A particular range of frequencies that forms part of a larger continuous series of frequencies. The internationally agreed radiofrequency bands are shown in Table a. Microwave frequencies range from approximately 0.3 GHz to over 300 GHz. Microwave frequency bands, now defined by IEEE, are given in Table b. The entire electromagnetic spectrum is shown in Table 10 in the back matter.
(a) Frequency bands of radiowaves
Wavelength | Band | Frequency |
|---|
1 mm – 1 cm | extremely high frequency; EHF | 300 – 30 GHz |
1 cm – 10 cm | superhigh frequency; SHF | 30 – 3 GHz |
10 cm – 1 m | ultrahigh frequency; UHF | 3 – 0.3 GHz |
1 m – 10 m | very high frequency; VHF | 300 – 30 MHz |
10 m – 100 m | high frequency; HF | 30 – 3 MHz |
100 m – 1000 m | medium frequency; MF | 3 – 0.3 MHz |
1 km – 10 km | low frequency; LF | 300 – 30 kHz |
10 km – 100 km | very low frequency; VLF | 30 – 3 kHz |
(b) IEEE microwave frequency bands
Designation | Frequency range in gigahertz |
|---|
HF | 0.003 – 0.030 |
VHF | 0.030 – 0.300 |
UHF | 0.300 – 1.000 |
L band | 1.000 – 2.000 |
S band | 2.000 – 4.000 |
C band | 4.000 – 8.000 |
X band | 8.000 – 12.000 |
Ku band | 12.000 – 18.000 |
K band | 18.000 – 27.000 |
Ka band | 27.000 – 40.000 |
Millimetre | 40.000 – 300.000 |
Submillimetre | >300.00 |