US Amateur HF, VHF and UHF privileges/band plan, as granted by the FCC to the Technician licensee.

This chart shows privileges and band plan recommendations for each of the frequencies, as granted by the FCC to the Technician licensee. It is good amateur practice to follow the band plan established by the Amateur Radio community. The band plan is developed so that spectrum allocated for our use is used most effectively. You’ll find a complete description of the band plan online at wwww.arrl.org/band-plan.

Novice/Technician Class HF Allocation (200 Watts PEP maximum)

80 m (3.5 - 4 MHz) Band
Novice/Technician allocation is CW Only between 3.525 MHz and 3.600 MHz. Best at night, with significant daytime signal absorption. Works best in winter due to atmospheric noise in summer.

40 m (7.0 - 7.3 MHz) Band
Novice/Technician allocation is CW Only between 7.025 MHz and 7.125 MHz. Considered the most reliable all-season DX band. Popular for DX at night, 40 meters is also reliable for medium distance (1,500KM) contacts during the day.

15 m (21.0 - 21.45 MHz) Band
Novice/Technician allocation is CW Only between 21.025 MHz and 21.200 MHz. Most useful during solar maximum, and generally a daytime band. Daytime sporadic-E propagation (1500 km) occasionally occurs on this band.

10 meters (28.0 - 29.7 MHz) Band
Novice/Technician allocation is CW Only between 3.525 MHz and 3.600 MHz. Best long distance (e.g., across oceans) activity is during solar maximum; during periods of moderate solar activity the best activity is found at low latitudes. The band offers useful short to medium range groundwave propagation, day or night. During the late spring and most of the summer, regardless of sunspot numbers, afternoon short band openings into small geographic areas of up to 1500 km occur due to Sporadic-E propagation. "Sporadic-E" is caused by areas of intense ionization in the E layer of the ionosphere. The causes of Sporadic-E are not fully understood, but these "clouds" of ionization can provide short term propagation from 17 meters all the way up to occasional 2 meter openings.

Novice/Technician Class VHF Allocation (1500 Watts PEP maximum)

6 m (50.0 - 54.0 MHz) Band

2 m (144.0 - 148.0 MHz) Band

1.25 m (219-220 and 222-225) Band

Novice/Technician Class UHF Allocation (1500 Watts PEP maximum)

70 cm (420 - 450) Band

33 cm (902 - 928 MHz) Band

23 cm (1240 - 1300 MHz) Band