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| The Electromagnetic Spectrum |
| Below are two tables. The first is the General Electromagnetic
Spectrum. This will give you an idea where the Radio Spectrum sits in the scheme of
things. You will notice it sits well below everything else, even visible light. That means
the most advanced radio recievers in use today still can't hang with your eyeballs. The second table shows the allocation of the Radio Spectrum, with some notes on what goes where. To fully view both, you will have to scroll left. |
General Electromagnetic Spectrum.
Frequency |
0 Hz | 1 Mhz | 100 Mhz | 1 Ghz | 100 Ghz | 108 | 1010 | 1012 | 1014 | 1016 | 1018 | 1020 |
| Allocation | Radio | Radio | Radio | Microwave | Microwave | Microwave Infrared |
Infrared (IR) | Some Infrared Visible Light Some UV |
Ultra Violet (UV) X-Ray |
X-Ray Gamma Ray |
Gamma Ray | Gamma Ray Cosmic Ray |
Radio Spectrum
| Frequency | 10 Khz - 30 Khz | 30 Khz - 300 Khz | 300 Khz - 3 Mhz | 3 Mhz - 30 Mhz | 30 Mhz - 328.6 Mhz | 328.6 Mhz - 450 Mhz | 450 Mhz - 470 Mhz | 470 Mhz - 806 Mhz | 806 Mhz - 960 Mhz | 960 Mhz - 2.3 Ghz | 2.3 Ghz - 2.9 Ghz | 2.9 Ghz - 30 Ghz | 30 Ghz - . . . . |
| Allocation | VLF (Very Low Freqency): Shortwave (5 Khz to 30 Mhz), Power Line Locating Equipment, Electrical Tranmission. | LF (Low Frequency): Shortwave (5 Khz to 30 Mhz), International Fixed Service, Maratime Fixed Service, Aviation and Maratime Beacons, LORAN-C Navigation Systems. | MF (Medium Frequency): Shortwave (5 Khz to 30 Mhz), Air Traffic Control, AM Radio, Cordless Telephones | HF (High Frequency): CB Radio, Shortwave (5 Khz to 30 Mhz) , Cival Air Patrol, US Navy MARS, Amature, Time & Frequency Broadcasts, Ship to Shore Telephone, Radio Astronomy | VHF (Very High Frequency): FM Radio* (88 -108), TV Channels 2 - 13(174-216), Land Mobile | UHF (Ultra High Frequency): TV Channels 14 - 83 | UHF (Ultra High Frequency) | UHF (Ultra High Frequency) | UHF (Ultra High Frequency): Cellular & Cordless Telephone | UHF (Ultra High Frequency) | UHF (Ultra High Frequency) | SHF (Super High Frequency) | EHF (Extremely High Frequency) |
* Channel 1 - Which is suspiciously missing from your TV set, was actually the FM band. In the early days of television, the FCC believed that FM radio should have a set of frequencies allocated to it. At the same time, David Sarnoff, RCA's CEO, was pushing the FCC to set aside the tech available set of frequencies for 13 television channels. Pissed at Sarnoff's pushyness, and believing that FM radio sets were going to be more affordable than the then $700 television sets of the day, they set aside channel 1 for FM broadcasts, between 42 Mhz and 50 Mhz. After WWII, the FCC moved FM to the 88 Mhz to 108 Mhz we use today, and gave the rest of channel 1 to the Land Mobile radio class for use by cabbies and police dispatchers. |
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| by: Andrew Krause |