Television Broadcast
Frequencies and RF Channels

A television station broadcast Radio Frequency (RF) channel is allocated 6 MHz of bandwidth for over-the-air transmission in part of the VHF or UHF Radio Frequency Band. Each RF channel can carry multiple television channels.

Radio Frequency Bands

Band	Nomenclature	Frequency
ELF	Extremely Low Frequency	3 - 30 Hz
SLF	Super Low Frequency	30 - 300 Hz
ULF	Ultra Low Frequency	300 - 3000 Hz
VLF	Very Low Frequency	3 - 30 kHz
LF	Low Frequency	30 - 300 kHz
MF	Medium Frequency	300 - 3000 kHz
HF	High Frequency	3 - 30 MHz
VHF	Very High Frequency	30 - 300 MHz
UHF	Ultra High Frequency	300 - 3000 MHz
SHF	Super High Frequency Microwaves	3 - 30 GHz
EHF	Extremely High Frequency Millimeter Waves	30 - 300 GHz

Hz kHz MHz GHz

-- Hertz -- kilohertz -- Megahertz -- Gigahertz

Cycles per Second Thousand Million Billion

Television
VHF and UHF
Frequency Bands

See spectrum history below.

Television Frequency Bands
Band	RF Channels	Frequency MHz
VHF VHF-Lo VHF-Hi	02 - 13 02 - 06 07 - 13	54 - 216 54 - 88 174 - 216
UHF	14 - 36	470 - 608

Calculate RF Channel Wavelength
RF Channel: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
RF Ch , Frequency , Band Wavelength & Quarter Wave English & Metric Units Calculate or Re-calculate

Also see calculate
Frequency Wavelength and Period.




TELEVISION
VHF BAND
1947 to present

VHF Band RF 02 - 13 54 - 216 MHz
Service	Bandwidth MHz
TV VHF-Lo RF 2 - 6	54 - 88
FM Radio	88 - 108
Aircraft radio (AM)	108 - 138
Gov, Business, Public	138 - 174
TV VHF-Hi RF 7 - 13	174 - 216

• 12 RF Channels • FM Radio • Aircraft Radio • 2 way radio

VHF-Lo RF 02 - 06 54 - 88 MHz
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
2	57	54-60
3	63	60-66
4	69	66-72
Shared		72-76
5	79	76-82
6	85	82-88
Total RF Channels: 5

VHF-Hi RF 07 - 13 174 - 216 MHz
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
7	177	174-180
8	183	180-186
9	189	186-192
10	195	192-198
11	201	198-204
12	207	204-210
13	213	210-216
Total RF Channels: 7

TELEVISION
UHF BAND
Starting in 1952

UHF RF 14 - 36 470 - 608 MHz 1952 to present
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
14	473	470 - 476
15	479	476 - 482
16	485	482 - 488
17	491	488 - 494
18	497	494 - 500
19	503	500 - 506
20	509	506 - 512
21	515	512 - 518
22	521	518 - 524
23	527	524 - 530
24	533	530 - 536
25	539	536 - 542
26	545	542 - 548
27	551	548 - 554
28	557	554 - 560
29	563	560 - 566
30	569	566 - 572
31	575	572 - 578
32	581	578 - 584
33	587	584 - 590
34	593	590 - 596
35	599	596 - 602
36	605	602 - 608
Total RF Channels: 23

UHF RF 37 - 51 608 - 698 MHz Decommissioned in 2023
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
37 *	611	608 - 614
38	617	614 - 620
39	623	620 - 626
40	629	626 - 632
41	635	632 - 638
42	641	638 - 644
43	647	644 - 650
44	653	650 - 656
45	659	656 - 662
46	665	662 - 668
47	671	668 - 674
48	677	674 - 680
49	683	680 - 686
50	689	686 - 692
51	695	692 - 698
Total RF Channels: 15

UHF RF 52 - 69 698 - 806 MHz Decommissioned in 2020
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
52	701	698 - 704
53	707	704 - 710
54	713	710 - 716
55	719	716 - 722
56	725	722 - 728
57	731	728 - 734
58	737	734 - 740
59	743	740 - 746
60	749	746 - 752
61	755	752 - 758
62	761	758 - 764
63	767	764 - 770
64	773	770 - 776
65	779	776 - 782
66	785	782 - 788
67	791	788 - 794
68	797	794 - 800
69	803	800 - 806
Total RF Channels: 18

UHF RF 70 - 83 806 - 890 MHz Decommissioned in 1983
RF Channel	MHz	Band- width
70	809	806 - 812
71	815	812 - 818
72	821	818 - 824
73	827	824 - 830
74	833	830 - 836
75	839	836 - 842
76	845	842 - 848
77	851	848 - 854
78	857	854 - 860
79	863	860 - 866
80	869	866 - 872
81	875	872 - 878
82	881	878 - 884
83	887	884 - 890
Total RF Channels: 14

* RF Channel 37
Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) was reserved for radio astronomy in 1963. The University of Illinois’s Vermilion River Observatory (40.0611°, -87.5511°) near Danville, IL conducted astronomy research from 1959 to 1970. The observatory used a 400 foot wide by 600 foot long linear parabolic radio telescope to focus on 3 frequencies, 410, 610 and 1400 MHz. Channel 37 transmissions within 600 miles of the observatory would interfere with the 610 MHz frequency. The Observatory closed in 1981 and was decommissioned in 1984, but RF channel 37 remains reserved.

Spectrum History
In the 1950's there were very few TV UHF broadcast. In the 1960's the number of UHF broadcast started increasing, but never came close to the number of VHF stations until digital broadcast started in 2009. Today UHF stations far outnumber VHF stations.

The Television allocated spectrum has been reduced over the years.

Allocated TV Spectrum

Year	RF Channels
	VHF	UHF	Total
1947	2 - 13	none	12
1952		14 - 83	82
1963		14 - 83 *	81
1983		14 - 69 *	67
2020		14 - 51 *	49
2023		14 - 36	35

* Not RF Channel 37

OTA DTv Television Broadcast Frequencies