Short Wave Frequency Bands

Introduction

The frequencies and bands used for short-wave radio broadcasting are agreed internationally by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Not all stations stick within these bands, indeed many choose to be just outside where there are fewer competing broadcast stations and thus less interference (this is known as 'out of band broadcasting'), but most do remain within the agreed limits. If you're just tuning around short wave and looking for stations, these are definitely the place to start. Also remember, radio frequencies below around 12000 kHz work best when it's dark (at night!) and those above around 9000 kHz work best during daylight hours. Most radio stations are on a 5 kHz raster meaning that their frequency in kHz will either end with a '5' or a '0' (eg 15205 or 6110 kHz).

The Short Wave Broadcasting Bands

There are fourteen discrete bands which are allocated for broadcasting over the short wave frequency range:

Band	Frequency Range	Notes
120 metres	2300-2495 kHz	Only used in tropical areas.
90 metres	3200-3400 kHz	Only used in tropical areas.
75 metres	3900-4000 kHz	Not used in the Americas. Restricted to 3950-4000 kHz in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
60 metres	4750-4995 kHz	Only used in tropical areas.
48 metres	5900-6200 kHz
41 metres	7200-7450 kHz	Restricted to 7300-7450 kHz in the Americas.
31 metres	9400-9900 kHz
25 metres	11600-12100 kHz
22 metres	13570-13870 kHz
19 metres	15100-15800 kHz
16 metres	17480-17900 kHz	Highest frequency band in common daily use.
15 metres	18900-19020 kHz	Virtually empty! Only occasional use by WYFR Family Radio.
13 metres	21450-21850 kHz
11 metres	25670-26100 kHz	Little activity other than tests of local digital services.

Other Short Wave Frequencies

There are lots of other short-wave frequencies outside of these specific broadcast bands which are used for all manner of purposes including ship-to-shore communications (maritime), air traffic control (aeronautical), radio amateurs, military and defence, weather information and even radio pirates. Broadcasters normally use amplitude modulation (AM), though some are now digital, whereas most of the other users are either digital or use single side band (SSB). It therefore requires specialist receivers to listen to these other services and indeed under some jurisdictions it is illegal to do so, however there is a world of fun to be had on short wave if you have the time and patience.

The only other short-wave frequencies which it is usually legal to receive and which require no specialist equipment are 'time and frequency standard stations'. These are stations which use very accurate transmitters controlled by atomic clocks, and thus serve as highly accurate references. They are very useful for checking the accuracy of your receiver. They also transmit time information, usually as a series of 'ticks' each second plus messages each minute. The two most commonly received stations are:

Station	Location	Frequencies
CHU	Ottawa, Canada	3330, 7850 and 14670 kHz
RWM	Moscow, Russia	4996, 9996 and 14996 kHz (note that RWM transmits pulses rather than ticks)
WWV	Colorado, USA	2500, 5000, 10000 and 15000 kHz
WWVH	Hawaii, USA	2500, 5000, 10000 and 15000 kHz

Note that time signal stations are not always listed in the main short-wave.info database.