WARC bands (original) (raw)

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Amateur radio frequency bands

The World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) bands are three portions of the shortwave radio spectrum used by licensed and/or certified amateur radio operators. They consist of 30 meters (10.1–10.15 MHz), 17 meters (18.068–18.168 MHz), and 12 meters (24.89–24.99 MHz).[1][2] They were named after the World Administrative Radio Conference, which in 1979 created a worldwide allocation of these bands for amateur use. The bands were opened for use in the early 1980s. Due to their relatively small bandwidth of 100 kHz or less, there is a gentlemen's agreement that the WARC bands may not be used for general contesting. This agreement has been codified in official recommendations, such as the IARU Region 1 HF Manager's Handbook, which states: "Contest activity shall not take place on the 5, 10, 18, and 24 MHz bands."[3]

Non-contesting radio amateurs are recommended to use the contest-free HF bands (30, 17, and 12m) during the largest international contests.[4]

License class 24.89–24.915 24.915-24.925 24.925-24.929 24.929-24.931 24.931-24.94 24.94-24.99
Effective 1 January 2008 CW only CW, narrow-band digital CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations Beacons CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations All modes
License class 24.89–24.915 24.915-24.925 24.925-24.929 24.929-24.931 24.931-24.94 24.94-24.99
Effective 1 January 2008 CW only CW, narrow-band digital CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations Beacons CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations All modes

Canada is part of region 2 and as such is subject to the IARU band plan. Radio Amateurs of Canada offers the bandplan below as a recommendation for use by radio amateurs in that country.[7]

License class 24.89–24.92 24.920-24.925 24.925-24.94 24.94-24.975 24.975-24.978 24.978-24.99
Basic (+), Advanced CW only Digital only CW, narrow-band digital, wide band digital Phone only TV only Phone only
License class 24.89–24.93 24.93-24.99
Extra, Advanced, General CW, narrow-band digital CW, phone, image
License class 24.89–24.92 24.92-24.9295 24.9295-24.9305 24.94-24.99
Effective as of 2009 CW only CW, narrow-band digital Beacons All modes 2 kHz max BW
License class 24.89–24.900 24.900-24.930 24.930-24.990
ALL Class CW only CW, narrow-band digital Narrowband all modes
License class 18.068-18.095 18.095-18.105 18.105-18.109 18.109-18.111 18.111-18.12 18.12-18.168
Effective 1 January 2008 CW only CW, narrow-band digital CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations Beacons All modes, unattended stations All modes
License class 18.068-18.095 18.095-18.105 18.105-18.109 18.109-18.111 18.111-18.120 18.120-18.168
Effective 1 January 2008 CW only CW, narrow-band digital CW, narrow-band digital, unattended stations Beacons All modes, unattended stations All modes

Canada is part of region 2 and as such is subject to the IARU band plan. Radio Amateurs of Canada offers the bandplan below as a recommendation for use by radio amateurs in that country.

License class 18.068-18.095 18.095-18.1 18.1-18.11 18.11-18.168
Basic (+), Advanced CW only CW, narrow-band digital, wide band digital Digital only Phone only
License class 18.068-18.11 18.11-18.168
Extra, Advanced, General CW, narrow-band digital CW, phone
License class 18.068-18.095 18.095-18.105 18.105-18.1095 18.1095-18.1105 18.1105-18.168
Effective as of 2009 CW only CW, narrow-band digital CW, narrow-band digital, wide band digital Beacons All modes
License class 18.068-18.08 18.08-18.11 18.11-18.168
ALL class CW only CW, narrow-band digital Narrowband all modes
License class 10.1-10.13 10.13-10.15
Effective 1 June 2016 CW only CW, narrow-band digital

Throughout most of the world, the 30-meter band generally cannot be used for "phone" (voice) communications. SSB may be used during emergencies involving the immediate safety of life and property and only by stations actually involved in the handling of emergency traffic.

However, a part of Region 1 is permitted to use phone at certain times.[10] The band segment 10.12 to 10.14 may only be used for SSB transmissions in the area of Africa south of the equator during local daylight hours.

License class 10.1-10.13 10.13-10.14 10.14-10.15
Effective 1 January 2008 CW only CW, narrow-band digital All modes except phone

Canada is part of Region 2 and as such is subject to the IARU band plan. Radio Amateurs of Canada offers the bandplan below as a recommendation for use by radio amateurs in that country.

License class 10.1-10.13 10.13-10.14 10.14-10.15
Basic (+), Advanced CW only Digital only CW, narrow-band digital, wide band digital
License class 10.1-10.15
Extra, Advanced, General (200 watts) CW, narrow-band digital

The USA limits amateur radio users to 200 watts peak envelope power on this band.[11][12]

License class 10.1-10.14 10.14-10.15
Effective 2009 CW only CW, narrow-band digital

Australia (VK, region 3) has a unique set of privileges on 30 meters which allows voice operation on a section of the band for advanced license holders. The digital segment is 10.13-10.15 MHz. The current band plan has telephony from 10.12–10.135 MHz, with CW only below 10.12. These are WIA [13] recommendations only as ACMA does not restrict Australian amateurs' modes within HF allocations beyond requiring less than 8 kHz occupied bandwidth per channel below 28 MHz.

License class 10.1-10.12 10.12-10.15
1st and 2nd CW only narrow-band All modes

Note: The occupied bandwidth shall be less than 2kHz.

| | = CW only | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | = CW, narrow band digital ( <= 500 Hz ) | | | = CW, narrow band digital ( <= 500 Hz ), unattended stations | | | = CW, narrow band digital ( <= 500 Hz ), wide band digital | | | = Beacons | | | = CW, phone | | | = All modes, unattended stations | | | = All modes except phone | | | = Digital only | | | = Phone only | | | = TV only | | | = All modes |

  1. ^ a b c U.S. Amateur Frequency Allocations http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/allocate.html Accessed 9 September 2008
  2. ^ ITU Frequency Allocations http://life.itu.int/radioclub/rr/hfband.htm Accessed 9 September 2008
  3. ^ DK4VW, ed. (2016-06-01), IARU Region 1 HF band plan (PDF)
  4. ^ "IARU Region 1 HF Band Plan (August 2011 edition)" (PDF). IARU Region 1 Monitoring System. IARU. August 2011. p. 4. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  5. ^ IARU Region 1 band plan http://www.iaru-r1.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=175&Itemid=127 accessed 12 January 2011
  6. ^ IARU Region 2 band plan http://www.iaru-r2.org/wp-content/uploads/region-2-mf-hf-bandplan-e.pdf accessed 12 January 2011
  7. ^ a b c d "Canadian 0-30 MHz Band Plan" (PDF). wp.rac.ca. MF–HF band plan. Radio Amateurs of Canada. 1 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  8. ^ IARU Region 3 band plan http://www.iaru-r3.org/r3bandplan.doc accessed 12 January 2011
  9. ^ Japan band plan https://www.jarl.org/English/6_Band_Plan/JARL%20Band%20Plan20230925(E).pdf accessed 25 September 2023
  10. ^ IARU Region 1 Band Plan http://www.iaru.org/Chapter-5.1.pdf Archived 2005-05-14 at the Wayback Machine accessed 5 April 2010
  11. ^ US Amateur Radio Frequency Allocations http://www.arrl.org/frequency-allocations
  12. ^ US Amateur Radio Band chart http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Regulatory/Band%20Chart/Hambands_color.pdf effective 5, March 2012, accessed 19 June 2012
  13. ^ "Band Plan Update".