VOLMET (main) 135.475 SAFETYCOM (from Nov 2004) 136.9... data only, to 136.975 Private channels (mostly shared) for Airline "company ops", Servisair and other organisations such as coastguards, air ambulances etc : 122.05, 122.3-122.375, 122.95, 123.65, 129.025, 129.7-130.75 (not all ch), 131.075, 131.375-131.975 (many 8.33 now), 132.65 (HMCG-SAR), 134.5, 136.65, 136.675 136.8-136.875 Unofficial air-air chat is sometimes heard on the first channel 118.0 and the "old" last 135.975 and "new" last 136.975 ... 125.125 is also sometimes used... or 122.22... it has to be a "neat" number! CAA short-term : (displays, events etc.) 121.175, 130.500 Air/Gnd 130.675, 132.900 App/Twr 121.925 Gnd 25kHz channels: "Climax" offsets may be used when two or more transmitters use the same ch. at once. 2 sites: +5 & -5 kHz 3 sites: 1 site on nominal, others +7.5 & -7.5 kHz 4 sites: +7.5, -7.5, +2.5 & -2.5 kHz In 1999 the 760 x 25kHz channels were each split into 3, with a new 8.33kHz spacing (more/N) (2000 in the UK). Given that the first 25kHz channel is 118.0 and the band boundary is therefore 117.975, why wasn't the new first 8.33 channel 117.983? Radios still start at 118.0 :) UPDATE - Current (2012) situation: Effective 24 Nov 2005, new procedures requiring all VHF voice communication channels to be indicated by the use of all 6 digits of 8.33 channels, and also for 25 kHz channels (say 118.025, 118.050, 118.075 etc) - EXCEPT 25kHz channels ending in two zeros (say 118.0, 118.1, etc) - 118.005 specified as "ONE ONE EIGHT DECIMAL ZERO ZERO FIVE" (8.33) - 118.050 specified as "ONE ONE EIGHT DECIMAL ZERO FIVE ZERO" (25) - 118.1 specified as "ONE ONE EIGHT DECIMAL ONE" (25 channel - in 8.33 mode it would be 118.105) The use of the term "CHANNEL" for 8.33 kHz channels is discontinued. Original plans for on-air use : 100kHz spacing (orig-1949?) - 1 decimal place 118.0, 118.1 etc. on air : still 1 decimal (25 mode) 50kHz spacing (1954) - 2 decimals, new 118.05, 118.15 etc. on air : was 2 decimals 25kHz spacing (1974) - 3 decimals, new 118.025, 118.075 etc. on air : was 2 decimals 8.33 spacing (1999/2000) - infinite decimals! new 118.00833. etc on air : was 3 decimal 'NAME' The newer 25kHz spaced channels were (pre 2005) rounded to only 2 decimal places when referred to, i.e. 118.02 or 118.07 because the second decimal is only ever 2 or 7 and so there was no ambiguity. When saying an 8.33 channel on air, the word "channel" followed by a rounded 3 decimal place Channel Name SHOULD BE used (pre 2005) (although sometimes it is just treated as a normal frequency, with trailing zeros ommitted, such as One Three Two Decimal Two Four) : --NAME-- -step- -MHz--- --rounded-- (1xx.x) 25 1xx.x00 \ "1xx.x05" 8.33 1xx.x00 / up 5 "1xx.x10" 8.33 1xx.x08333 NEW up "1xx.x15" 8.33 1xx.x16667 NEW down "1xx.x2" 25 1xx.x25 \ down 5 "1xx.x30" 8.33 1xx.x25 / up 5 "1xx.x35" 8.33 1xx.x33333 NEW up "1xx.x40" 8.33 1xx.x41667 NEW down (1xx.x5) 25 1xx.x50 \ "1xx.x55" 8.33 1xx.x50 / up 5 "1xx.x60" 8.33 1xx.x58333 NEW up "1xx.x65" 8.33 1xx.x66667 NEW down "1xx.x7" 25 1xx.x75 \ down 5 "1xx.x80" 8.33 1xx.x75 / up 5 "1xx.x85" 8.33 1xx.x83333 NEW up "1xx.x90" 8.33 1xx.x91667 NEW down Any 8.33 NAME just 5kHz higher than a normal 25kHz channel is the same freq., otherwise tune to the NAMED freq. in 5kHz steps and you'll only be 1.666kHz off... ... then : If a NEW channel name is 10kHz ABOVE an old 25kHz channel, tune DOWN 1.666 If a NEW channel name is 10kHz BELOW an old 25kHz channel, tune UP 1.666 "..introduction of Mandatory Carriage of 8.33 kHz .. capable radio equipment was 7th October 1999" - AUSTRIA BELGIUM FRANCE GERMANY LUXEMBOURG NETHERLANDS SWITZERLAND "22 States (incl. UK) will start implementating 8.33 kHz .. from the 31 October 2002" However, don't panic about needing new equipment, 8.33 is only used in a small segment of the band, and not for local traffic. You'll be able to enter frequencies using 5 or 10kHz steps and not be more than 1.66 kHz out, and likewise you'll still be able to search in 10kHz steps and that will be faster then 8.33! It's no more likely than now that two adjacent channels will be strongly in use at any one location. In any case, the great thing about airband as far as searching goes, is that the controllers TELL the pilots what frequency to go to next - so finding any new channels isn't really that hard! The ITU's VDL-3, "VHF Data Link - Mode 3", solution is for digital TDMA on existing 25kHz channels. The USA FCC adopted this as NexCom (not yet in use). VDL-3 retains AM capability, but also uses 8-phase shift keying, giving 4 time slots within 120ms frames, providing for a mix of digital voice and data. Coverage of 112-117.975 is included in the spec.s - and they haven't decided about the UHF band yet. Due to Earth curvature, an aircraft : at 1,000ft is level with you when it is 62.3km away (38.7 miles) at 3,000ft / 914m when it is 107.9km away (67.0 miles) at 10,000ft / FL100 / 3048m when it is 197.0km away (122.4 miles) at 20,000ft / FL200 / 6096m when it is 278.5km away (173.0 miles) at 35,500ft / FL355 / 10.82km when it is 370.9km away (230.5 miles) at 50,000ft / FL500 / 15.24km when it is 440 km away (273.4 miles) an e.g. shuttle orb. 240km when it is 1721 km away * * i.e. 'directly overhead a point on the ground that is X km away' Line of sight range to the horizon (miles) = the square root of ( 1.5 x the_altitude_in_feet ) ( Thanks to Wikipedia: Horizon ) "According to ICAO Annex 10, all enroute & approach VHF Tx's are limited to 50 watts output power; in the aerodrome no figure is stated but TX's must be able to be received at 4,000 ft above aerodrome elev at 25nm from the AD ARP (Aerodrome Reference Point)" - "designated operational coverage (DOC) for an approach service 25nm 10,000ft." -137=-----Mid Band------------- Mobile, military, Aero OR, emergency services (French splits +/-4.6) Military PTARMIGAN access links 137=... Aero (OR) to 144= 137=... Satellite, to 138= Weather Satellites, 137.3, 137.4, 137.5, 137.62, 137.85 etc. Tracking. FM picture data not only too wide for most scanners (50kHz best) but mind the Doppler shift too! More. Good AmSat Keplers tutorial. LEO MSS Sat. downlinks, to 138= (up at 148-149.9) Orbcomm (4800 bps FSK) 137.000= - 137.025= Primary 137.025= - 137.175= Secondary 137.175= - 137.825= Primary 137.825= - 138.000= Secondary Orbcomm 25kHz 12dBW RHCP channels, 1 per sat. 137.200 S1 137.225 S2 137.250 S3 137.2875 S11 137.3125 S12 137.435 S4 137.460 S5 137.560 Gateway (50kHz) 137.6625 S6 137.678 S7 137.7125 S8 137.7375 S9 137.800 S10 138=... MoD, to 143 ( Euro harmonised military band to 144= ) Some FM at 142, split +7.1 137.975..Paging, to 138.2 (25kHz channels) Vodafone and Pageone except 138.05 and 138.1 Police: had 4 x FM air-ground-air ch.s at +/- 6.25kHz around 138.1 & 138.3 138.2=...future Euro. SRD band, to 138.45= 138.7 SAR secondary 139.5125=PBR, to 140.4875= (split +8.5: 148.01875-148.98125) Trunked. Some remaining use in Fuel/Power industry, recently also used by Transport (buses). 139.51875---148.01875 to 140.48125---148.98125 "J Band" still exclusively managed by JRC : was Elec. (up to J57 139.95625) and Gas (J59 139.98125 upwards) industries. MPT1327 spec. Phased in, 1989-95 139.51875-140.48125 J22-J99, 76 main ch 12.5kHz spaced (no J01-J21) 6.25kHz offsets (RA's M802-M879) 139.525 -140.475 K22-K98, interleaved (J+6.25kHz) (RA's M902-M978) JRC paging in channel K90/M884/M887 140.375/148.875 (single at J90/M883/M886 below & J91/M885/M888 above) 9 sets of 8 channels for cellular plan : ---Elec---- ----Gas---- plan (final page) (14MB file!) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 A 22 31 40 49 64 74 84 94 B 23 32 41 50 65 75 85 95 C 24 33 42 51 66 76 86 96 D 25 34 43 52 67 77 87 97 E 26 35 44 53 59 69 79 89 F 27 36 45 54 60 70 80 98 G 28 37 46 55 61 71 81 99 H 29 38 47 56 62 72 82 92 K 30 39 48 57 63 73 83 93 58 68 78 88 -- Coal Disused by most of the gas industry by 2004, and some elec. too 1969 to early 90s (by 1995) : 138-141 MHz and the top of Band II was used for PMR; JRC (84 ch), rail 138.01875.. Middle Band, to 140.94375 (split -33: 105.01875-107.94375) AM, 12.5kHz channels (6.25kHz offsets) (channel 122 at 139.51875 became J22 by replacing the 1 with a J) Channel 1 at 138.00625 was never used (old 140.96875 STH channel no longer used) Some JFMG (Base) in the Channel Islands at 139.55 (GU) & 139.575 (GJ), and simplex at 139.65 Common freq.s used for illegal NFM bugs 140.0 (B), 139.97 (A), 139.94 (C) 141=... JFMG, wide area Talkback (75kHz max), to 141.5= (previously 141.9=) 6.25 kHz offsets Simplex and duplex (split: mobiles at 212MHz). +airborne. Not in Channel Islands. (140.993 London only) 141.006..ILR, to 141.193 141.206..BBC radio, to 141.256 141.268 not available to BBC - & 141.281 141.293..BBC radio, to 141.318 (.318 BBC News) 141.375 BBC 75kHz wideband 141.418 BBC 141.4625 BBC 75kHz wideband "142·5-143·0 MHz is for Mobile services and not restricted to Land Mobile" 143.0=... H.O., to 144= - see 152 (143.975 Air-ground-air alloc., not known if used) 143.625 Space - ISS station (143.6-143.65) - also 121.75 & 130.165 FM (ex MIR) 143.75.. unauthorised use by Hang gliders and para gliders, to 143.95 (calling 143.95) 2m [checked and updated 2012] (RSGB Bandplan 2012) 144=... Amateur 2m band, to 146= (1947) Primary - IARU Bandplan: range 144.0... CW,MGM incl. EME CW,MGM (Moonbounce)... 144.138 PSK31 144.15.. SSB,CW,MGM (no Machine Generated Modes 144.18-144.36) 144.175 Microwave talk-back 144.2 MS calling 144.25 GB2RS/Slow Morse 144.3 SSB calling 144.370 MGM calling 144.4... Beacons... 144.5... All modes 144.5 SSTV calling 144.525 SSB ATV Talkback 144.6 RTTY 144.6125 Digital Voice (single) - D-Star 144.625 Emergency/Events priority, to 144.675 144.7 FAX 144.725 in the south - you'll appear on F5ZBF (Caen 145.325) when there's a lift! 144.75 ATV Talkback 144.775 Emergency/Events priority, to 144.7875 144.794= Digital, Gateways, to 144.99 144.8 APRS, other digital 144.825 Internet Voice Gateways & 144.8375 144.85 AX25,Nodes,TCP/IP, to 144.975 145.0... Repeater inputs, to 145.1875 145.2... FM Simplex, to 145.5875 (12.5 kHz channels - +/-2.5kHz maximum FM deviation, 11kHz b/w) Are V channel numbers supposed to make life easier?! (These originated from the Tel Aviv conference in 1996) Oh yes, 145.7375, let's see... 7.375 times 8... 59 of course. We can all do that in our heads, can't we? If it's not simple and intuitive (for telling a contact to QSY) then what IS the point? Saying "decimal 73" will do the job better. List of mostly the old S channels (from 1970s, 25kHz spaced, +/-5kHz deviation, 16kHz bandwidth) : 145.2 S8, V16 Raynet priority, MIR (with 145.8) 145.2125 V17 internet voice gateways, and 145.2375, 145.2875, 145.3375 (ex 145.2625) 145.225 S9, V18 Raynet priority 145.25 S10, V20 Slow Morse 145.275 S11, V22 145.3 S12, V24 RTTY Local 145.325 S13, V26 + French R8b F5ZBF repeater Caen (split: normal -0.6) French Repeaters map/info 145.35 S14, V28 + French R9b 145.375 S15, V30 + French R10b 145.4 S16, V32 + French R11b 145.425 S17, V34 + French R12b 145.45 S18, V36 145.475 S19, V38 145.5 S20, V40 FM calling channel 145.525 S21, V42 GB2RS news, Sundays 145.55 S22, V44 Rally talk-in 145.575 S23, V46 Future RV46 repeaters 145.5875 V47 Future RV47 repeaters (Repeaters 145.6 - 145.7875, split: -0.6) - UK repeaters started in 1972 145.600 R0, RV48 145.6125 R0x, RV49 145.625 R1, RV50 145.6375 R1x, RV51 145.650 R2, RV52 145.6625 R2x, RV53 145.675 R3, RV54 145.6875 R3x, RV55 145.700 R4, RV56 145.7125 R4x, RV57 145.725 R5, RV58 145.7375 R5x, RV59 145.750 R6, RV60 145.7625 R6x, RV61 145.775 R7, RV62 145.7875 R7x, RV63 (was proposed 16kHz data links in 1998, on 145.790) UK FM Repeater callsigns start with GB3 --· -··· ···-- Sometimes CW IDs start with totally pointless and confusing DE ('from') -·· · CTCSS access mandatory for new repeaters since 2004, replacing 1750Hz tone burst. European repeaters use CTCSS up to 141.3 Hz or more. UK Tones & Morse : A 67 ·- B 71.9 -··· C 77 -·-· D 82.5 -·· E 88.5 · F 94.8 ··-· G 103.5 --· H 110.9 ···· J 118.8 ·--- "the main reason for establishing a Repeater is for the purpose of providing improved communications for those operating mobile stations and fixed stations in difficult terrain." - OFCOM Guide To Repeater Licensing Repeater DX : Belgium Denmark France Germany Nederland [2012] 145.8=...Satellite Service, to 146= [updated 2012 with current links] Current operational frequencies (AMSAT) & AMSAT News Typical doppler shifts : 300-2000km Low Earth Orbit +/-3.5kHz at 2m, +/-10kHz at 70cm ( Radius of the Earth = 6370km, 'Great Circle' circumference of the Earth = 40,000km ) -146=-------- USA 2m band is 2x the size, 144-148! (ARRL Bandplans 2012) 146=...H.O., see 154 148=...JRC,LEO, see 139.5 and 137 (Some JFMG in the Channel Islands at 148.575 & 148.725 - mobile) 148.875 H.O 149... MoD, to 154 German 'Freenet' licence-free two-way 149.025 1 149.0375 2 149.050 3 149.0875 4 149.100 5 149.1125 6 149.61 US GES uplink 149.9=...Satellite Navigation & MSS uplinks, to 150.05= 149.91 149.94 149.97 150.00 150.03 149.985 NIMS 150.05=..Radio Astronomy, to 152= PRIMARY exclusive + Oil-slick markers (150.5= - 150.55=) 151.625 unlicensed USA red "DOT" radios (more) +151.955 purple, 154.57 blue/MURS & 154.6 green/MURS also at 462 GMRS, 464 & 467... +new MURS with 151.82, 151.88 & 151.94 152... H.O. - ex Emergency Services, to 153.0125= (with 143-144) was mostly police FM. 12.5kHz (see 154) 153.025..Paging, to 153.475 (25kHz channels) except 153.05 (HO) FSK POCSAG (bursts) more [Hear it here!] Used by Trafficmaster, COACS 153.025 FLEX paging (continuous) +153.325 [Hear it here!] Leicester City Council (0250278) 12.5kHz 153.39375 153.40625 153.41875 153.43125 153.44375 153.45625 153.5=...Land mobile service: MoD (incl. cadets), to 154.0= 153.6 mountain rescue 153.7125 various, incl. BRC 154=... Vacant after Emergency Services move to TETRA, to 155.975 H.O. - ex Emergency Services (with 146-148) mostly police, AM/FM. 12.5kHz 143/152 and 146/154 used after WARC-79, from 1987-1989 onwards until move to Airwave TETRA by the end of 2006. "The (TR/RX) offset for Police/Fire varies to stop interaction between channels when talkthrough is on - this is historic as it was believed that common offsets could not be used on the same site; today it is done everywhere." - thanks Andrew W. 147.0-147.3 split 8: 155.0-155.3 used for ROC/UKWMO in 1970s/80s (source) SAR channels - (excluding 24, 62,63,64, 85 in marine section) info, more 0 156.0 Primary Coastguard SAR for use with Declared Facilities when 16 is not appropriate 10 156.5 67 156.375 1st alternative to Ch 0 73 156.675 2nd alternative to Ch 0 53a 158.65 Reserve TWC and for SARDA (max 6,500ft airborne) (from late 1980s) 91 155.35 92 147.475 93 152.85 Scotland SAR 94 155.35(91)---147.475(92) 95 152.85(93)---147.475(92) 96 147.35 Land SAR 96d 146.025 Land SAR 97 number not allocated 98 168.35 Scotland - FFSK 99 174.0375 Scotland - FFSK 100 168.35(98)---174.0375(99) Duplex FFSK (Fast Frequency Shift Keying) 101 70.85 \ Links, with 102 102 81.0 / Links, with 101 105 86.3125 Scotland - Rebroadcast feeder 106 86.325 (not Scotland) (from mid 1960s) 107 81.05 Scotland - Rebroadcast feeder 108 70.5625 Scotland - Rebroadcast feeder L 161.225 Lifeguards (RNLI) There is a Euro plan (25-08) to re-organise 146-156: (boundaries) 151.4 ... Base, to 156 (split -7: 146.8-151.4) single: 146-146.8 and 149.9-150.05 & 154.5-154.65 155... Possible private marine VHF channels (for companies or general use), of European origin. 25kHz FM. Nordic Leisure boating L1 155.500, L2 155.525, L3 155.650 (info) Fishing F1 155.625, F2 155.775, F3 155.825 Denmark P1 155.375, P2 155.575, P3 155.450, P4 155.800 -156=-------------------------- Mobile, Marine VHF (SAR, MBR/CSR) PMR/PBR + CBS + STH, Ambulances, Paging (ERMES), SRD, mobile data, Civil Defence Earliest Pye gear that worked above 156MHz dates from the early 1950s, 160/165 as brochure example. Marine VHF from late 1940s, ch16 156.8 agreed in Atlantic City 1949. 156.0... Marine, to 158.525= single OR dual: see 160.625 158.5375.PBR, to 160.5375 single OR dual: see 163.0375 ... alarms 160.6... Marine, to 163.025= single OR dual (split -4.6: 156.025-158.4) Marine, to 163 - International and private 25kHz channels, single and dual (split -4.6). Was 50 kHz spacing until SOLAS 1972, then new channels were fitted in, in between... Band structure: two main sections linked by a 4.6MHz frequency shift Dual channels : international and private 156.0-158.4 lines up with 160.6-163.0 at 4.6MHz higher, the lower section being the ship/mobile side of dual-freq. channels, the higher side being for shore/base. The international channels finish at 157.425/162.025 and the rest are private channels, which may be dual or single. Single channels: 156.375-156.875 and 160.975-161.475 are not joined, and have single-freq usage with international channels at 156 and private at 161. Between 158.4 and 160.6 the mobile channels of a PBR band can be found. As this 163.0375-165.0375 band utilises a 4.5 MHz split, the mobile side covers 158.5375-160.5375 - the gap at 158.425 to 158.5 is used for a few more single-freq. private marine channels, and at 160.55 to 160.575 there are three local authority alarm channels. For single/mobile freqs.. MHz = (ch number x 0.05) + 156 (add 4.6 for the shore freq) or more simply divide the ch by 2 and that's the decimal places : 156.(ch/2) i.e. 16 = 156.*8* Because channels 60 and above are interleaved, you need to EITHER: Subtract 2.975 MHz AFTERWARDS ** OR ** subtract 59.5 from the channel number BEFORE ... or more simply (!) take 60 from the ch and then add .025 to the frequency : 74.. 14.. 156.725 WRC-1997 changed the use of paired freq.s for channels 87 and 88 separately, to accommodate a VTS called AIS - (Automatic Identification and Surveillance) at 162 MHz, and allow simplex at 157 MHz. ERC decision (ERC/DEC/(99)17) June 1999 approves this, effective 1-1-2000. WRC-97 also allowed use of channels 75 and 76 for voice, which had been unused guardbands for channel 16. (Earlier plans had included simplex use of channels 18 and 82-86) The 2004 OFCOM info sheet shows the breakup of channels 87 and 88, and the introduction of 75 and 76. Channel 88 used to be used for Radio Lighthouses, a null was swept around the compass... i.e. you'd count the "pips" and when the signal briefly disappeared that would give you a bearing Channel 99 (160.6) started life as channel 00, but apparently 00 is what the coastguards dial into their consoles to clear them! Do not confuse with what would be the real ch99 on 157.975 / 162.575 - a private channel which (just to confuse matters) is actually used as a land-based CBS channel! Some sets may be set from "international" to "USA" mode, and then some of the dual frequency channels can be used as single (ship channel) frequencies; (e.g. 157.125 = 82a for USA single freq use - can't be heard on an "international" set) which could be handy for a "private" channel, no-one else would hear you! (apart from coast stations that use that channel. So you'd want to pick a clear one - and bear in mind that if you don't you won't be able to hear them telling you to move!) Maybe it's best not to, then. Interesting thought though, isn't it? 160.9 used to be used for ITV talkback, I'm told. Also used for talkback was 161.3875 (12.5 kHz), and within the channels 161.325 and 161.45 OFCOM's own channel numbering is as follows: Channel numbers 1440 (156) to 2000 (163.0) can be traced back (in 12.5kHz steps) to the start of a sequence where channel 1 is 138.0125 - this applies up to the last Mid-band channel M2163 (165.0375) and down in the JRC bands i.e. M802 being the high side of the 148.01875 & 139.51875 pair, give or take a half channel offset (-6.25kHz) (as happens positively at 448 / 431 ). 160.6 is OFCOM channel 1808, 156 is channel 1440 - the difference of 368 being 4.6 MHz worth of 12.5 kHz channels. Marine dual pairs take the channel number of the higher (shore) frequency. For single use of the private section 157.45-163 the channels numbers are shifted along in sequence by 1000. Search And Rescue needs have been met by splitting paired channels into two separate channels, and then in 2009 these A and B channels were split into 2 again with 12.5kHz channel widths with center freq.s +/- 6.25kHz around the old center freq.s, making 4 channels out of one old 2 x 25kHz pairing. CTCSS tone 218.1 is used. WRC-2012 is expected to have approved simplex use of channels 01, 07, 19, 20, 21, 60, 66, 78, 79, 80 Let's track this in two columns 4.6 MHz apart... ** First, two single freq.s... --------------------------- ------- 160.600 99 Coastguards 156.000 0 Coastguards ** Now dual freq. pairs, ** Port Ops & Public Correspondence (phone - link calls) Shore/Base Ship/mobile 4.6 MHz lower -------------------------------------- 160.625---156.025 60 160.650---156.050 1 160.675---156.075 61 160.700---156.100 2 160.71875 623 160.725---156.125 62 156.125 62A SAR ECC Emergency Call - Common, inter-agency & helicopters 62B 160.725 SAR Land Team Working Channel 160.73125 624 160.750---156.150 3 160.76875 633 156.16875 631 SAR 160.775---156.175 63 63B 160.775 156.175 63A SAR 160.78125 634 156.18125 632 SAR 160.800---156.200 4 160.81875 643 156.21875 641 SAR 160.825---156.225 64 64B 160.825 156.225 64A SAR 160.83125 644 156.23125 642 SAR 160.850---156.250 5 160.875---156.275 65 160.900 ??? 156.300 6 intership1 and SAR 160.925---156.325 66 160.950---156.350 7 ** Now single freq.s Base/Mobile ---------------------------- ------- 160.975 CSR-1838 156.375 67 (intership9 away from coasts) + SAR/Safety/Coastguard 161 to 161.2 Paging returns 156.400 8 intership2 (31/49/459) 156.425 68 ports (+local comms) 156.450 9 intership5/ports/Pilots 156.475 69 intership8/ports/Customs 156.500 10 (intership3 away from coasts)/ports/pollution/SAR + UK Safety Info 156.525 70 DSC Digital SelCall ONLY, GMDSS NO VOICE 161.15 CSR-1852 156.550 11 ports/SAR 161.175 CSR-1854 156.575 71 ports 161.2 CSR-1856 156.600 12 ports 161.225 ch 'L' - Lifeguards 156.625 72 intership6 161.25 CSR-1860 156.650 13 intership4/ports + International Nav Safety Comms 161.275 Marine 10mW Alarms 156.675 73 (intership7 away from coasts)/ports/SAR + Safety Info 161.300 CSR-1864 (OBH) 156.700 14 Ports 156.725 74 Ports/locks/swingbridges 161.350 On-board handhelds 156.750 15 intership11/ports/ 1W on-board 161.375 CSR-1870 156.775 75 Ports, Navigation comms only, 1W (and AIS Sat E-S) 161.400 CSR-1872 / Nav.? 156.800 16 Calling, Distress 161.425 M2 (marinas) 156.825 76 Ports, Navigation comms only, 1W (and AIS Sat E-S) 156.850 17 intership12/ports/ 1W on-board 161.475 CSR-1878 156.875 77 intership10 ** Now dual freq. pairs again ** Port ops up to 161.725 and Pub.Corresp. from 161.750 (both: 78,81,84) Shore Ship -------------------------------------- 161.500---156.900 18 161.525---156.925 78 161.550---156.950 19 161.575---156.975 79 161.600---157.000 20 161.625---157.025 80 Marinas primary CSR-1890 161.650---157.050 21 161.675---157.075 81 161.700---157.100 22 161.725---157.125 82 161.750---157.150 23 161.775---157.175 83 161.79375 243 161.800---157.200 24 157.200 24A SAR (24a G2A Ground-to-Air to replace 73) Casualty winching 24B 161.800 SAR Team Working Channel 161.80625 244 161.825---157.225 84 161.850---157.250 25 161.86875 853 157.26875 851 SAR 161.875---157.275 85 SAR paired 85B 161.875 157.275 85A SAR 161.88125 854 157.28125 852 SAR 161.900---157.300 26 161.925---157.325 86 161.950---157.350 27 161.975---157.375 87 old, paired use 161.975 AIS1 87B 157.375 87 Port ops 162.000---157.400 28 162.025---157.425 88 old, paired use - No more "Radio Lighthouses" 162.025 AIS2 88B 157.425 88 Port Ops ** Private channels, single OR dual CSR/MBR ** and some land PMR and CBS, same split -4.6 ** In this part, the pairings are only shown ** for the first and last pair, to save space Single OR Base Mobile (or Single) ---------------------------- ------- 162.050 CSR-2924 single... 157.450 29 CSR-2556 single OR 162.050---157.450 29 CSR-1924 dual --CSR---Land Use-- 162.050 CSR / CBS(Birm.) 162.0625 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.075 CSR / CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.0875 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.100 - CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.1125 -none- 162.125 CSR -none- 162.1375-- -none- (162.14375) 162.150 RNLI -none- (25kHz) 157.550 31 RNLI (two 12.5kHz channels at +/-6.25kHz) 162.1625-- -none- (162.15625) 162.175 CBS 162.1875 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.200 CSR / CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.2125 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.225 - CBS +PMR(Lond. - couriers) 162.2375 -none- 162.250 CSR -none- 162.2626 -none- 162.275 - CBS +PMR(Lond. - couriers) 162.2875 -none- 162.300 CSR -none- 162.3125 -none- 162.325 - CBS 162.3375 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.350 CSR / CBS(Birm.) 162.3625 CBS(Lond./Birm.) 162.375 - CBS 162.3875 -none- 162.400 CSR -none- 162.4125 -none- 162.425 - CBS +PMR(Lond. - couriers) 162.4375 -none- 162.450 DGPS -none- 157.850 37/M marinas secondary RA-1588 162.4625 -none- 162.475 - CBS 162.4874 -none- 162.500 CSR -none- 162.5125 -none- 162.525 - CBS(Birm.) 162.5375 -none- 162.550 CSR -none- 162.5625 -none- 162.575 - CBS 162.5875 -none- 162.600 CSR only - no CBS at all to (25kHz) 162.850 CSR (162.825 104A Telex 158.225 104B Fax. no longer used) 162.8625 -none- 162.875 - CBS 162.8875 -none- 162.900 CSR -none- 162.9125 -none- 162.925 - CBS 162.9375 PBR London Bus Services Limited (0236402) 162.950 CSR 162.9625 PBR (Technically Assigned) 162.975 - CBS 162.9875 -none- 163.000 CSR 163.000 CSR-3000 single 158.400 48 CSR-2632 single 163.000---158.400 48 CSR-2000 dual 162.4-162.55 MHz "Weather" frequencies (as found on some USA scanners) apply only to land-based NOAA transmissions on the North American Continent - it doesn't reach here! ** Now private single freq.s Single ---------------------------- ------- 163.025 Diff. GPS 158.425 108 CSR-1634 158.450 49 CSR-1636 0.1 MHz gap where 158.475 109 CSR-1638 "4.6 split" and 158.500 50 CSR-1640 "4.5 split" systems meet -158.525=--- 163.0375 ** We'll change now to a 4.5 MHz difference, and 12.5 kHz spacings 163.0375.PBR, to 165.0375 (split -4.5: 158.5375-160.5375) Mid Band Many CBS (including some multi-channel trunked CBS) - 85 dual channels available. Despite this section only being allocated to LAND MOBILE, (12.5 kHz) in some books and magazines you may find extra marine channels given (channel number greater than 50), either single or -4.6 dual, in the first 150kHz or so. (i.e. ch 53) This seems to be a throwback to a bygone age when the marine band was larger. Marine channels are 25kHz bandwidth too, so that ruins half of the 12.5kHz channel above and below. How wasteful. The first 70 per cent used to be used for the old BT RadioTelephones : (until 1985 saw the arrival of TACS at 935-950 MHz) 163.0375... BT System 4 (1983-1987), to 164.4125 (split -4.5: 158.5375-159.9125) 12.5kHz, ch.s U1-U111, full duplex, 6 digit nums Early versions used from 163.0375 to only 164.2125 as System 4 channels 95 down to 01. U57 (163.7375 - base only) was control. 163.025 and 164.425 were boundaries. and before that: 163.050 ... BT System 3 (1977), to 164.400 (split -4.5, 25kHz channels 55-1 in reverse!) ch17 164.0 control, PTT, 5 digit # and before that: System 2 (1970s) with 9ch + 1 control ch (same band). System 1 (1959 S.Lancs, 1965 Gr.London)
diagram of Mid Band showing paired segments
Single OR Base Mobile (or Single) --------------------------------------- 163.0375---158.5375 M2003 PBR Wide Area 163.050 ---158.550 M2004 CBS 163.0625---158.5625 M2005 CBS 163.075 ---158.575 M2006 CBS 163.0875---158.5875 M2007 SJA (0295652) 163.100 ---158.600 M2008 CBS 163.1125---158.6125 M2009 CBS 163.125 ---158.625 M2010 CBS 163.1375 single 158.64375 531 SAR 163.15 single 158.65 53a SAR (25kHz til end of 2009). Ch95 pair (Scotl.) 53a---93 (152.85) 158.65625 532 SAR 163.1625 single - Tracker (163.175 ---158.675 non PBR) (163.1875---158.6875 non PBR) 163.200 ---158.700 M2016 CBS 163.2125---158.7125 M2017 CBS 163.225 ---158.725 M2018 CBS 163.2375---158.7375 to unallocated 163.275 ---158.775 163.2875---158.7875 M2023 STH (or either singly) 163.300 ---158.800 M2024 SJA 163.3125---158.8125 M2025 to CBS (except 163.375--158.875 BRC) 163.425 ---158.925 M2034 163.4375---158.9375 BRC (0310908) 163.45 ---158.95 M2036 Data Dominant 163.4625---158.9625 M2037 Data Dominant 163.475 ---158.975 M2038 Data Dominant 163.4875---158.9875 M2039 BRC 163.5 ---159.0 M2040 Data Dominant 163.5125---159.0125 M2041 SJA 163.525 ---159.025 M2042 Data Dominant 163.5375---159.0375 to appears to be spare, possibly H.O. 163.5875---159.0875 163.6 ---159.1 RNLI (0138319) 163.6125---159.1125 to British Red Cross (Licence 0780200) 163.675 ---159.175 163.6875---159.1875 M2055 STH Construction only (or either singly) 163.7 ---159.2 M2056 to Data Dominant 167.7375---159.2375 M2059 163.750 ---159.250 M2060 STH Construction only (or either singly) 163.7625---159.2625 to Vodafone (Data) Ltd (was Paknet, then Data Services Ltd) 163.8375---159.3375 163.850 ---159.350 M2068 STH Construction only (or either singly) 163.875 ---159.375 M2070 Data only (IR2008) 163.8875---159.3875 M2071 Data only (IR2008) 163.900 ---159.400 M2072 STH (or 163.9 singly) (ex RQAS only) 163.9125---159.4125 M2073 Data Dominant 163.925 ---159.425 M2074 STH (or either singly) 163.9375---159.4375 M2075 Data Dominant 163.950 ---159.450 M2076 demo/parking 163.9625---159.4624 M2077 CBS 163.975 ---159.475 M2078 CBS 163.9875 STH 159.4875 STH (ex RQAS) 164.000 STH (ex RQAS) 159.500 STH (ex RQAS) 164.0125 on site 159.5125 on site 164.025 on site (*?) 159.525 on site 164.0375 on site (*?) 159.5375 on site 164.050 Simple UK (was UKG) 159.55 164.0625 Simple UK (was UKG) to spare, possibly H.O. 164.075 on site 159.575 164.0875 STH 159.5875 STH (ex RQAS) 164.1 ---159.6 M2088 Data only (IR2008) 164.1125---159.6125 164.125 STH (ex RQAS) 159.625 STH (ex RQAS) 164.1375 on site 159.6375 Local Comms returns (to 459MHz) 164.150 (*?) 159.65 Local comms ret. 164.1625 on site 159.6625 Local comms ret. 164.175 data (tracking) 159.675 Local comms ret. 164.1875 STH (ex RQAS) 159.6875 STH 164.200 page ret. (as 161) 159.700 Local comms ret. 164.2125---159.7125 18 channels : to Vodafone (Data) Ltd (was Paknet, then Data Services Ltd) 164.425 ---159.925 base continuous (25 channels, 7 more at 163.7675) [Hear it here!] 164.4375 - 165.0375 this top section used to be mainly Private Message Handling - operators speaking to mobile doctors etc. (AirCall/MediCall), and is now CBS "predominantly" with some wide area or on-site technical assignments e.g. 164.475--159.975 BRC (0793939) 164.4375---159.9375 M2115 to 165.0375---160.5375 M2163 (Last "mid band" ch.) ---------------------------- -------- 160.550 - 160.575 Alarms (3x 12.5kHz) ** the end of this 2nd column now joins the start of the 1st. now we've covered 4.6MHz ** 160.3 to 160.55 was once used for 11 private marine channels (1970s) (and at the time Private Message Handling thus only went to 164.775/160.275) -165.04375=------------------- High Band 12.5kHz channels. Some "TalkThrough". DCS. Security firms (Datatrack mobile digital - on 5 national Securicor channels) Ambulance service (many at 166.1-166.85), Taxis, etc.
diagram of High Band showing paired segments
National exclusive: 45 dual, 11 single CBS: 20 dual On-site shared: 5 dual, 31 single Wide Area Shared: 185 dual Simple UK Light (was UK General): 5 single Summary 165.05...PBR, to 168.2375 256ch (split +4.8: 169.850 -173.0375) (French splits -4.6) (ISM 168 +/- 8kHz) 168.25...PBR, to 168.3 4ch single, 1 pairing 168.3125=... H.O. 168.85...PBR, to 169.8375 46ch single (with 169.4 to 169.8125 removed) 169.85...PBR, to 173.0375 256ch single OR dual: see 165.05 173.05...PBR, to 173.0875 4ch single Trying to subtract 4.8 in your head? Why not subtract 5 (easy) then add 0.2 (easy too)! Subtracting 5 too hard?!! Add 5 if it's easier, then take 10! Chart ** a 4.8 MHz difference UPWARDS Base Mobile 256 channels, not all shown: --------------------------------------- 165.0500---169.8500 ch H001 Hxxx = (freq - 165.0375) / 0.0125 165.075 ---169.875 Road Construction (not London) 165.1625---169.9625 ON SITE 32 DUAL 165.1875---169.9875 ON SITE 33 DUAL 165.2125---170.0125 ON SITE 34 DUAL 165.6375---170.4375 btp (+165.65) 166.4375---171.2375 NHS Ambulance emerg. reserve ch. Amb. used 166.1, 166.2, 166.275-166.4125,166.4625-166.6125, 166.75, 166.8 166.7625---171.5625 ON SITE 35 DUAL 167.0375---171.8375 ON SITE 36 DUAL 167.2000---172.000 demo/"parking"/Test&Dev 172.65 Czech licence-free two-way & 172.725, 172.95, 172.975 168.2375---173.0375 ch H256 ** single freq.s (5) ---------------------------- -------- 168.250 PBR H257 173.050 Simple UK Light (was UK General) 168.2625 PBR H258 173.0625 Simple UK Light (was UK General) 168.2750---173.075 PBR H259 168.2875 PBR H260 (& Alarms) 173.0875 Simple UK Light (was UK General) --173.09375= end of high band PBR-- 168.300 PBR H261 173.100... H.O. + LPD/SRD -168.3125=-boundary---------- 168.325 H.O. 168.325-168.8 split +5.7: 174.025-174.5 used for ROC/UKWMO in 1970s/80s (source) to 168.825 -168.8375=------------------- boundary used to be listed as 168.95 ---- 44 channels, not all shown: 168.850 PBR H305 168.9375 PBR H312 (& Alarms) 169.0125 STH 169.050 JRC H321 169.0625 PBR ex UK General? 169.0875 Simple UK Light (was UK General) 169.1375 STH 169.1625 STH 169.1875 STH 169.3125 Simple UK Light (was UK General) 169.3375 PBR motor sports (National-RAC) 169.3875 PBR H348 -169.39375=------------------ 168.9625-169.8375 used to be all PBR single, then Europe took away 169.4-169.8125 for ERMES leaving 2 PBR channels at the top. The PBR Single band was then extended down to 168.8375= (ex STH channels: 169.4375 169.475 169.4875 169.5375? 169.575 169.6375 169.7625) Council Directive 90/544/EEC of 9.Oct.1990 required Member States to designate the 169.4-169.8MHz frequency band for the pan-European land-based public radio paging service (known as ERMES). However, it wasn't a success as other technologies (SMS) replaced the need and made ERMES redundant. 169.425 ERMES-01 ERMES Paging (25kHz, continuous, 6.25kbps, 4level FSK) [Hear it here!] 16 channels, with each country having 4 "preferred" channels more more Austria 2,6,8,12 Czech R. 1,2,9,10,12,13 Finland - 11 France 10,14 .li 1,4,12,15 Italy & Denmark 8,10,12,14 Portugal 1,3,10,14 Slovakia 2,3,5,5,16 Sweden 10 Swiss - 1,4,12,15 to 169.800 ERMES-16 Following CEPT assessment in 2004, exclusive ERMES use was withdrawn March 2005: ECC/DEC/(05)03 New 2005 plan ECC/DEC/(05)02 to share with any remaining paging : 169.400=... Low power, <=0.5W, 12.5/25/50kHz bandwidth, hearing aids/alarms/meters/tracking 169.600=... (guard band) 169.6125=.. High power, 12.5/25kHz bandwidth, tracking, paging, PBR 169.625 .65 .7 .75 Claas Uk Limited (0785523) to 169.8125= -169.81875=------------------ 2 more Single channels : 169.825 PBR H383 169.8375 PBR H384 169.85... mobile (see start of second column above) or single, to 173.0375 173.05... PBR, see 2nd column opposite 168.250 173.1... SRD, to 177.2= Mics, JFMG, Theatres, Telemetry, Alarms, Telecommand, Deaf-aids 173.1875 SRD license-exempt 173.2=... licensed SRD, to 173.35= ( and 173.7= to 174= ) 173.225 fixed or short range alarms only 173.35=...Aids for the deaf, to 174.415= 50kHz 2mW use the lowest freqs possible 1st set 173.35, 173.4, 173.465, 173.545, 173.64 2nd set 173.695, 173.775, 173.825, 173.95, 173.99 3rd set 174.07, 174.12, 174.185, 174.27, 174.36, 174.415 4th set 174.6, 174.675, 174.77, 174.885, 175.02 173.5125 French POCSAG paging (and 85.955) 173.5875 only telemetry, telecommand, speech, & 173.6 (1997) 10mW 173.7= medical/biological telemetry, to 174 173.7=... mics... 173.965=..Aids for handicapped, to 174.015= 173.9875=.HO, to 174.4125= (allocated, not known if used) see 168.3 for old use There is a Euro plan (25-08) to re-organise 157.45-174: (boundaries - last pair likely: 173.9875-169.3875) 162.05 ... Base, to 165.2 (split -4.6: 157.45 -160.6) (... this one could well be the full range though) 169.825 ... Base, to 174 (split -4.6: 165.225-169.4) and some single around 165.2125 -174=-------------------------- Band III - ex TV Broadcasting (405 lines b/w TV) (ITV) until 1984, DAB UK: Mobile - PAMR/PBR/JFMG/PMSE (mics) + AMR + Data Bus and coach operators, OFCOM's "B9" business class, rail. ex French TV: 8MHz ch. F5-F10 vision at 176, 184, 192, 200, 208, 216 sound at +6.5 Euro TV (7MHz) E5 174-181, E6 181-188, ... E11 216-223, E12 223-230 ex UK TV (5MHz) B6 176-181, B7 181-186, ... B13 211-216 174.0 ... mics, to 175.1= 174.6, 174.675, 174.77, 174.885, 175.02 5mW 50kHz JFMG info 173.8 yellow 180kHz 2mW 174.1 red 174.5 blue 174.8 green 175.0 white 175.25 mics (200kHz) 175.525 mics (200kHz) 176.3=... mics, to 177.1= at 176.4 176.6 176.8 177.0 --sub band 1-- 176.5=... (mics) (unused PBR channels 001-057 : 176.5 = 001) 177.2= 177.2125...PAMR/DATA, to 183.4875 (split +8: 185.2-191.5) channels 058-560 - 63 not allocated (except 181.7-181.8 - JFMG 12.5kHz 25W simplex talkback) Some PBR. PAMR is trunked. (control channels continuous) [Hear it here!] Cognito data - 49 channels on 1xx.x00 / 1xx.x25 / 1xx.x50 / 1xx.x75 [Hear it here!] until Jan 31 2003 180.175 RTPI Traffic Light control, single, and 188.175 183.5=... AMR plan: 183.5125.. 25kHz channels (8), to 183.6875 - shared 183.7=... retained, to 183.9= 184.0 wideband channel - 200kHz 184.1=... retained, to 184.3= 184.3=... single user, exclusive 184.5=... JFMG, to 185.1= 184.6 news gathering mics, and 184.8 185.0 185.2= 185.2125..PBR, see -8 (189.7-189.8 JFMG 12.5kHz 25W simplex talkback) --sub band 2-- 191.5= 191.5=... JFMG 191.7 links 200kHz, news mics 191.9 links 200kHz, mics 192=...mics 200kHz max, to 193.1= 10mW 192.1 192.3 192.6 192.8 193.0 193.2= 193.2125..PBR, see +8 199.5=... JFMG links and mics, SRD 199.7 temp links - 200kHz max, stereo (1 month only, directional, 1W ERP max), mics 199.9 mics, and 200.1 200.3 200.5=... mics, to 201.1= (unused PBR channels 001-057 : 200.5 = 001) 200.6 mics, and 200.8 201.0 201.2125...PAMR/PBR, to 207.4875 (split -8: 193.2-199.5) channels 058-560 - all but 7 allocated (95 PMR channels, 401 PAMR) Includes Rail NRN 204.85-206.3 (to be replaced by GSM-R) --sub band 3-- 207.5=
diagram of Band III sub band 3
207.6=... JFMG mics, to 210.1= 207.7 coordinated 207.9 coord. 208.1 coord. 208.3 shared 208.6 shared 208.8 coord. 209.0 shared (209.1= before end of 2007) New from 1-1-2008 : 209.2 shared 209.4 coord. 209.6 shared 209.8 shared 210.0 coord. 210.1=... now cleared for more DAB : 10B, 10C, 10D, 11A 216... MoD for the Radiolocation Service, to 225 (OFCOM FAT 2010) NOTES Previous plans for use : 209.20625=.PBR (future) to 215.26875= The initial plan had been for another block of PBR/PAMR with 8MHz split... 208.5=... PAMR/PBR, to 215.5= (split +8: 216.5-223.5) The PBR plan changed as sub-bands 1 & 2 contained the demand, then DAB arrived and took 217.5 onwards and so they planned -3.3MHz splits keeping space for JFMG and SRD : 209.206= - 215.26875= PAMR/PBR Frequency plan developed using 6.25 and 12.5kHz channels. No use as yet. 209.26... PBR, see +3.3 210.26... SRD 210.97... PBR, see +3.3 211.925...JFMG, to 212.1875 - mobile talkback (to 141 MHz) wide area 212.2 ... SRD 212.5625..PAMR/PBR, to 213.55 (split -3.3: 209.26-210.25) 213.56... ?SRD? 214.275...PAMR/PBR, to 215.2625 (split -3.3: 210.97-211.96) Narrowband modes 215.275...JFMG, to 215.4875 (not split -3.3: 211.97-212.18!!) temp. links this led to a PBR plan with +3.35MHz splits : 209.2125...PAMR/PBR, to 210.2 (split +3.35: 212.5625-213.55) 12.5kHz 210.206=...reserved for PMR/PAMR, to 210.919= (split +3.35: 213.556 -214.269) bwidth not yet decided 210.919=...reserved for PMR/PAMR, to 211.919= (split +3.35: 214.269 -215.269) narrowband 5/6.25 211.925...JFMG, to 212.1875 - NOW: see 215.275 (WAS: wide area mobile talkback - to 141 MHz) 212.2 ... SRD, to 212.55 212.5625..PAMR/PBR, see -3.35: 209.2125... 213.556=..future PMR/PAMR see -3.35: 210.206=... 214.269=..future PMR/PAMR see -3.35: 210.919=... update (July 2002) - the PBR plan now seems to be -3.35 splits with 1MHz of 6.25 narrowband : 209.2125...mobile section, to 211.91875 211.925...JFMG, to 212.1875 212.2 ...SRD, to 212.55 212.5625...PAMR/PBR, to 214.2625 (split -3.35: 209.2125-210.9125) 214.26875=.PAMR/PBR 6.25kHz spaced, to 215.26875= (split -3.35: 210.91875= - 211.91875=) 215.275... JFMG SAP base, to 215.4875 (split -3.35: 211.925-212.1875) (WAS: temp. links) 215.5=... SRD, to 217.5 216.0.. JFMG mics, to 217.1= 216.1 216.3 216.6 216.8 217.0 217.5 DAB 217.5=...DAB, to 230 (1.536 MHz bandwidth) Vertical Pol. (Wikipedia: Digital_Audio_Broadcasting) Eureka 147 - COFDM - Umpteen hundred narrowband carriers all sharing the bits... DAB first tested by BBC Jan 1990, demos 91-93, launched Sept 1995. "DAB-ensemble frequencies are encoded in 19 bits and then multiplied by 16kHz" (max 8GHz) Other possible DAB channels (4 DAB channels per 7MHz TV ch, 1.712MHz spaced) 5A 174.928 to 5D 180.064 6A 181.936 to 6D 187.072 7A 188.928 to 7D 194.064 8A 195.936 to 8D 201.072 9A 202.928 to 9D 208.064 10A 209.936 to 10D 215.072 11A 216.928 13A 230.784 to 13C 234.208 13D 235.776 to 13F 239.200 216.928 (E11-A) awarded to 4 Digital Group Limited, didn't happen, licence handed back to Ofcom on 30.Jan.2009 218.640 (E11-B) LOCAL 220.352 (E11-C) LOCAL/INR +Isle of Man +Channel Islands 222.064 (E11-D) LOCAL/INR England + Wales 223.936 (E12-A) LOCAL/INR England + Scotland 225.648 (E12-B) BBC UK + Gibraltar (224.88-226.416) 227.360 (E12-C) LOCAL England + Wales 229.072 (E12-D) LOCAL/INR +Northern Ireland UK use, links [2012] : DAB Ensembles DAB Allocations UK Stations DAB Sound Quality [2012] DAB uses the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) audio codec which has less efficient compression than newer codecs. The typical bitrate is only 128 kbit/s so most radio stations on DAB have a lower sound quality than FM. USA alternative : Wikipedia: FM HD Radio "Thus HD Radio is approximately twice as data-efficient as DAB." "codec based upon the MPEG-4 HE-AAC standard... same perceived quality as MP2 at one-quarter the bit rate" No multiplexes either - one carrier per station as with FM - more flexible. NOTES 224.0125.. ex JFMG PMSE, to 224.4875 portable links There is an Amateur 1.25m allocation in the USA from 222 to 225 (ARRL Bandplans 2012) (was 220-225 until the 1990s) which started (at 224) in 1938. Unlikely to ever be allocated in Europe, as it's in the middle of the DAB band 217.5-230 -230--------------------------- NATO military band. (Equipment) ARFA/DRFB/FMSC/NJFA/CEAC "military air-ground-sea tactical communications" (25kHz AM channels) some 12.5kHz spaced ch.s? Radio Relay, PTARMIGAN multi-channel trunk links. 225-400MHz "HaveQuick" frequency hopped system (7000ch wartime mode, ~20 channels otherwise) "In 1951 the NATO nations decided to reserve 225-400 MHz for military use, and move air-ground-air comms to this band from the 100-150 MHz area." - DSI2 The lower end has been lost to DAB, and from 380 upwards is earmarked for Land Mobile such as TETRA. Used by the Red Arrows, Falcons, Sharks etc for airshows Some satellite (FM, wide bandwidth) downlinks, especially in the 240/260 MHz region. System info. More 243.0 Distress, EPIRBs 121.5 x 2 = 243 to be phased out 259.7 ex Space shuttle 282.8 Emergency / SAR & 244.6 (Scene of SAR Control), 285.85 (Thailand red CB at 245.0 - 245.9875) The Philippines, Singapore and Brunei have a 300 mW 40 ch FRS service that operates on the 325 MHz band (325.0 to 325.4875) - I wonder if any handies get brought over here? Watch out for unapproved cordless phones at 375-385 (split -126: 249-259) 40 channels nbfm 326.5=... Astronomy, to 328.5= - deuterium spectral line 328.6=... Aero. Nav., to 335.4= - ILS, glideslopes (350.1625... Indian version of FRS/PMR-446, 31 ch, to 350.5275) 380.0=...Euro emergency services band - TETRA, to 399.9= DEC(96)04 & DEC(99)04 pi/4 DQPSK TETRA has been chosen for the UK Home Office's Airwave (PSRCP Public Safety Radio Comms Project - ex Quadrant) for the Emergency Services (and others). Digital, networked, encrypted. Trans-European Trunked RAdio, (TE part renamed TErrestrial). Carrier numbering (ETSI 100 392-15), more 380.0=... TETRA mobile, see +10 389.9=... TETRA single... (see TR 25-08) because 399.9-400 can't be paired 390.0=...TETRA Base, to 399.9= (split -10: 380= - 389.9=) 25kHz channels, 12.5 offset. Base continuous 390.0= Band Edge DMO Direct Mode... (split -10) agreed at WRC 2000 ( DEC(01)19 ) (6 ch, or up to 15 x 10kHz channels, 390.005-390.145) 390.0125 ch 1 DMO to 390.1375 ch 6 DMO 390.15= TMO Trunked Mode... (Network) 390.1625 ch 7 first TMO ch 391.5125 Test & Dev. ? 394.7875 ch 192 last TMO ch 394.8= TETRA Air-Ground-Air, to 395= DEC(01)20 394.8125 ch 193 first A-G-A 394.9875 ch 200 last A-G-A (8 ch, or up to 20 x 10kHz) 395.0= 395.0125... Not yet allocated, to 399.8875 399.9= 396.875... US ISR, to 399.975 (no fixed steps), 12.5kHz FM, 500mW, using the Icom IC-4008M Intra-Squad Radio - may end up in use in US airbases in Europe? Details : http://www.ld.com/cbd/archive/2000/02(February)/29-Feb-2000/58sol003.htm http://www.idwg.cap.gov/comm-isr.htm Common freq.s used for illegal NFM bugs 399.03 (ch C), 398.605 (A), 399.455 (B) -399.9=---UHF------------------ Mobile (French splits +/-10) 399.9=.. Satellite, to 400.15= 399.9=... Nav, to 400.05= Russian Tsikada "Cicada" ex Transit (NNSS) ended 31.Dec.1996 (now NIMS) with 150MHz (f/2.66.) and near 1067MHz (f*2.66.) i.e. 1066.752, 1066.58133 400.1 Standard freq. / time 400.15=..Met. sondes (WFM), Satellite, EPIRBs, to 406.1 401.65 Argos uplinks (Satellite system collecting environmental data, wildlife tracking etc) 402... medical implants, to 405 403.55 LPD (designed for South Africa) 406.0 Emergency Locator Transmitters 406.025 EPIRBs, 406.028 5W max (COSPAS-SARSAT) IR2042 406.1=.. MoD, to 420 Especially 408-410 : replacements for old VHF local nets - assignments in 410-420 have been moved to below 410 or higher up UHF1 Channel Tunnel and Portal area (0797899) 25 kHz 416.65 417.475 417.8 419.175 424.875 406... Syledis nav. (positioning) system, to 449 - pulses - Annoying clicks on 70cms! 409.75.Chinese version of 446/FRS (500mW, 12.5kHz spaced FM), to 409.9875 (20 channels) 410=.. mobile civil TETRA, to 415= see 420 410=... reserved for Emergency services, to 412= with 420-422 (extended TETRA?) 412=... Arqiva Ltd & Airwave Solutions Ltd, to 414 (split +10: 422-424) Auctioned march 2006 (0310692) 414=... MOD, to 415= with 424-425 418.0 UK SRDs (centre of 200kHz alloc.) to be phased out "Only SRD equipment certified to the R&TTE Directive before 31.Dec.2002 will be accepted for use in the UK until 31.Dec.2007." Some forums list Helicopter on-board "PolyCon" 417.5, 417.525, 417.575 and 419.1125, 419.1375 Coastguard/Police. Also 449.5375, 449.5875, 449.6875 for SAR (RAF/Navy). UHF1: 420 to 450 - military (shares with PBR), SRD, SAB RadioLocation is primary at 420-430 and 440-450 Mil: EPLRS/SADL (Enhanced Position Location Reporting System/Situation Awareness Data Link) freq hopped secure data (420-450). There is a Euro plan (25-08) to re-organise 410-430: (boundaries) 420 ... Base, to 430 (split -10: 410-420) 420-422 (split -10) Sec. of State for Health, Crown Recognised Spectrum Access (0799272) 10,000 kHz bw 420=... was used for PAMR: national civil TETRA, to 430= (split -10: 410-420) 420.0125... 400 x 25kHz channels, to 429.9875 - 12.5kHz offsets (as with TACS) Dolphin 425-430 use started January 2000, Dolphin had 100 channels within 420-425 prior to that "further allocations may be made... in the bands 415-420 MHz paired with 425-430 MHz" - Dec.1999 425.00625= 425.0125... PBR, see 445.5125 +20.5 (425.3125=...JFMG, to 425.5626= temp links - South West large towns only - 425.3375 to 425.5375 - 5 x 50kHz) 425.5125... PBR, see 440.0125 +14.5 (427.7625=...JFMG, to 428.0125= talkback - various areas - 427.775 to 428.0) 428.025... PBR, see 442.525 +14.5 429=... MoD 70cm -430=-... Amateur 70cm band, to 440= [checked and updated 2012] (RSGB Bandplan 2012) Secondary. Shared with MoD, PBR... some Govt (some odd splits to other UHF1 sections) Nuclear Electric trunked NANRCS (countries) Common amateur splits 1.6, 7.6, 9, 9.4 MHz There are often moves afoot (thwarted so far) to reduce the band to 432-438, and already some non-amateur use falls within 430-432 and 438-440. USA 70cm band is 3x the size, 420-450! (ARRL Bandplans 2012) 430=... Amateur, all modes, to 432 - away from main band 432-435 and 435-438 satellite 430.0125.. Internet Voice Gateways (12.5kHz), to 430.075 430.025.. RU1 French/Neth. repeaters, to 430.375 (RU15) (split +1.6: 431.625-431.975) "FRU2 Sp" 430.05 +9.7 :439.75 "FRU2 H" 430.0625 +9.4 :439.4625 "FRU4 XH" 430.1125 +9.4 :439.5125 "FRU6 H" 430.15 +9.4 :439.55 "FRU8 H" 430.2 +9.4 :439.6 "FRU9 H" 430.225 +9.4 :439.625 "FRU9 XH" 430.2375 +9.4 :439.6375 "FRU13 H" 430.325 +9.4 :439.725 "FRU14 H" 430.35 +9.4 :439.75 "FRU15 H" 439.775 -9.4 :430.375 430.4... DV repeaters in (see +9 :439.4), to 430.9125 430.8 input: see +7.6 :438.4 UK Repeaters 430.825-430.975 (split +7.6 :438.425-438.575) new in 2001, first=GB3PZ 430.825 RU66 :438.425 430.8375 RU67 :438.4375 430.85 RU68 :438.45 430.8625 RU69 :438.4625 430.875 RU70 not available 430.8875 RU71 :438.4875 430.9 RU72 :438.5 430.9125 RU73 :438.5125 430.925 RU74 :438.525 430.9375 RU75 :438.5375 430.95 RU76 :438.55 430.9625 RU77 :438.5625 430.975 RU78 :438.575 430.990=.. Digital, to 431.9= 431.0...French 'transponders', to 431.15 (25kHz) (and 433.4-433.575) 431.075 Voice Gateways, to 431.175 (12.5kHz) 431.2125.. new IARU repeaters in, to 431.375 (see +1.6 :432.8125) 431-432MHz not available within 100km radius of Charing Cross, London 431=...some PBR mobile (London), to 432.0625= bases around 17MHz higher at 448 to 449.38 region 430.5 single PBR Rosewood Estates Limited (0296264) 25kHz 431.4875= to 431.5125= -unused for PBR- (from OFCOM) 431.6375= to 431.6625= -unused for PBR- 431.8375= to 431.8625= -unused for PBR- 431.8875= to 431.9125= -unused for PBR- 432= to 432.0375= -unused for PBR- 432.0375= to 432.0625= single PBR 432.04375 & 432.05625 Rosewood Estates Limited (0296264) The public OFCOM doc also reveals the following PBR pairings: 434.025--439.775 436.025--443.650 437.025--443.775 437.0625-444.15 438.0625-444.75 439.0625-445.0625 432.0=...Narrow band 432=... EME CW/MGM... (MGM=Machine Generated Mode) 432.025.. CW/MGM... (432.05 CW centre of activity) 432.088 PSK31 432.1... SSB,CW,MGM... 432.2 SSB centre of activity 432.35 Microwave talkback 432.37 FSK441 calling 432.4=... Beacons... 432.5=... SSTV, transponders in... 432.6=... transponders out, to 432.8 432.625 Digital, & 432.65, 432.675 432.7 Fax 432.8=... Beacons (UK)... due to move to 432.4... To be replaced by new IARU repeater channels : 432.8125 RU225 to 432.975 (RU238) (split -1.6: 431.2125-431.375) 433.0... FM channels, to 435= 433.025.. RU17 French repeater channels, to 433.2 RU24 (split -1.6: 431.425-431.6) Shared with European 10mW LPD transceivers on 433.075 - 434.775 (69 x 25kHz channels) in ISM Band The first 39 channels below 434.04 don't appear to be legal in the UK (OFCOM regs.) UK repeaters 433.0-433.375 (split +1.6: 434.6-434.975) started in 1976 (UK) 433.0 RB0 :434.6 433.025 RB1 :434.625 433.05 RB2 :434.65 433.075 RB3 :434.675 LPD-1 433.1 RB4 :434.7 LPD-2 433.125 RB5 :434.725 LPD-3 433.15 RB6 :434.75 LPD-4 433.175 RB7 :434.775 LPD-5 433.2 RB8 :434.8 LPD-6 433.225 RB9 :434.825 LPD-7 433.25 RB10 :434.85 LPD-8 433.275 RB11 :434.875 LPD-9 433.3 RB12 :434.9 LPD-10 433.325 RB13 :434.925 LPD-11 433.35 RB14 :434.95 LPD-12 433.375 RB15 :434.975 LPD-13 -Amateur use- 433.4 SU16 U272 LPD-14 433.425 SU17 U274 LPD-15 433.45 SU18 U276 LPD-16 DV calling 433.475 SU19 U278 LPD-17 433.5 SU20 U280 LPD-18 Amateur FM calling 433.525 SU21 U282 LPD-19 GB2RS news 433.55 SU22 U284 LPD-20 rally talk-in 433.575 SU23 U286 LPD-21 433.6...Data/digital, "emergency priority"... 433.6 U288 LPD-22 RTTY 433.625 LPD-23 Digital 433.65 LPD-24 Digital 433.675 LPD-25 Digital 433.7 LPD-26 Emergency/Events, Fax 433.725 LPD-27 Emergency/Events 433.75 LPD-28 Emergency/Events 433.775 LPD-29 Emergency/Events 433.8 LPD-30 Digital... to 433.95 LPD-36 Voice Gateways 433.975 LPD-37 Voice Gateways 434.0 LPD-38 Voice Gateways 434.025 LPD-39 Voice Gateways --434.04= OFCOM rules appear to approve LPD in the UK from ch 40 onwards -- 434.05 LPD-40 Voice Gateways 434.075 LPD-41 to (clear & legal LPD channels) LPD-44 calling (434.15) 434.35 LPD-52 434.375 LPD-53 Emergency Repeaters in (-1.6 :432.775 out) 434.4 LPD-54 434.425 LPD-55 434.45 LPD-56 434.475 LPD-57 Voice Gateways 434.5 LPD-58 Voice Gateways 434.525 LPD-59 Voice Gateways 434.55 LPD-60 434.575 LPD-61 434.6 LPD-62 RB0 repeater input to 434.775 LPD-69 RB7 repeater input 434.8 RB8 in to 434.975 RB15 in 433.92 center of problematic Euro SRD/ISM band (433.05 - 434.79) (32 x 13.56 band) i.e. vehicles immobilised by ham transmissions *grin* May be used for LPD and 10mW telemetry from models SRDs must have 10% Duty Cycle or less after end of 2005 Advanced TV Research (audience figures) domestic boxes : 433.52, 434.02 or 434.52 (100kHz FSK) 434.0625 ex Experimental MPT1327 Base TX Ch 1-3, to 434.0875 removed from 2012 plan 434.6... Euro. repeaters, to 434.975 (split -1.6: reverse of UK) RU0 to RU15 435=... Satellite, to 438= Current operational frequencies (AMSAT) [2012] Various public sources (including PROMA's "The Art of Event..") report the following : 435.625 435.725 435.750 435.775 Cadets, RAF Reserves 438=... top 2 MHz, to 440= mainly used for FM channels and ATV 438.025 Digital, to 438.175 438.2... Euro. repeaters, to 439.475 (split -7.6 :430.6-431.875) Germany/Swiss/Austria/Spain 438.4 Emergency/Event repeater (-7.6 :430.8) 438.425..UK repeaters in, to 438.575 (see -7.6 :438.425-438.575) 438.6125 DV calling D-Star 439.4... DV repeaters (split -9 :430.4...) D-Star 439.4000 DVU32 439.4500 DVU36 439.4625 DVU37 439.4875 DVU39 439.5125 DVU41 439.5375 DVU43 439.6000 DVU48 439.6125 DVU49 439.6375 DVU51 439.6625 DVU53 439.6875 DVU55 439.7000 DVU56 439.7125 DVU57 439.7375 DVU59 439.9125 DVU73 439.6=.. Digital... 439.9875 POCSAG paging (amateur) -440= --- Who shares the ham band? Well, the military make good use of it (base comms etc), seeing as the hams don't exactly use it to the full (and aren't primary users anyway)... DERA perhaps (just speculation...) - now QinetiQ/DSTL. In July 1999 use of the following was banned by OFCOM for a week, via letter, web-site & GB2RS: 430.650 439.450 430.700 439.575 430.750 439.625 430.825 439.825 430.875 439.875 430.975 439.925 430.400 439.350 430.525 439.400 "The civil radiolocation service operates on 432·5, 438·0, and 445·25 in accordance with the Oslo Agreement, 1983" 440 UHF1 PBR limited mainly to large cities - London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinb., Leeds, Aberdeen, Bradford, Derby, Halifax, Leicester, Middlesbro, NewCastle, Preston, Sheffield, Warrington, Coventry, Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Newport. 12.5kHz channels. Channel xxx = (freq - 440) / 0.0125 freq = (Ch number x 0.0125) + 440 (throughout 440-450) except additional 0.00625 for 448:431 channels 440.0125.PBR, to 442.250 (split -14.5: 425.5125-427.750) RAM data 440.325 on-site 7 (:425.825) ch 26 440.35 on-site 8 (:425.85) 440.375 on-site 9 (:425.875) 440.4 H.O. + 440.45, 442.225 440.5375 (ex demo/parking :426.0375) 440.9 on-site 16 (:426.4) 440.925 on-site 17 (:426.425) 440.95 on-site 18 (:426.45) 441.1125 on-site 20 (:426.6125) 442.25 CBS (:427.75) ch 180 442.2625=...JFMG, to 442.5125= Temporary location TalkBack - various areas 442.275 to 442.500 442.525..PBR, to 443.4875 (split -14.5: 428.025 -428.9875) 13 JRC ch. 442.525 on-site 26 (:428.025) ch 202 442.5375 CBS (:428.0375) 442.55 on-site 27 (:428.05) 442.575 on-site 28 (:428.075) 442.6 on-site 29 (:428.1) 442.625 on-site 30 (:428.125) 442.65 on-site 31 (:428.15) 442.775 on-site 39 (:428.275) 442.875 W.A. shared 43 (:428.375) 443.45 on-site 51 (:428.95) 443.475 on-site 53 (:428.975) 443.4875 CBS (:428.9875) ch 279 443.5 ... MoD (some Eurotunnel use at 444 split +10) 444.3375 Tag Farnborough Airport Ltd (0276080) (:449.725) 12.5kHz KDR (Swedish/Norway Kort Distanse Radio) 1W handhelds 444.6, 444.65, 444.8, 444.825, 444.85, 444.975 445.2 ... Civil TETRA DMO Direct Mode (single), to 445.3 1W ( DEC(01)21 ) (447.3-447.4 was alternative proposal) 445.5125.PBR, to 445.9875 (split -20.5: 425.0125-425.4875) 445.5125 CBS (:425.0125) ch 441 445.725 on-site 57 (:425.225) 445.800 on-site 60 (:425.3) 445.975 W.A. shared 62 (:425.475) 445.9875 CBS (:425.4875) ch 479 446.0... PBR, to 446.4 on-site single : channels 1 to 33 (12.5kHz) PMR 446 446.006..PMR446 (Euro SRBR), to 446.093 (8x 12.5kHz - within 446-446.1, 6.25kHz offsets) Introduced in 1999 500mW licence exempt. Status in Europe 446.00625 1 (446.005 to nearest 5kHz, 1.25kHz error) 446.01875 2 (446.020) 446.03125 3 (446.030) 446.04375 4 (446.045) 446.05625 5 (446.055) 446.06875 6 (446.070) 446.08125 7 (446.080) 446.09375 8 (446.095) 446.1=...DMR Digital PMR446, to 446.2= October 2005, ECC/DEC/(05)12, 4-level FSK, 3.6kbit/s AMBE+2 voice codec 446.103125 16 dPMR channels, 6.25kHz spaced (4800bps), to 446.196875 FDMA OR 446.10625 8 DMR channels, 12.5kHz spaced (9600bps), to 446.19375 DMR Tier I, TDMA 2-slots (Tier I is the licence-free (446) equivilant of the licenced VHF/UHF Tier II. Tier III = trunked) Some PMR446 radios may be expanded to use extra channels from 445.88125 to 446.24375, and some Binatones have a 'secret' channel 9 of 447.005 446.425=... JFMG, to 446.5125= all areas 446.45 PBR (single) Babcock Support Services Limited (0257953) 446.5125=.. JFMG, to 447.5125= various areas, links, comms, talkback simp. and duplex (base) Links 446.5375 to 447.4875, 50kHz spaced 447.525..PBR, with gaps to 449.4875 447.525 PBR single... 447.65 on-site 34-37, to 447.6875 447.7 ? (non PBR) 447.7125 on-site 38 447.725 on-site 39 447.7375..(non PBR), to 447.7625 447.775 on-site 40 447.7875 on-site 41 447.8 PBR 447.8125 on-site 42 447.825 on-site 43 447.8375.PBR, to 447.9875 448=... PBR, to 449= London only (split -17: shared with amateur 431-432) 6.25kHz offsets numbering of 80 channels: 448.00625 CBS (:431.00625) ch 640 448.99375 CBS (:431.99375) ch 719 boundaries, splits, rounded carrier ranges: 448.0000= to 448.3375= -17: 431.0000= to 431.3375= (27 ch) .006 - .331 448.3375= to 448.4875= split to UHF2 (12 ch) 448.34375 CAB-S mobile channels 1-12, to 448.48125 (see +6.5: 454.84375..) 448.4875= to 448.525= -17.5: 431.3375= to 431.375= (3 ch) .493 - .518 448.525= to 448.575= single (4 ch) .531 - .568 448.575= to 448.6375= -17: 431.575= to 431.6375= (5 ch) .581 - .631 448.6375= to 448.6625= single (2 ch) .643 & .656 448.6625= to 448.8375= -17: 431.6625= to 431.8375 (14 ch) .668 - .831 448.8375= to 448.8625= single (2 ch) .843 & .856 448.8625= to 448.8875= -17: 431.8625= to 431.8875= (2 ch) .868 & .881 448.8875= to 448.9125= single (2 ch) .893 & .906 448.9125= to 448.9375= -17: 431.9125= to 431.9375= (2 ch) .918 & .931 448.9375= to 448.9625= single (2 ch) .943 & .956 448.9625= to 449.000= -17: 431.9625= to 432= (3 ch) .968 - .993 London only : some -17.5 approx splits to middle of 431-432 449.0125 from +6.5 ch13 449.025---431.38125 and from +6.6 ch19 449.0375 from +6.5 ch18 449.05----431.39375 449.0625--431.40625 449.075---431.41875 449.0875 from +6.5 ch14 449.09375= to 449.11875= Paging : 449.10625 Traffic info 449.125 single 449.1375--431.43125 449.15----431.44375 449.1625 from +6.5 ch15 449.175 from +6.5 ch16 449.1875 from +6.5 ch17 449.2-----431.45625 449.2125--431.46875 449.225---431.48125 449.2375--431.51875 449.25----431.53125 449.2625 single 449.275 single 449.2875 single 449.3 -no PBR- 449.3125 Simple UK Light (was UK General) (2002) 449.325---431.54375 449.3375--431.55625 449.35----431.56875 449.3625--431.94375 449.375---431.95625 449.3875 single 449.4 Simple UK Light (was UK General) (2002) 449.4125 single... 449.475 Simple UK Light (was UK General) (2002) 449.4875 single 449.5=... MoD Euro Recommendation T/R 75-03 (Nice 1985) set 449.5-450 as a prefered band for UK use by visiting foreigners for temporary PMR use, but 75-03 has not been implemented by the UK 449.75=.. Space ops/research, to 450.25= Earth-to-Space (Czech licence-free two-way 448.490, 448.570, 448.610, 449.770, 449.810 up to 5W) 450 UHF2: 450= to 470= - emergency services, PBR, Paging, Telemetry, SRD, SAB PBR mobile segments may contain single frequency simplex use. 12.5kHz channels. No CBS. Data systems (RAM/Hutchinson - 14 channel pairs, 17 in UHF1) [Hear it here!] Transcomm Mobitex UHF PMR started in the early 1960s 450-451 used to be used for Links, split +14: 464-465 other old link pairings in UHF2 used splits of 5.5, 6.5, 12.5 MHz 457-458.5, 460.5-461.5, 462.5-464, 467-470 were used. Links have moved up the spectrum as technology has improved. There is a Euro plan (25-08) to re-organise 450-470: (boundaries) 460 ... Base, to 470 (split -10: 450-460) ------- OFCOM planned to find the best way to realign from 2005-2010 Keep 457/467 Marine, 466.075 paging, 458.5-459.5 SRD. All single to move to 440-450 1) 454 Paging : 440-450 2) 456 PMR : 464 3) 456/462 single PMR : 440-450 4) 457.5 Scanning Telemetry : 461.5 5) residual 999 : 466 6) 455 CAA PMR : 467 7) PMSE : 465 8) 453/460 single PMR : 440-450 9) 453 PMR : 463 10) 461 single PMR : 440-450 11) PMSE : 460 12) PMSE : 467 New Plan (approximate segments) 460.0=...PMSE 460.4=... 461.5=...Scan.Tel 462.5=... 463.32...PMR 464.84...PMSE 465.4375... 466.38...Emergency Services, to 466.92 466.937..CAA PMR 467.25=..PMSE 468.08... (468.5-469.5 in reserve due to SRD at -10) Gaps left for future TETRA, etc. There were so many objections, the plan was abandoned! ------- 450=... H.O. - Emergency Services and HMPs, to 453= (with 464-467.25) typical splits +13.9 or +14 (before TETRA) (started mid 1966 as 451-452, then expanded up to 453, then down by 1MHz to include 450-451 1987-jul.1989) 25kHz channels until 1999, then used some 12.5kHz 452.0-452.275 split 14 : 466.0-466.275 used for ROC/UKWMO links in 1970s/80s (source) Dredging International (0734629) 12.5kHz single 450.1 450.4 450.65 450.9 451.45 464.1 464.4 464.65 464.8 465.0 466.15 453.00625= boundary for start of UHF2 PBR 453.0125 PBR single, or dual with mobile at 461.275 453.025..PBR, to 453.9875 dual 12.5kHz (split +6.5: 459.525-460.4875) ..and 25kHz single: 453.025----459.525 on-site 1 dual 453.0375 single (459.5375 = H.O.) 453.050----459.55 453.0625---459.5625 on-site 2 dual 453.075 on-site 31 459.575 on-site 1 453.0875---459.5875 on-site 3 dual 453.100----459.6 on-site 4 dual 453.1125---459.6125 on-site 5 dual 453.125 on-site 32 459.625 on-site 2 453.1375---459.6375 BT Plc (0075934) 453.150----459.65 453.1625---459.6625 BT Plc (0075934) 453.175----459.675 on-site 7 dual 453.1875---459.6875 BT Plc (0075934) 453.200----459.7 453.2175---459.7175 BT Plc (0075934) 453.225 on-site 33 459.725 on-site 3 453.2375---459.7375 BT Plc (0075934) 453.250----459.75 W.A. shared 4 453.2625---459.7625 BT Plc (0075934) 453.275----459.775 453.2875---459.7875 BT Plc (0075934) 453.300 on-site 34 459.8 on-site 4 453.3175---459.8175 BT Plc (0075934) 453.325----459.825 453.3375---459.8375 BT Plc (0075934) 453.350 on-site 35 459.85 on-site 5 453.3625---459.8625 BT Plc (0075934) 453.375----459.875 on-site, many hospitals 453.3875---459.8875 BT Plc (0075934) 453.400 on-site 36 459.9 on-site 6 453.4125---459.9125 453.425 on-site 37 459.925 on-site 7 453.4375---459.9375 on-site 453.450 on-site 38 459.95 on-site 8 453.4625---459.9625 453.475----459.975 on-site 453.4875---459.9875 453.500----460.0 on-site 8 dual 453.5125---460.0125 453.525 on-site 39 460.025 on-site 9 453.5375---460.0375 453.550----460.05 National 4 dual (rail) 453.5625---460.0625 453.575 on-site 40 460.075 on-site 10 453.5875---460.0875 Tesco (0298142) 453.600----460.1 on-site 9 dual 453.6125 rail 453.6125---460.1125 rail 453.625 on-site 41 460.125 on-site 11 453.6375---460.1375 M&S (0284510) 453.650 on-site 42 460.15 on-site 12 453.6625---460.1625 BT (0297497) 453.675 on-site 43 460.175 on-site 13 453.6875 Demo ---460.1875 453.700 453.7125---460.2125 453.725 on-site 44 460.225 on-site 14 453.7375---460.7375 tech. assigned - on-site? 453.750----460.25 on-site 11 dual 453.7625---460.2625 453.775----460.275 tech. assigned - on-site? 453.7875---460.2875 453.800----460.3 wide area 453.8125---460.3125 453.825----460.325 tech. assigned - on-site? 453.8375---460.3375 tech. assigned 453.850----460.35 wide area 453.8625---460.3625 453.875 on-site 45 460.375 on-site 15 453.8875---460.3875 453.900----460.4 National 5 dual (rail) 453.9125---460.4125 453.925----460.425 on-site 14 dual 453.9375---460.4375 453.950 on-site 46 460.450 on-site 16 453.9625---460.4625 wide area 453.975----460.475 W.A. shared 7 453.9875---460.4875 London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority, dual channels 453.4875 453.5375 453.7875 453.8625 453.8875 453.9375 456.3625 456.4375 456.5125 456.5875 456.6625 456.7125 456.7625 456.8125 456.8875 456.9375 454.025 ... Paging and some PBR, to 454.825 New (3.apr.2000) On-site Religious Observance Radio service i.e. "Call-to-prayer" 454.39375 454.40625 454.79375 454.80625 ( +/- 6.25kHz around 454.4 & 454.8 ) 10 min.s max. broadcasts - follow-ons must wait four times the length of the preceding message. 3km range, maybe more. 454.06875 Leicester City Council (0250278) 12.5kHz 454.08125 Leicester City Council (0250278) 12.5kHz 454.15 dual 25kHz (split +10: 464.15) i.e. Airradio 454.3 dual 25kHz (split +10: 464.3) i.e. Airradio 454.30625 Leicester City Council (0250278) 12.5kHz 454.375 dual 25kHz (split +10: 464.375) i.e. Airradio 454.4 On-site Religious Observance Radio service 454.425 Parking/Demo/hire/trunked (split +7: 461.425) 454.45 JRC (:460.825) 454.5 Divided into 2x 6.25 channels Business Radio (Area Defined) (split : 460.7625) 454.496875 Office of Communications (:460.759375) 6.25kHz nationwide (0797748) 454.503125 Office of Communications (:460.765625) 6.25kHz nationwide (0797748) 454.525 dual 25kHz (split +10: 464.525) i.e. Airradio 454.55 JRC (:460.85) 454.575 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.575) i.e. Airradio 454.6 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.6) i.e. Airradio 454.625 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.625) i.e. Airradio 454.625 JRC (:460.875) 454.65 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.65) i.e. Airradio 454.675 JRC (:460.975) 454.7 single 25kHz 454.7 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.7) i.e. Airradio TETRA 454.725 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.725) i.e. Airradio 454.75 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.75) i.e. Airradio 454.775 dual 25kHz (split +7: 461.775) i.e. Airradio 454.8 On-site Religious Observance Radio service 454.81875 Leicester City Council (0250278) 12.5kHz 454.825 single 454.8375= 454.84375..."CAB Secure" (Rail CAB-S or CSR) ch 1-12, to 454.98125 (split -6.5: 448.34375-448.48125) 1 454.84375:448.34375 12.5kHz spaced with 6.25kHz offsets 2 454.85625:448.35625 control (data) to 12 454.98125:448.48125 13 455.5125:449.0125 (-6.5) 14 455.5875:449.0875 15 455.6625:449.1625 16 455.675 :449.175 17 455.6875:449.1875 18 455.5375:449.0375 19 455.625 :449.025 CSR/NRN replaced by GSM-R (921-925MHz) between 2007 and 2013. 454.85...PBR, to 454.975 454.9875=...JFMG, to 455.4625= short term links and location talkback base (with 468.018-468.506) (+airborne) 455.475..PBR, to 455.85 (split +5.3/5.5/5.65: 460.775-461.225) was mostly Airports (CAA), now various on-site too some channels were once split -6.5: 449.0375-449.1875 - as is the current CAB-S system single or dual +5.3 +5.5 +5.65 455.475 --- 460.775 455.4875--- 460.7875 455.5 --- 460.8 461.0 (455.5125 13) 455.525 --- 461.175 455.5375--- 461.1875 (and CAB-S 18) 455.55 --- 460.85 461.2 455.5625--- 460.8625 461.2125 455.575 --- 460.875 461.075 461.225 (455.5875 14) 455.6 --- 460.9 455.6125--- 460.9125 461.1125 455.625 --- 460.925 461.125 (and CAB-S 19) 455.6375--- 460.9375 455.65 --- 460.95 (455.6625 15) (455.675 16) (455.6875 17) (was once paired +4.0: 459.6875) 455.7 --- 461.0 455.7125--- 461.0125 455.725 --- 461.025 461.225 455.7375--- 461.0375 455.75 --- 461.05 455.7625--- 461.0625 455.775 --- 461.075 455.7875--- 461.0875 455.8 --- 461.1 455.8125--- 461.1125 455.825 --- 461.125 455.8375--- 461.1375 455.85 --- 461.15 455.8625 ? 455.875 ? 455.8875... H.O., to 455.9875 Fire Service on-site ("fireground") etc. 455.9875 Inter Service Liason, ch 69 (as ch 70 with 462.5375) 456.0... PBR, to 456.9875 dual 12.5kHz (split +5.5: 461.500-462.4875) and single: 456.0 ---461.5 National 18 dual 456.0125---461.5125 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.025 ---461.525 on-site 15 dual 456.050 ---461.550 W.A.Shared 8 456.0625---461.5625 JRC to 456.3125---461.8125 (21 ch) 456.2625---461.7625 National 35 dual 456.3375---461.8375 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.35 ---461.85 on-site 16 dual 456.375 ---461.875 National 38 dual 456.3875---461.8875 STH or either singly 456.4 ---461.9 National 39 dual 456.4125---461.9125 National 40 dual 456.425 ---461.925 National 41 dual 456.4625---461.9625 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.475 ---461.975 W.A.Shared 9 462.050 ex UK General 456.5625---462.0625 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.575 on-site 47 462.075 on-site 25 456.600 ---462.100 on-site 18 dual 456.625 on-site 48 462.125 on-site 26 456.650 ---462.150 on-site 19 dual 456.675 ---462.175 on-site 20 dual 456.6875---462.1875 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.725 on-site 49 462.225 on-site 27 456.775 on-site 50 462.275 on-site 28 456.800 on-site 51 462.300 on-site 29 456.825 ---462.325 on-site 23 dual 456.875 ---462.375 on-site 24 dual 456.8625 STH (ex RQAS) 462.3625 STH 462.375 456.900 on-site 52 462.400 on-site 30 456.925 ---462.425 demo/parking or either singly 456.9625---462.4625 STH/demo/parking Trunked 456.975 PBR 462.475 STH 456.9875---462.4875 STH (or 456.9875 singly) CIBS 456.975 was the Coach and Independent Bus Sector emergency 5W channel (til 31.12.04) 457.0= ... H.O. (some split +5.5), to 457.25= Fire Service (source : PROMA) Incident/BA channels 457.256 ... JFMG short term location talkback base, to 457.468 (with 467.293-467.531) 6.25 kHz offsets 457.475=... H.O. (Fire) 457.4875 ch 7 457.5=.. Scanning Telemetry, to 458.5= (split +5.5: Outstations at 463-464) 457.50625-458.49375 Scanners, 12.5kHz channels 1 to 80 (i.e. 6.25kHz offsets) - with 463.00625-463.99375 457.525 ... Marine on-board comms, to 457.575 (may be split +10) International 2W max. Was 25kHz spaced, WRC-97 added 2 x 12.5kHz channels at 457.5375 and 457.5625 For USA/Can./Philippines territorial waters, 25kHz, an extra 457 channel and a different split: 457.525 to 457.6 (split +10.225: 467.75-467.825) -Simp.-Rptr- 457.525 1 D G 457.5375 O K 457.550 2 E H 457.5625 P L 457.575 3 F J (457.600 US: R4) 458.5 458.5=.. Telemetry, SRD, Model Control, Local Comms, to 459.5= 458.5=.. Telemetry, SRD, to 459.1= 458.5=... Telemetry, Telecommand - Industrial/Commercial - 500mW, to 458.95 458.825 Fixed Alarms 100mW 458.8375 Portable Alarms 100mW 458.9 Vehicle paging 100mW 458.9625=..Medical/Bio, to 459.1= 458.525..model control, to 459.475 - channels 1 to 39 458.85.. On-site paging / local comms, to 459.475 (25kHz) 459.0 some single use "Simple Site Light" (2008) cheaply licensed 2W Voice/Paging like "Simple UK Light" (ex "UK General") but allowing base stations and 25kHz b/w. Shared with r/c models, but that's low power - CTCSS deals with it. 459.05 (459.075 why the gap?) 459.1 to (25kHz steps) 459.475 Simple Site Light replaced "self-select" one-way paging and the "Local Communications" licence that paired: 459.125, .15, .25 .35 .45 : 160.0 .025 .05 .075 .1 or 164.2 (any pairings) 459.175 to 459.3 (except 459.25) : 159.6375-159.7 (not .6875) or 164.2 (any pairings) 459.325 : 161.0125 459.375 : 161.0375 459.400 : 161.0625 459.425 : 161.0875 459.475 : 161.1125 Simple Site Light users may use 459 Single, or make their own pairings from : 26.2375 26.410 26.4375 26.4625 26.545 26.588 26.6155 26.6695 26.7255 26.8155 26.8655 26.865 and the above 459 channels (459.05 - 459.475) Paging and Data: 49.0 - 49.4125, 49.4875, 159.6375 - 159.675, 159.7, 161.0 - 161.11250, 164.2 459.4875= 459.4875=.. H.O. (.5 .5125 .5375) ex Air ambulances 459.525 ... PBR, see 453.025 460.500=... H.O., to 460.75= Some prisons. Was used for air traffic control links, to +6.5: 467... 460.7625 PBR, see 454.5 460.775 ... PBR, see 455.475 (and some 454) 461.2375... JFMG, & 461.25 (split +7.2875: 468.525 & 468.5375) 461.2625.PBR and SRBR, to 461.4875 (SRBR until 31.Dec.2003) 461.2625 PBR: Call-Systems Technology Ltd (0302545) - was SRBR 461.275 mobile - base=453.0125 461.2875 UK General 1 461.3 Alarmnet Limited (0789582) - was SRBR paging (and demo/parking for that) until end of 2006 461.3125 on-site 17 461.325 on-site 18 461.3375 on-site 19 461.35 on-site 20 461.3625 on-site 21 461.375 UK General 2 461.3875 on-site 22 461.4 on-site 23 461.4125 special events 461.425 mobile side :454.425 (was special events) 461.4375 special events 461.450 UK General 3 461.4625 on-site 24 461.475 PBR: Call-Systems Technology Ltd (0302545) - was SRBR 461.4875 PBR: Call-Systems Technology Ltd (0302545) - was SRBR 461.500 ... PBR, see 456 462.49375= boundary for end of UHF2 PBR 462.500=... H.O., to 462.75= mobile for Fire channels 2,5,70 (from 455/457) (US GMRS/FRS handies - and white/black/orange "dot" handhelds) GMRS ch 1 to 8 at 462.55 to 462.725 (25kHz steps) with mobile at +5MHz FRS ch 1 to 7 at 462.5625 to 462.7125 (25kHz steps) also used for GMRS single & ch 8 to 14 at 467.5625 to 467.7125 (5MHz above ch 1 to 7) 462.550 G1 462.5625 F1 462.575 G2 462.5875 F2 462.600 G3 462.6125 F3 462.625 G4 462.6375 F4 462.650 G5 462.6625 F5 462.675 G6 462.6875 F6 462.700 G7 462.7125 F7 462.725 G8 F8-F14: see 467.5625... 462.756 ... JFMG fixed sites talkback (split +6.7375/+6.875: 469.493-469.868) 6.25kHz offsets 463.000=... ST, see 457.5= 464.000=... H.O., to 467.25= see 450.025= (464.5 & 464.55 USA brown and yellow "dot" unlicensed handhelds) 466.05 Paging 466.075 Paging 467.25=..(managed by OFCOM), to 469.875= (mostly JFMG) 467.2625=...JFMG... links and talkback (+airborne) 467.275 ... see 457.25 467.525 .. Marine on-board, to 467.575 single, or dual: see -10 NOT USA/Can./Philippines 467.75... USA/Can./Philippines Marine on-board, to 467.825 (split -10.225: 457.525-457.6) -Simp.-Rptr- 467.525 4 A G 467.5375 M K 467.550 5 B H 467.5625 N L (is also FRS-8) 467.575 6 C J (467.750 US: M1) (467.775 US: M2) (467.800 US: M3) (467.825 US: M4) 467.55... USA FRS (and GMRS repeaters in), to 467.725 - see 462.55 467.5625 F8 & Marine 467.5875 F9 467.6125 F10 467.6375 F11 467.6625 F12 467.6875 F13 467.7125 F14 (467.7625 USA J-dot unlicensed handhelds) (467.8125 USA K-dot) (467.85... USA silver,gold,red,blue "star" radios, to 467.925 467.6... Euro railways T/R 22-01 (Malaga-Torremolinos 1975), to 468.1 (split -10) 25kHz ch 468.0125 single. 468.018 ... JFMG, to 468.5375, see 455 and 461.237 (includes Special Event PMR) 469.493 ... fixed sites, to 469.868 - see 462.756 469.875=..H.O. England & Wales -470=-------------------------- BROADCASTING Primary, Land Mobile as secondary (PMSE managed by JFMG). TV in Bands IV and V, arranged in the UK as 8MHz channels from 21 to 69 ending at 862 MHz. Exact definitions vary for Bands 4 and 5, with the gap in the middle at ch 36. Ch 69 was never used for TV, just PMSE, which also makes use of spare channels around the band per location. One extra 8MHz UK channel 862-870 is known as channel 70, used for SRD, especially 863-865 mics. UK DSO (Digital Switch Over from analogue) from Nov 2008 (Selkirk, Border region) to Oct 2012 (N Ireland). Freeview HD launched in April 2010. Present (2012) situation : DTTV - Digital Terrestial TV, COFDM - 2k (1705 carriers, 7.61MHz bw) or 8k (6817) Launched (UK) as ONdigital 15 Nov 1998, changed to ITV Digital 11 July 2001, then Freeview 30 Oct 2002. Radar has been removed (July 2009) from around channel 36, and Radio Astronomy protection (ch 38), so the entire ch 21-69 was free for Broadcasting and PMSE until the "800 MHz band" was given to IMT. Mobile Broadband intrusion : Switchover planned to release channels 31-40 (600MHz Band) and 63-68 (800MHz Band) for Ofcom to re-license, as WRC 2000 had decided to re-allocate from 806 to 960 MHz to UMTS. But seven years later, WRC-07 then allocated 790-862MHz (ch 61-69) to mobile services throughout Region 1 (primary) as from 17.jun.2015 (in some CEPT countries it is possible to utilise this band for mobile services before 2015). An "800 MHz Clearance" followed (2012 onwards, during DSO), to clear ch 61 & 62, and move PMSE from 69 to 38, as a European standard 800MHz FDD channel plan was drawn up for 4G mobile broadband at 790-862. Offsets - may be used to alleviate co-channel interference. DTV may have negative or positive offsets of 1/6th MHz (166.666kHz) on any individual multiplex. With Analogue TV, this involved 'offset units' of 1/12 of the Line Frequency (15.625kHz UK). UK TV sound often appeared to be on xxx.225 or xxx.275 instead of the nominal xxx.250 due to the use of 20/12 offsets (26.041666 kHz). With US NTSC it was approximately 10kHz, in France somewhere around 37.5kHz (29ou 37.760416? 30ou 39.0625?). (no offsets used on analogue radio, but DAB ensembles may be shifted by some steps on the 16kHz raster) In France the same DVB-T standard is used, so you may TV DX with a UK TV. Their "TNT" started 31.mar.2005, and HD launched 30.oct.2008. French ASO (Analogue Switch Off) ran from November 2009 to November 2011. bound.s--ch 470-478 21 476.425.. Australian/NZ UHF CB (if any used in the UK), 80 x 12.5kHz, to 477.4125 478-486 22 486-494 23 494-502 24 502-510 25 510-518 26 518-526 27 526-534 28 534-542 29 542-550 30 550-558 31 *7* "600 MHz Band" start (550-606) 558-566 32 *7* 'Digital dividend' from DSO, likely to be awarded to 3 more TV 'layers' (7 to 9) 566-574 33 *7* 574-582 34 *8* 582-590 35 *8* 590-598 36 *8* 598-606 37 *9* "600 MHz Band" end 606-614 38 UK PMSE (replaced ch69, confirmed 30.Jun.09) available 1-1-2012 when R. Astronomy (610) protection ended 614-622 39 622-630 40 630-638 41 638-646 42 646-654 43 654-662 44 662-670 45 670-678 46 678-686 47 686-694 48 694-702 49 702-710 50 710-718 51 718-726 52 726-734 53 734-742 54 742-750 55 750-758 56 758-766 57 766-774 58 774-782 59 782-790 60 ------------ End of TV Band after DSO and 'DTT clearance' --------- 790-798 61 * "800 MHz Band" start (790-862) 798-806 62 * 806-814 63 * 814-822 64 * 822-830 65 * (824-849 & 869-894 are blocked on RX equipment sold in USA) 830-838 66 * 838-846 67 * 846-854 68 * 854-862 69 * "800 MHz Band" end - UK PMSE til end 2012. Access til at least 1.jul.2012, 1-Oct-12 Lond, NI, Tyne Tees (862-870 70 remains SRD)
diagram of 800 MHz Band
800 MHz band plan for 4G LTE Mobile FDD (Freq. Division) of 2 x 30MHz (each 30 divided into 6 x 5MHz), 41MHz split 790-791 (1MHz guardband at ch61) 791-821 Base - Downlinks DL1 to DL6 821-832 11MHz "Duplex Gap" to be used (from 1-1-2013) for PMSE, 1mW ERP without licence, or: 823-826 licenced, 20mW EIRP (RIR1009-18) 826-832 licenced, 100mW EIRP (RIR1009-13) 832-862 Mobile - Uplinks UL1 to UL6 NOTES Analogue TV of the past : UK System I (1969-2012) - PAL : Offsets of +/- 26.0416 kHz may be used to alleviate co-channel interference AM Vision carrier at +1.25 (Lower Sideband vestigial) FMW Sound carrier at +7.25 (sound 6 higher than video - 5.996 actually. 5.9996?) (50kHz deviation FM) Nicam digital sound at +7.802 (QPSK) first test 1984, introduced summer 1991 on BBC2 (Colour at +5.683) French System L - Secam : Offsets of +/- 37.5 (?) kHz may be used. AM Vision carrier at +1.25 (inverted video) AM Sound carrier at +7.75 (sound 6.5 higher than video) Nicam digital sound at +7.55 JFMG - ch 21 to 34 - mics and talkback (split +80MHz) Central London ONLY : 473.275 Camera Data etc. + 473.300, 473.350 1W max 473.400=... Short Term audio links, to 474= 5W max, up to 200kHz 474.0=... Indoor Talkback, to 475= (split -4 : 470= to 471=) 1W max 475.0=... ST links, to 475.25= (as 473.4) bound.s--ch--sound- 470-478 21 477.25 can be used, remember, for special event PMR - split 4.1 for example 478-486 22 485.25 486-494 23 493.25 494-502 24 501.25 some lists show 500.0 MHz as a mil distress channel. Hmmmm ??!!! 502-510 25 509.25 510-518 26 517.25 518-526 27 525.25 526-534 28 533.25 534-542 29 541.25 542-550 30 549.25 550-558 31 557.25 558-566 32 565.25 566-574 33 573.25 574-582 34 581.25 582-590 35 589.25 + JFMG links and mics (radar on 586 until 1995) 590-598 (36) 597.25 VCRs / Computers etc 594 Aeronautical Radar 50cm - cleared by OFCOM, June 2009 598-606 37 605.25 + JFMG links (was once used for radar on 602, until 1995) 606-614 38 613.25 + JFMG mics 610 Radio Astronomy 614-622 39 621.25 + JFMG talkback (split -80MHz), to 662 NZ 50cm band 622-630 40 629.25 630-638 41 637.25 638-646 42 645.25 646-654 43 653.25 654-662 44 661.25 662-670 45 669.25 670-678 46 677.25 678-686 47 685.25 686-694 48 693.25 694-702 49 701.25 (695-720 talkback) 702-710 50 709.25 710-718 51 717.25 718-726 52 725.25 726-734 53 733.25 734-742 54 741.25 742-750 55 749.25 750-758 56 757.25 758-766 57 765.25 766-774 58 773.25 774-782 59 781.25 782-790 60 789.25 790-798 61 797.25 Military Radio Relay from 790 798-806 62 805.25 806-814 63 813.25 814-822 64 821.25 822-830 65 829.25 830-838 66 837.25 838-846 67 845.25 846-854 68 853.25 854-862 (69) JFMG SAB 862-870 (70) SRD -854=-------------------------- Channel 69, now part of '800 MHz Band'. Previous life as PMSE : 854=... JFMG ch69 - PMSE, mics, to 862 854.0=... "allocated to a government department", to 854.25= 854.25=.. JFMG up to 1W - mics / talkback / links, to 862 higher powered links at 856.8 and 860.6 - 200kHz b.width, or subdivided to 50kHz channels mics only at 854.9 855.275 855.9 856.175 856.575 857.625 857.95 858.2 858.65 860.4 860.9 861.2 861.55 861.75 (all 200kHz b.width) mic channels may be used for talkback subject to appropriate power restictions 858.750 - 859.750 only available to radiomics, indoors - because: 856=... MoD, to 859.75 "500 kHz tactical training radio relay channels" 860.1=... Shared mic channels, available accross UK, to 862= -862=-------------------------- Channel 70, Euro-harmonised Short Range Devices band, 863 to 870 "mobile except aeronautical mobile service", to 960 (T/R 75-02) 862=... HO, to 863= "Fire Service band" "currently reserved for Fire Service Telemetry" 862.9625 BA telemetry (869.5 for other industry) 863=... Low Band - Audio Wireless speakers, Cordless headphones, consumer mics, etc ('ch 70' mics), assisted listening 10mW max (300kHz bw) Euro-harmonised 1998 864.8= 50kHz bw, to 865= ETSI EN 300 220 "This appears to be a sub-band for 'Narrow band analogue voice' permitted 100% duty cycle at 10mW e.r.p" http://www.atcb.com/publicdocs/New-CEPT-70-03-Document.pdf 864.8125 1 864.8375 2 864.8625 3 864.8875 4 Calling 864.9125 5 864.9375 6 864.9625 7 864.9875 8 865=... Mid Band - RFID 866... proposed for Asset Tracking, to 868 (to 177-191 MHz CDMA) 867.6.. proposed ETSI paging narrow band returns, to 868.0 868=... High Band - Misc SRD, to 870 - Alarms, telemetry, control and other data European licence-free LPD Short Range Device (SRD860) two-way radio, max legal power 5mW on 126 channels in 5 bands 868=... 25mW ... Band A SRD-860 868.00625-868.59375 48 ch (12.5kHz) 868.6 .. Alarms - 10mW ... 868.7 .. 25mW ... Band B SRD-860 868.70625-869.19375 40 ch (12.5kHz) 869.2 .. Euro Social Alarms ... 869.25.. Alarms - 10mW ... 869.3... (SRD) ... Band C2 SRD-860 869.31250-869.38750 4 ch (25kHz) 869.4... 500mW ... Band C SRD-860 869.41250-869.63750 10 ch (25kHz) 869.65.. Alarms - 25mW ... 869.7... 5mW Cybiko Band D SRD-860 869.70625-869.99375 24 ch (12.5kHz) NOTES 869-894 & 824-849 are blocked on RX equipment sold in USA 864.1= .. CT2, to 868.1= phased out. No new equipment after April 2005 864.15 ch 1, to 868.05 ch 40 (100kHz steps) - 10mW 2 level FSK -870=-------------------------- Mobile 870=... Mobile, usually Dual (870-915 mobile) with 45MHz split to 915-960 (base) ... 870 - 871 Euro-band for ERMES returns 870.0 - 870.6 announced 13.jul.2000 870 - 876 reserved for future TETRA 872 (917) 876 (921) 876.0125... proposed Euro-UIC direct-mode single freq duplex, to 876.0625 (5 x 12.5kHz) 1W 880 (925) 888... SRD, to 889 to be phased out by 2004 890 (935) 898.. ISM +/- 8 MHz 915 (960) 902... unapproved USA cordless phones, to 908 (handsets -90, +19.9 or +24) Base 915=... Base section, to 960= (split -45: 870-915) Cellphones - GSM Global System for Mobility 915-933 "Army communications training with wide-band Triffid radio relay sets" 915=... reserved for future TETRA, Europe, to 921 (-45: 870-876) (esp 916-917, UK) 919.5=.. future Amateur, to 920= recommended by DSI2 for 2008 921=... UIC, to 925= (by 2005) Euro. Railways GSM-R system "roll out should start in 2002 and be completed by 2006 ... following a European initiative called EIRENE" Channel numbers GSM-R 921.2 (ch955).. E-GSM 925.2 (975).. 934.8 (1023).. 935.0 (ch 0).. GSM 935.2 (1).. 921.0.. unused guard band, to 921.1 (see 876 for direct mode) 921.2 first 924.8 last (19th) 925.0 this channel is a wasted 'guard band' 925=... E-GSM - Extended GSM, 925.2 to 935 925-960(:880-915) is UMTS Band VIII 935=... GSM, to 960= (-45: 890-915) (tech, more, more, more, MikeP) [Hear it here!] 935.2 - 959.8 (ch 1-124) TDMA 200kHz channels. Digital duplex. Scrambled. Base continuous, 1.5kW max! 935.2 - 939.6 Vodafone 939.8 - 947 O2 (Cellnet) 947.4 - 954.8 Vodafone 955.2 - 960= O2 (Cellnet) A cellsite broadcasting on 951.2 may also be using another channel such as 954.8 for traffic which is why it may not show up on a freq. counter. Maximum mast-to-phone distance (due to timing limitations) is 35km (8km for 3G). Find your local antennas with NetMonitor (Nokia)! (Motorola) (*4329 with Trium) (Siemens) - shows channel number, signal strength in -dBm, distance to mast in 500m steps (during calls), and more! Latest smart phones (Android) have some free apps that can show you Cell ID numbers and signal strength. NOTES 917=... ex ETACS/TACS, to 950= 1985 - (phased out by 2005) Cellnet until 1.Oct.2000 Vodafone end of May 2001 917.0125 to 949.9875 (25 kHz duplex channels, 12.5kHz offsets) 917.0125 to 934.9625 ch 1329 to 2047 934.9875 to 949.9875 ch 0 to 600 (Control channels at 935.56-936.06 & 943.06-943.56) [Hear it here!] 917 - 924 Vodafone 925 - 933.1 Cellnet 933.9- 935.1 Vodafone In 1987 the GSM Directive reserved the use of part of the 900MHz spectrum band for GSM .. updated in September 2009 by Directive 2009/114/EC to allow more advanced, next generation wireless technologies to also use this band of the radio spectrum, starting with 3G (UMTS) mobile broadband technology. 930=... CT1+ euro cordless phones, to 932= (split -45) from 1980s to 2002 ( phased out: DEC(01)01 ) 930.0125.. 80 x 25kHz channels, to 931.9875 unapproved cordless phones 933=... DSRR, to 935= (Digital Short Range Radio), never happened (Euro plans withdrawn) Draft idea announced by DTI march 1986, became Euro decision ERC/DEC/(93)01e 12th March 1993 and ETSI standard spec I-ETS 300 168 - max 4W Base 933-935, -45 split to mobile 888-890 Control channels 933.6625 & 934.3125 : 888.6625 & 889.3125 T/R 20-10 E 1990-93 withdrawn 01 November 1996 934.0125.ex UK CB, to 934.9625 (934/81) (20 channels, 50kHz spacing) 8W 2.Nov.1981 to 31.12.1998 history Phased out from end of 1988 due to impending DSRR which never came to be, the 934/81 band became part of ETACS, later Extended GSM. 959=... CT1 euro cordless phones, to 960= (split -45) from 1980s to 2002 ( phased out: DEC(01)01 ) 959.0125.. 40 x 25kHz channels, to 959.9875 There is an Amateur 33cm allocation in the USA from 902 to 928 MHz, and 922-927 in NZ (ARRL Bandplans 2012) -960=-------------------------- Aero. Navigation (DME/IFF), Military Link16/JTIDS (969-1206) Tactical Data Link / Secure Voice (timeslot divided) on 969 (single channel) or hopped over 51ch (3MHz spaced), avoiding +/-20MHz around IFF channels. DME dates back to the 1950s. 966 Astronomy +/-4 MHz 978.... DME Ground reply X channels, to 1087 (paired with 1xx.x0 MHz) (to +63) 978 ADS-B Universal Access Transceivers (air+ground) FAA/US for Euro use by 2012 (1MHz bandwidth) 1025... DME Air mobile channels, to 1150 (1-126 x 1 MHz channels; 1-16 and 60-69 not used) Selected in aircraft by tuning to a paired channel between 108 and 118 MHz Pulses transmitted by the aircraft, returned by the ground station & time difference measured. 1104... DME Ground reply Y channels, to 1213 (paired with 1xx.x5 MHz) (to -63) TACAN is like DME for slant distance measurement but the return pulses give bearing info instead of using any VHF signal 1030 SSR/IFF (Squalk) Ground (secondary radar - rotating), air reply on 1090 (4MHz bandwidth) use AM to detect (pulses stand out more over silence than over noise) [Hear it here!] 1164 - 1215 future GPS L5 and Galileo downlinks (WRC 2000) with 1260-1300 and 5010-5030 - uplinks at 1300-1350 and 5000-5010 -1,215=---microwaves---(1.215 GHz)-------- Mobile, military, radar, navigation, fixed etc... Rather specialist, wavelengths of less than 30cm really do allow for high gain antennas, with very narrow beamwidths. Cable losses become very noticeable and/or untenable. Mobile "flutter" quite severe, mobile systems need many more base stations to cover a given area. Most useful uses are direct fixed links, point to point, satellite (line of sight), low range etc. So - mostly un-interceptable and/or digital. 1215... Civil airport radar, to 1350 & radiolocation, satellite 1246... Russian GLONASS GPS L2, 0-12: 1246+n(0.4375) see 1602 23cm [checked and updated 2012] (RSGB Bandplan 2012) 1240=... Amateur 23cm band, to 1325= CW,SSB/FM/TV secondary 1240=... Alternative Narrowband/Beacon... 1240.75 FM/DV repeaters in (see 1249) 1241=... Data... 1242=... ATV repeaters in (see 1300)... 1249=... FM/DV repeaters (spit -8.25 :1240.775...) future use 1249.025 to 1249.225 1249.25=... 1250=... CAUTION to avoid interefence to Primary User... 1260-1270 Amateur Satellite uplinks 1290=... 1290.994= repeaters in (see 1297)... 1291.494=... All modes 1296=... Preferred Narrowband Segment, to 1297 (MGM=Machine Generated Mode) 1296... CW,MGM... 1296.0...EME, to 1296.025 1296.138 PSK31 1296.15.. SSB,CW,MGM... 1296.2 Centre of Activity 1296.4.. Linear transponder input, to 1296.6 1296.5 Image Mode Centre of Activity (SSTV, Fax etc) 1296.6 Narrowband Data Centre of Activity (MGM, RTTY etc) 1296.6.. Linear transponder output, to 1296.7 1296.75.. Beacons... 1297... FM/DV repeaters RM0 to RM19 (split -6 :1291..) 1297.0 RM0 GB3NO Norwich 1297.025 RM1 (not in use) 1297.05 RM2 GB3FM Farnham 1297.075 RM3 GB3PS Royston, GB3SE Stoke-on-Trent 1297.1 RM4 (not in use) 1297.125 RM5 (not in use) 1297.15 RM6 GB3MM Wolverhampton 1297.35 RM14A :1277.35 (-20) GB3AK Alveston 1297.375 RM15 GB3WC Flockton (1297.475 RM19 not in UK yet, like others not listed) 1297.5.. FM/DV simplex, to 1298= 1297.50 SM20 FM calling to 1297.725 SM29 DV calling 1297.75 SM30 1297.9 Voice Gateways, to 1297.975 1298=... All Modes, to 1299= General mixed analogue/digital in 25kHz ch: 1298.025 RS1 to 1298.275..German repeaters, to 1298.65 (split -28 :1270..) 1298.975 RS39 1298.025..French repeaters, to 1298.70 (split -28 :1270..) 1299=... Data... 1299.75= FM/DV 25kHz ch: 1299.775 to 1299.85 RM0A :1293.85 (-6) GB3BK Romley 1299.975 1300=... ATV TV repeater outputs from 1985 (UK) -1325= --- -1,350=------------------ 1,350=...Civil fixed links (split +142: 1492-1517) new. JRC links 1370..Radioastronomy, to 1400 1,375=...Govt / MoD links (split +52: 1427-1452) "radio relay training... wide-band surveillance, video, data links, aeronautical telemetry" 1394 Civil video links - MPT 1349 standard (band 1389-1399) 1,400=...Transmission Prohibited Astronomy, Space Research, SETI, Hydrogen Line. Certain frequencies around here propagate very well through the universe, so the boffins listen here for extra- terrestial transmissions. But surely the little grey men are doing the same thing? 1420 SETI@Home (+/-1.25MHz) 1,427=...Govt links (split -52: 1375-1400) 1450... Civil links, to 1467.5 (split +62.5: 1512.5-1530.0) x 1,452=...L-Band DAB & links DAB "23 blocks of spectrum available... 9 of these blocks have been made available for terrestrial use using the Eureka 147 technology... availability of the band is not assured until 2007... The remaining 14 blocks are currently earmarked in CEPT for satellite digital radio." LA 1452.192-1453.728 LB 1453.904-1455.440 LC 1455.616-1457.152 LD 1457.328-1458.864 LE 1459.040-1460.576 LF 1460.752-1462.288 LG 1462.464-1464.000 LH 1464.176-1465.712 LI 1465.888-1467.424 & Worldspace digital satellite broadcasting 1467-1492 (7025-7075 MHz uplinks) more 3 sat.s, each with 3 beams of 2 TDM carriers (one left, one right circular pol.) TDMs are QPSK modulated, overall rate of 3.68 Mbit/s - 96 so called Prime Rate Channels (PRCs) having 16 kbit/s each. MP3 audio coding. 2.3MHz TDM sep. detail Receivers cover 1453.384 to 1490.644 MHz (52 centers currently: 1467.184-1490.644, 0.460 MHz steps) Orbital positions : AfriStar 21 East - 1469R 1471L 1478R 1481L (MHz & Pol) details AsiaStar 105 East - 1473R 1475L 1478L 1480R 1488R 1490L details AmeriStar 95 West - (2002) (details) 1467.5..Civil links, to 1472.5 (split +40.0: 1507.5-1512.5) x 1488.25..JFMG links, to 1490.75 1,492=...Civil fixed links (split -142: 1350-1375) 1507.5..Civil links, to 1512.5 (split -40.0: 1467.5-1472.5) x 1512.5..Civil links, to 1530 (split -62.5: 1450.0-1467.5) x 1,517=...Civil links, JFMG, one-way, possible future MSS expansion 1517... JFMG, ant. restrictions : 1517.25 Horizontal 1517.75 Vertical 1518... JFMG, to 1525 available until further notice from OFCOM 1,525=...Satellite comms downlinks - Inmarsat GMDSS etc (uplinks 1626.5-1660.5) (+101.5) more SpaceChecker Thuraya (digital) - (Feeder Links E-S 6425-6725MHz, S-E 3400-3625MHz) 1535-1544 30kHz FM comms, 25kHz steps : 1535.025... ch 001, to 1543.475 ch 339 1,559=...Radionavigation, to 1626.5= 1,575.42 Navstar GPS Nav L1 C/A (military accuracy with 1227.6 L2 +/-14MHz) spread (20,231km orbit) The L1 carrier is modulated by all three GPS data streams, C/A, P and Nav/System Data. The L2 carrier is modulated by two GPS data streams, P-code and Nav/System Data. The L3 carrier 1381.05 MHz is a non-navigation signal associated with nuclear burst detection. L4 is 1379.913 MHz (1841.4 MHz had been considered) L5 1176.45 MHz (third 'civil' signal) band 1166-1186 1,602... Russian GLONASS L1, 0-12: 1602+n(0.5625) spread spectrum 1,610=...Mobile-satellite systems, uplinks (down at -101.5) 1,610=...LEO MSS, to 1626.5= (up&down) CDMA i.e. Globalstar, Iridium (TDMA, 780km up) 1,645.5..Distress EPIRBs, to 1646.5 (Inmarsat E) 1645.6-1645.8? 1,660.5=.Radioastronomy, to 1668 1,668=...H.O. links (with 1698-1700) 1,670=...TFTS ground stations (see 1800), possible future MSS (TFTS "1670.5 and 1671.5") Sondes (met & mil), to 1690 1,675=...Meteo satellite, to 1710 1,677=...H.O. mobile applications, to 1685 1,683=...possible future MSS, to 1690 1,690=...Weather Satellite HRPT (Hi-res pics), to 1710= NOAA, GOES, MeteoSat. EUMETSAT: 1675.181 DCP, to 1675.381 - 3kHz b/w 1675.929 PCM telemetry - 30kHz b/w 1686.833 DATTS format - 660kHz bandwidth / Burst PCM 5.4MHz b/w 1691 A1 20.5dBW 1694.5 A2 19dBW HRI 660kHz b/w, WEEFAX 26kHz b/w MDD ch1 1695.6438, ch2 1695.7250, ch 3 1695.7562, ch4 1695.7874 +/- 15.6kHz (360kHz b/w) 1,698=...H.O. links, to 1700 (with 1668-1670) 1,710=...links, radioastronomy, Skynet uplinks, PCN mobile phones, to 1880= : 1,785=...JFMG 50mW, to 1800= 1785.7...radio mics, to 1799.3 1790=... secondary to H.O. links, to 1798 1,800.30.TFTS in-flight digital phones (air-ground), to 1804.969 (164 x 30.303 kHz channels : ground at -130) To be withdrawn (2002 decision) and kept for harmonised use, probably MSS 1,805=...PCN mobile phone system GSM 1800, to 1880= (split -95: 1710-1785) UMTS Band III Standard : 1805.2 to 1879.8 (374x TDMA 200kHz channels) Digital duplex. Scrambled. Base continuous. info. Channels numbered 512-885 Foreign GSM 1900 (split -80) : 1930.2 (512) - 1989.8 (810) 1805.2 - 1810.8 O2 (Cellnet) (ex 1805-1807.5 TFTS guard) (1807.5-1815.5 H.O. Fixed links split: +494.5) 1811 - 1816.6 Vodafone 1816.8 - 1846.6 T Mobile (One 2 One) (ex 1820-1860 links, split: -110) 1846.8 - 1876.6 Orange 1876.7=- 1880= guard-band to protect DECT (1873.5-1897.5) offshore Fixed Links (split: -108) 1,880=...DECT Digital Euro. Cordless Telephones, to 1900= 1881.792..ch1, to 1897.344 ch10 (steps of 1.728 MHz) encrypted, base continuous (pulses), less than 250mW Single Freq. Duplex (Digital TDMA) - supporting 12 conversations at once per channel 1,900=...future UMTS, to 1980= (with 2110-2170) IMT-2000, FPLMTS 3G 3rd generation mobile issues "licences will comprise three of (2x10)+5MHz (C,D,E), one of 2x15MHz (B) and one of (2x15)+5 MHz (A)." WRC 2000 added 806-960, 1710-1885, 2500-2690 (Satellite 2500-2520 & 2670-2690), and for satellite: 1525-1544 & 1545-1559, 1610-1626.5 & 1626.5-1645.5 & 1646.5-1660.5, 2483.5-2500 1900=.. single, to 1920= 1902.4 D 1907.4 E 1912.4 C 1917.4 A 1919.9= guardband, to 1920= 1920=.. paired, to 1980= mobile/uplink see +190 (2110-2170) 1,980=...MSS, to 2010 2,010=...3G licence-exempt band, to 2025 (first carrier 2013 or higher, last 2022.2) 2,025=...FWA, to 2110 (with 2200-2290) "2 x 45 MHz identified by CEPT as harmonised bands for tactical radio relay." JFMG 20-100W Not within 5km of Bude or Menwith Hill 2,110=...3G Base/Downlink, to 2170= (split -190: 1920-1980) 12 x 5MHz channels on a 0.2MHz raster (some overlap) 2110.0= guardband, to 2110.3= freq. = 2075.2 + (ch * 0.2) Dec(99)25 UMTS Band I 2112.8 A (A has 14.6MHz) 2112.8 is lowest allowed carrier (ch 188), 2167.2 highest (ch 460) 2117.6 A 2122.4 A 2124.9= 2127.4 C (C has 10MHz) 2132.4 C 2134.9= 2137.4 B 2142.? B (B has 14.8MHz) must be 5MHz between operators, less is OK for one operator 2147.2 B 2149.7= 2152.2 D (D&E have 10MHz each) 2157.2 D 2162.2 E 2167.2 E 2169.7= guardband, to 2170.0= 2,170=...MSS, to 2200 (and 1980-2010) 2,200=...SKYNET satellites telemetry downlinks, to 2290 "Sat. Telecommand, Telemetry and Control (TT&C) ... at 1760 - 1840 MHz for the command uplinks" 2,300... Airborne Telemetry, to 2330 (extension to 2400) 2,310=...Ham 13cm band, to 2,450= (2360 UK Police A-G Video?) "military fixed, telemetry and mobile.. long-range airborne telemetry links are particularly protected." 2,400=...deregulated band, to 2483.5 (WiFi 802.11b 11Mbps, 802.11g 54Mbps) Some FWA in Scotland JFMG video links & cameras, to 2.68 (20MHz channels?) (+ some video senders) 2402.. Bluetooth digital SRD ch0, to 2480 ch78 (79 x 1MHz channels) within 2401.5= to 2480.5= 1600 hops per sec over 32 channels 2402.. FHSS ch2, to 2480 ch80 2403.. HomeRF, to 2477 (75 x 1MHz OR 5 x 15MHz channels) 2446.. Auto.Vehic.Ident. (500mW) and RFID (up to 4W), to 2454 2450 ISM, your microwave oven (2455). Really. PRR Personal Role Radio (mil) more (435MHz remote PTT) "2,400 - 2483 MHz, 256 Channels available, 100 mW, QPSK (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum)" 2,483.5=.MSS, to 2500= 2,500=...see 2,620 2,570=...UMTS TDD, to 2,620 2,620=...UMTS Band VIII, FDD IMT-E, to 2,690= (split -120: 2500-2570) 4G LTE 14 x 5MHz ch? 2,700=...Radar, to 3100 - 10cm band 2700-2900 "airfield surveillance and traffic control radars for civil aviation, and military airfields." 2900-3100 "Civil maritime, air traffic control and range safety radars, together with naval radars." 3.100=...Mil radio location, to 3400 "heavily used for high-powered land, airborne and naval radars with a considerable geographical spread" 3400-3600 "MoD assigns some frequencies for airborne and naval radars and for radar development." "also agreed to civil use of this band for mobile TV Outside Broadcasts and for civil FWA." 3,400=...Ham 9cm band, to 3,475= 3,442=...Police helicopter video downlinks, to 3475 3,475.6=.FWA/RFA/RLL, to 3,492.688 (split -50: 3425-3442) used by Ionica 1993-??(97?) 2001 report : 3425-3442 paired with 3476-3493, 2x17MHz (51MHz duplex) 3,500=...PMSE, to 3600 - 5 video channels 3,605=...FWA, to 3689 (3925-4009) 2x36MHz "currently used by Tele-2" 3,675=...C-Band satellite TV, to 4,200= 4,200=...Mil/Civil aircraft precision radar altimeters and ground proximity warning systems, to 4400= 4,400=...NATO harmonised military fixed and mobile services, to 5000= "fixed links between military establishments" "wide-band channels for 'down-the-hill' high capacity links for tactical area communications systems." Future tropospheric scatter systems, wideband, "ranges in excess of 300 kilometres" 5,000=...Microwave Landing System, to 5,150= 5,150=...RLAN Short Range High Data Rate Nomadic Equipment, to 5,875= (802.11a), to 5350 5,250=...EESS, to 5460 5,350=...radar... "Military tactical radars use 5250-5850 for short to medium range functions" 5,650=...Ham 6cm band, to 5,850= 5,795=...RTTT (Road to vehicle systems), to 5.805 (possibly to 5.815) tolls etc. DEC(02)01 with 63-64 GHz (vehicle-to-vehicle or road-to-vehicle) and 76-77 GHz (radar) 7,125=...Fixed to 8500 - ERO prefered channels 7,250=...UK SKYNET fixed satellite down-links (MSS down at 7250-7300), to 7750 "The up-link is engineered at 7900-8400 with 7900-7950 MHz for MSS up-links" "the primary military link to UK forces overseas. The satellite allocation is a harmonised NATO band" Mil. downlink band 7300-7750 MHz is shared with civil fixed links 8500-10125 "allocated to the radiolocation service although the band 9300-9500 is primarily for radio navigation. The band is widely used for military radars including battlefield radar, surveillance radars at ranges and MoD DPA sites, precision approach radars at many airfields and on naval vessels for missile control and tracking. Assignments exist also for wide band data links" 9,000 Radar, to 9500 - 3cm band 10,000=...Ham 3cm band, to 10,150= - and 10,300= to 10,500= 10,065 TV repeater o/p FWA service at 10.125-10.225 paired with 10.475-10.575 "MoD manages the band 10.125-10.5 GHz for high discrimination radars, some of which are in development or on trial, and airborne data links" 10,500 SRD - movement detectors 10,680=...Space research, to 10.7= -10,700=--(10.7 GHz)----------- Satellite TV, Ku band - Astra,Eutelsat,Intelsat etc. (35,876km up) "FREE TO AIR Mpeg2 SATELLITE RADIO" (with bit rates) 10,700=..FSS (fixed sat. service) 11,700=..BSS (DBS - Band VI) 12,500=..Telecom -12,750=----------------------- These are really small radio wavelengths... Fixed links - 23/25/38GHz bands, 32, 51.4-52.6, 55.78-59 13,250=.."aeronautical radio navigation and radiolocation. The band is widely used for airborne doppler radars and naval radars", to 14= 14,620=..harmonised NATO band, to 15.23 - "fixed and mobile communications and airborne data links. The band is also used for short-range radio relay and fixed links" 15,700=..MoD, to 17.3 - "wideband data, command links, trial radars, survey, distance measuring and civil airfield movement control radar devices" 15.7-17.1 NATO harmonised 20,200=..harmonised NATO band, to 21.2 "planned for down-link military mobile satellite systems, paired with the up-links at 43.5-45.5 GHz ... some USAF systems use this band in the UK." "There is great pressure for this band to be used for civil satellite systems of non-NATO countries" 24,000=..Ham 12mm band, to 24.25= and SRD movement detectors 26,500=..NATO harmonised, to 27.5= fixed and mobile "planned for wide band systems" 27,500=..Fixed/Fixed Satellite '28GHz Band', to 29.5= 28-28.5 BFWA Broadband Fixed Wireless Access, with 29-29.5 'forward and return channels of 112 MHz' (28.0525-28.4445 with 29.0605-29.4525) 29,500=..Satellite Interactive Terminals, to 30= 30,000=..NATO harmonised, to 31= no MoD use but paired with 20.2-21.2 31,300=..EESS, Space Research, Radioastronomy, to 31.8 31,800=..Fixed Links, to 33.4 "All SRDs are to be withdrawn from this band by 31st December 2003" 33,400=..NATO harmonised radiolocationn, to 36= "Naval, land and airborne tracking radars" 36,000=..NATO harmonised, to 37= "military fixed and mobile services: there is no current use" 39,500=..NATO harmonised, to 40.5= "planned for satellite systems.. paired with 50.4-51.4 .. no current use" 40,500=..future ITC 7mm MVDS Multipoint Video Distribution, to 42.5= 47,000=..Ham 6mm band, to 47,200= 59,000=..UK : fixed, mobile and radiolocation services, to 64= "MoD manages the mobile and radiolocation usage" 59 - 61 NATO harmonised 63,000 2nd Phase Road Traffic and Transport Telematics 71,000=..Fixed, Fixed satellite, Mobile, and Mobile satellite services, to 74 75,500=..Ham 4mm band, to 76,000= until 31.dec.2006 76,000 Vehicle Radar Systems 77,000=..MoD Radiolocation. to 81= "Trials are current" 77,500=..Ham 4mm band, to 78,000= from 1.jan.2003 (and 78-81 secondary) 81,000=..Fixed, Fixed satellite, Mobile, and Mobile satellite services, to 84 86,000=..EESS, Space Research, to 92= 92,000=..Fixed, Fixed satellite, Mobile and Radiolocation services, to 95= Mod "Trials are current" 95,000=..Mobile, Mobile satellite, Radio navigation satellite, short range radiolocation devices, to 100= 134,000=..Ham 2mm band, to 136,000= from 1.jan.2003 (and 122.25-123 + 136-141 secondary) 142,000=..Ham 2mm band, to 144,000= until 31.dec.2006 248,000=..Ham 1.2mm band, to 250,000= (and from 2003, 241-248 GHz secondary) Radio or Far Infra-Red? There's a bit of overlap near 1mm wavelengths... -275,000=-----(275 GHz)-------- Far Infra-Red, to 25,000 GHz (over 1mm to 12µm) -25,000,000=--(25 THz)--------- Infra-red -441 THz=---------------------- Visible wavelengths. Otherwise known as "Light". Red to Violet (680-420nm) Some of my favourite frequencies. Green is rather nice. -714 THz=---------------------- Near Ultraviolet. 300nm-180nm http://ledmuseum.home.att.net/ledleft.htm 370-390nm Ultraviolet 400-418nm Violet 430-485nm Blue 495-505nm Turquoise 525nm Green 555-575mn Yellow/Green 585-595nm Yellow 595-605nm Amber 605-620nm Orange 620-635nm Orange/Red 640-700nm Red 700-1300nm Infra-red -1,666 THz=-------------------- Far Ultraviolet 180nm-91nm -3,289 THz=-------------------- Extreme Ultraviolet 91nm-10nm 912-100 Angstroms (or UV A 380-320nm, UV B 320-290nm (middle), UV C 290-10nm) -30,000,000,000=--(30 PHz)----- X-rays 10nm-10pm 100-0.1 Angstroms -30,000,000,000,000=-(30 EHz)-- Gamma rays 10pm-100fm and beyond That's enough. Obsessive? Me? Hehe.. wonder what a "profiler" would say about all this!
Frequency multiplied by wavelength gives 300,000,000 m/s - the speed of light... or 299,792,458 to be more exact. 300 mHz > 3000 mHz 1Gm > 100Mm easier to count s/cycle than c/s ! 3 Hz > 30 Hz 100Mm > 10Mm VERY long waves! Natural 'Earth' waves 30 Hz > 300 Hz ELF 10Mm > 1Mm Bass! 300 Hz > 3000 Hz ILF 1000km > 100km Voice frequencies (sound) 3 kHz > 30 kHz VLF 100km > 10km 30 kHz > 300 kHz LF 10km > 1km 300 kHz > 3000 kHz MF 1km > 100m 3 MHz > 30 MHz HF 100m > 10m 30 MHz > 300 MHz VHF 10m > 1m 300 MHz > 3000 MHz UHF 1m > 10cm 3 GHz > 30 GHz SHF 10cm > 1cm 30 GHz > 300 GHz EHF 1cm > 1mm mainly experimental 300 GHz > 30 THz THF 1mm > 10um limits of radio / far infra-red 30 THz > 300 THz 10um > 1um infra-red light 300 THz > 3000 THz 1um > 100nm infra red > visible > ultra violet (near & far) 3 PHz > 30 PHz 100nm > 10nm extreme ultra violet 30 PHz > 30 EHz 10nm > 10pm x-rays 30 EHz > 10pm > Gamma rays 1 micron = 1 micrometre = 1um = 1000nm = one thousandth of a mm 10 Angstrom = 1 nanometre i.e. 5000A=500nm 1A=0.1nm=100pm X unit (Xu) = approx. 0.001002 angstrom, or 100.2 femtometres, defined by M. Siegbahn in 1925. Formerly used for measuring the wavelength of X rays and gamma rays now measured in picometres (pm) or femtometres (fm). 1 Fermi = 1fm = about the size of an atom's nucleus

Metric prefixes

Ten to the power of -33 vunkto v -30 wekto w -27 xonto x -24 yocto y -21 zepto z -18 atto a Greek: atten = eighteen -15 femto f Greek: fempten = fifteen -12 (trillionth) pico p 'little bit' -9 (billionth) nano n nanos = dwarf -6 (millionth) micro u mikros = small -3 (thousandth) milli m mille = thousand -2 (hundredth) centi c centum = hundred -1 (tenth) deci d decimus = tenth 1 (ten) deca da deka = ten 2 (hundred) hecto h hekaton = hundred 3 (thousand) kilo k Greek: Khilioi = 1000 ( 4 (ten thous.) myria my myriad = 10000 ) an old one! (info) 6 (million) mega M megas = great 9 (billion) giga G gigas = giant 12 (trillion) tera T teras = monster 15 (quadrillion) peta P pente = five (General Conference of Weights and Measures 1975) 18 (quintillion) exa E hex = six 21 (sextillion) zetta Z z in latin (General Conference of Weights and Measures 1990) 24 (septillion) yotta Y y in latin 27 (octillion) xona X x in latin 30 (nonillion) weka W w in latin (bronto b/B is a myth) 33 (decillion vunda V v in latin 36 (undecillion) 39 (dodecillion) These American terms obviously increment by one per 42 (tredecillion) thousand. In Europe however, we prefer to do it by 45 (quattuordecillion) millions. Thus a Euro billion is a million millions 48 (quindecillion) and not a thousand millions. 51 (sexdecillion) 99 (dotrigintillion) 100 (googol) 120 (novemtrigintillion) 303 (centillion) googol (googolplex)

Gloss.

ACARS Air Comms Addressing/Reporting System AM Amplitude Modulation (power output varies with modulation, can cause interference) AMR Automatic Meter Reading CB Citizens Band (or Complete B*llocks) CBS Common Base Station - PBR via a dealer who supplies equipment and airtime A.K.A. Community Repeaters. Each set of users have their own CTCSS tone so they don't hear any other groups CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access ("random" hopping/spread spectrum) two users in the same band won't be on the same channel at the same time ..or at least not for long COFDM Coded Orthogonal Freq. Division Multiplex (cough dee-em; NOT Cod FM!) CSR Coastal Station Radio (international channels or private) CTCSS Continuous Tone Coded Squelch System CW Continuous Wave (for Morse) - as opposed to spark transmissions DAB Digital Audio Broadcasting DGPS Differential GPS (sends details of the current GPS error) DME Distance Measuring Equipment DSI Detailed Spectrum Investigation (survey) EPIRB Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon ERP Effective Radiated Power (takes antenna system gain/loss into account) GLONASS GLObal NAvigation Satellite System (GLObal'naya Navigatsionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema) GPS Global Positioning System H.O. Home Office (govt dept) Hz Hertz - one cycle per second. MHz is millions per second. EESS Earth Exploration Sat. Service ERMES European Radio MESsaging - paging standard ETACS Extended TACS FDMA Freq. Div. Multiple Access (sharing a system using different freq.s - i.e. trunking) FM Frequency Modulation (freq varies with modulation, fixed power causes less problems) FSK Freq. Shift Keying FWA Fixed Wireless Access ILR Independent Local Radio INR Independent National Radio ISM Industrial/Scientific/Medical JFMG Joint Frequency Management Group (SAB) JRC Joint Radio Co. LEO Low Earth Orbit LPD Low Power Devices MBR Maritime Business Radio MSS Mobile Satellite Service PAMR Public Access Mobile Radio (like CBS, but trunked, over wider areas. Some telephone access too) PBR Private Business Radio (OFCOM's new preferred term) PMR Private Mobile Radio (what everyone else calls it) PMSE Program Making & Special Events POCSAG A paging standard RDS Radio Data System (57kHz sub-carrier on the audio modulation) RMR Remote... see AMR RQAS Radio Quality Assurance Scheme (ISO 9000) RSL Restricted Service Licence (short term broadcast) SAB Services Ancillary to Broadcasting SAP ..to Program making SAR Search and Rescue SETI Search for Extra-Terrestial Ignorance SOLAS Safety Of Life At Sea (meetings) SSB Single Side-Band ("half" of AM, with the carrier suppressed) USB Upper or LSB Lower SRBR Short Range Business Radio SRD Short Range Devices STH Short Term Hire (now called "Suppliers Light") TACS Total Access Comms System TDMA Time Division Multiple Access (in-turn sharing of a freq.) TETRA TErestial Trunked RAdio (or "how the police will avoid your monitoring")


International Allocation Tables

[links not checked for many years, sorry]


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Interesting links

The Wireless Telegraphy (Exemption) Regulations 2003
Public Safety Spectrum Policy Group
Digital Modes Samples