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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. Each RF channel can carry multiple TV 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


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Television
VHF and UHF
Frequency Bands

TV VHF and UHF 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:

RF Ch
Frequency, Band
Wavelength
Quarter Wavelength


Also see calculate
Frequency Wavelength and Period.


10 Codes
The Most Common
Police 10 Codes
includes Basic Scanner Frequencies
Police10codes.com

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
470 - 608 MHz

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
608 - 698 MHz

July 1952 to 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

15 RF Channels
RF Channels 52 - 69
698 - 806 MHz

July 1952 to June 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

18 RF Channels
RF Channels 70 - 83
806 - 890 MHz

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

* RF Channel 37 -- Radio Astronomy
In 1963 Channel 37 (608-614 MHz) 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. 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 VHF RF
Channels
UHF RF
Channels
Total RF
Channels
1947 2-13 none 12
1952 2-13 14 - 83 82
1963 2-13 14 - 36
38 - 83
81
1983 2-13 14 - 36
38 - 69
67
2020 2-13 14 - 36
38 - 51
49
2023 2-13 14 - 36 35


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Television Broadcast Frequencies