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Television Broadcast
Frequencies

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.

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

Also see Tech/Constants & Conversions/ Wavelengths.
Hz
kHz
MHz
GHz
-- Hertz
-- kilohertz
-- megahertz
-- gigahertz
Cycles per second
1000 Hz
1,000,000 Hz
1,000,000,000 Hz


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Television VHF and UHF Frequency Bands

TV 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
38 - 51
470 - 608
814 - 698
TV Frequency Chart (MHz)
TV VHF and UHF bands

  • Channel 37 is reserved for radio astronomy (see below).
  • Channels above RF 37 are being phased out.
  • Broadcasters are being encouraged to move from VHF to UHF.

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Calculate TV Channel Wavelength
RF Channel:

RF Ch
Frequency, Band
Wavelength
Quarter Wavelength






TELEVISION VHF BAND
VHF Band
54 - 216 MHz
1947 to present
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 VHF Band RF Channels
VHF-Lo
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

5 VHF-Lo Channels
VHF-Hi
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

7 VHF-Hi Channels


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TELEVISION UHF BAND
RF Channels 14 - 36
July 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

23 RF Channels
RF Channels 37 - 51
Being Phased-out
July 1952 to

RF
Channel
MHz Band-
width
Cell
Network
37 611 608-614 Reserved
38 617 614-620 5G NR
39 623 620-626 5G NR
40 629 626-632 4G/5GR
41 635 632-638 5G NR
42 641 638-644 5G NR
43 647 644-650 5G NR
44 653 650-656 5G NR
45 659 656-662
46 665 662-668 5G NR
47 671 668-674 5G NR
48 677 674-680 5G NR
49 683 680-686 5G NR
50 689 686-692 4G/5G
51 695 692-698 4G/5G

14 RF Channels
RF Channels 52 - 69
July 1952 to June 2020
RF
Channel
MHz Band-
width
Cell
Network
52 701 698-704 4G/5G
53 707 704-710 4G/5G
54 713 710-716 5G NR
55 719 716-722
56 725 722-728
57 731 728-734
58 737 734-740
59 743 740-746 4G LTE
60 749 746-752 4G LTE
61 755 752-758 4G LTE
62 761 758-764 5G NR
63 767 764-770 5G NR
64 773 770-776 5G NR
65 779 776-782 4G LTE
66 785 782-788 4G LTE
67 791 788-794 5G NR
68 797 794-800 2G/3G/5G
69 803 800-806 2G/3G/5G

18 RF Channels
RF Channels 70 - 83
July 1952 to 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

14 RF Channels


U of I achieve photo

Channel 37
Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) is/was reserved for radio astronomy research conducted by the University of Illinois’s Vermilion River Observatory (40.0611°, -87.5511°) near Danville, IL. 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. In 1963 the FCC reserved channel 37 for radio astronomy, there were no TV stations using the channel at that time. 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.

Year VHF UHF Channels
1947 RF 2-13 12
1952 " RF 14 - 83 82
1963 " RF 14-36, 38-83 81
1983 " RF 14-36, 38-69 67
2020 " RF 14-36, 38-51 49
20__ " RF 14-36 35


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Television Broadcast Frequencies