Radio Frequencies

Radio Frequencies#

Reference of the radio spectrum from VLF through SHF, with notes on band names, common allocations, and sources for live frequency data. Allocations vary by ITU region (1: Europe / Africa / ME, 2: Americas, 3: Asia-Pacific) and by national regulator; this page is the lookup, not the regulation.

For SDR tooling and signal analysis, see OSINT Sources (“Maritime / aviation / signals” subsection). For positioning math, see Triangulation.

Spectrum overview#

Band

Range

Notes

ELF

3 - 30 Hz

Submarine comms, geophysics.

SLF

30 - 300 Hz

-

ULF

300 - 3 kHz

Mine comms, geomagnetic.

VLF

3 - 30 kHz

Sub comms (USN: 24 kHz NAA), navigation (Omega, dead).

LF

30 - 300 kHz

Long-wave broadcast, NDB nav, time signals (DCF77 77.5 kHz, WWVB 60 kHz, MSF 60 kHz, JJY 40/60 kHz).

MF

0.3 - 3 MHz

AM broadcast (530-1700 kHz), maritime (490, 518 kHz NAVTEX), 160 m ham (1.8-2.0).

HF

3 - 30 MHz

Shortwave broadcast, ham (80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10 m), marine HF, military, aero (HFGCS), CB (27 MHz).

VHF

30 - 300 MHz

FM broadcast (88-108), aviation AM (118-137), marine VHF (156-162), public safety, ham 6/2/1.25 m, weather sats (137, NOAA APT/LRPT).

UHF

0.3 - 3 GHz

TV broadcast, GSM/3G/4G/5G cellular, GPS L1 (1575), ISM 433/868/915 (LoRa), Bluetooth/Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, ham 70/33/23 cm.

SHF

3 - 30 GHz

Wi-Fi 5/6 GHz, satellite C-band (4-8), X-band (8-12), Ku (12-18), K, Ka (26-40), 5G mmWave starts.

EHF

30 - 300 GHz

5G mmWave, automotive radar (77 GHz), satellite cross-links, V-band (60).

THF / submm

> 300 GHz

Atmospheric science, terahertz imaging.

Common allocations (ITU + US baseline)#

Range

Use

0.1 - 9 kHz

Ultra-low frequency (lightning, geomagnetic).

9 - 90 kHz

VLF nav, time signals; standards (NAA 24 kHz, DCF77 77.5 kHz).

148.5 - 283.5 kHz

EU long-wave broadcast.

505 - 526.5 kHz

Maritime (490 NAVTEX, 500 distress historical).

530 - 1700 kHz

MF (AM) broadcast.

1.8 - 2 MHz

160 m amateur.

2.182 MHz

Maritime distress (HF voice).

3.5 - 4 MHz

80/75 m amateur.

4 - 10 MHz

WWV / WWVH 5/10/15/20 (US time), shortwave broadcast.

7 - 7.3 MHz

40 m amateur.

8.4 MHz

Maritime DSC.

14.0 - 14.35 MHz

20 m amateur.

21.0 - 21.45 MHz

15 m amateur.

26.965 - 27.405

CB (US 40 channels).

28.0 - 29.7 MHz

10 m amateur.

50 - 54 MHz

6 m amateur.

88 - 108 MHz

FM broadcast.

108 - 137 MHz

Aero NAV / VOR (108-118), Aero VHF AM (118-137).

121.5 MHz

Aero emergency / ELT.

144 - 148 MHz

2 m amateur.

156.05 - 162 MHz

Marine VHF (Ch 16 = 156.8 distress).

162.4 - 162.55 MHz

NOAA Weather Radio (US, 7 channels).

174 - 216 MHz

VHF TV (mostly retired in many countries).

220 - 225 MHz

1.25 m amateur.

406 MHz

Cospas-Sarsat search-and-rescue beacons.

420 - 450 MHz

70 cm amateur.

462.5625 - 467.7

FRS / GMRS (US).

470 - 698 MHz

UHF TV.

698 - 960 MHz

LTE / 5G low band.

820 - 960 MHz

ISM 868 (EU LoRa); GSM 850/900.

902 - 928 MHz

ISM 915 (US LoRa, Z-Wave).

1090 MHz

ADS-B Mode S.

1227.6 MHz

GPS L2.

1240 - 1300 MHz

23 cm amateur; GPS L5 (1176).

1525 - 1559 MHz

Inmarsat L-band downlink.

1559 - 1610 MHz

GNSS (GPS L1 1575.42, Galileo E1, Beidou B1).

1626.5 - 1660.5

Inmarsat / Iridium uplink.

1710 - 2170 MHz

Cellular (PCS, AWS, IMT).

2400 - 2483.5 MHz

ISM 2.4 (Wi-Fi 1-13 / 2.4 GHz, BT, microwave ovens).

3300 - 4200 MHz

C-band (sat downlink); 5G n77 / n78.

5150 - 5895 MHz

UNII / Wi-Fi 5.

5945 - 7125 MHz

UNII / Wi-Fi 6E + 7.

6 - 14 GHz

X-band, Ku-band sat downlinks.

24 - 38 GHz

5G mmWave (n257, n258, n260, n261).

57 - 71 GHz

Wi-Fi 60 GHz (WiGig); short-range high-speed.

77 GHz

Automotive radar.

Categories of interest#

Category

Notes

Time signals

WWV / WWVH (5, 10, 15, 20 MHz), DCF77 (77.5 kHz, EU), MSF (60 kHz, UK), JJY (40 / 60 kHz, JP), BPC (68.5 kHz, CN).

Aviation

Civil VHF AM 118-137; airline ACARS 131.55 / 130.025; ATIS / VOLMET; HFGCS (3.99-15.04 USAF); ADS-B 1090 / 978; ELT 121.5 / 406.

Marine

VHF 156-162 (Ch 16 distress); NAVTEX 490/518; HF DSC; AIS 161.975 / 162.025; Cospas-Sarsat 406; INMARSAT L-band.

Public safety

P25 / TETRA; 700 / 800 MHz Project 25 in US; UHF / VHF in many countries; FirstNet (Band 14, 700 MHz).

Amateur (ham)

80/40/30/20/17/15/12/10/6/2/1.25 m + 70/33/23 cm + GHz microwave.

Satellite

See Satellites.

ISM (license-free)

433 (EU) / 868 (EU) / 915 (US) / 2400 / 5800 MHz.

Weather

NOAA Weather Radio 162.4-162.55 (US); WMO HF circuits.

Time-difference

LORAN-C historical 100 kHz (decommissioned in most regions); eLoran rebuild ongoing.

Encrypted military

Many bands; HF (HFGCS), V/UHF (SATCOM), SHF (X-band military sat).

Numbers stations

Shortwave; encrypted one-way to clandestine receivers.

Numbers / pirate

2-30 MHz; Conet Project corpus.

Tooling#

Tool

Notes

gqrx

Linux SDR receiver (RTL-SDR, HackRF, SDRplay).

SDR# (SDR Sharp)

Windows SDR receiver.

SDRangel

Multi-mode SDR.

GNU Radio

Signal-processing flow graphs.

HDSDR

Windows SDR receiver.

inspectrum

Tool for analyzing captured signals.

Universal Radio Hacker

Reverse-engineering of digital RF signals.

HackRF, BladeRF, USRP

TX-capable SDR hardware.

RTL-SDR

$30 receive-only SDR; the entry point.

KrakenSDR / Kerberos

Multi-channel SDR for direction finding.

WebSDR / KiwiSDR

Crowd-shared online SDR receivers.

OpenWebRX

Self-hosted KiwiSDR-style receiver.

dump1090, readsb

ADS-B 1090 MHz decoder.

dump978

ADS-B 978 MHz UAT decoder.

rtl_433

ISM 433 / 868 / 915 decoder for hundreds of devices.

multimon-ng

POCSAG / FLEX / DTMF / etc. decoder.

DSDPlus / SDRTrunk

Trunked digital voice (P25, DMR, NXDN).

Wireshark

Wi-Fi monitoring; Bluetooth via uart.

Aircrack-ng

Wi-Fi capture / analysis.

Hashcat

WPA / WPA2 / PMKID cracking.

Bettercap

BLE / WiFi MITM.

Sigidwiki

Catalog of “what is this signal” recordings.

Authorization#

  • Receive-only operation in publicly allocated bands is generally legal; analyzing encrypted comms typically is not (US Wiretap Act, ECPA; UK RIPA; equivalent elsewhere).

  • Transmitting requires a license in nearly every regulated band (ham, marine, aviation, public safety).

  • Some bands are jamming-protected (aviation 121.5; GNSS L1).

  • Foreign operation requires reciprocal agreements.

  • See your national regulator: FCC (US), Ofcom (UK), BNetzA (DE), ANATEL (BR), MIC (JP), MIIT (CN), TRAI (IN).

References#

Contents