US HF Ham Bands — Overview

A quick breakdown of the US amateur HF bands — how to read the figures on the band pages, the neighboring bands I skip and why, and a couple of FCC rules and changes worth keeping in mind.

About the figures

Frequencies are in megahertz and assume full Amateur Extra privileges. I drop the third decimal for readability — 20 m's top edge shows as 14.350, not 14.350.000.

A note that goes with those edges: an SSB signal is a few kHz wide and sits to one side of the dial frequency. On 20 m, voice is commonly USB, so the signal lands above the shown frequency — to keep it under the 14.350 edge you'd set the dial ≥ 3 kHz down, at 14.347 or lower, with clean audio and proper ALC so nothing splatters past that 3 kHz. On LSB the signal falls below the set frequency because the carrier is suppressed when using SSB, so using LSB, you may be able to sit right at the edge (though this is not recommended).

Skipped bands

These are the LF/MF neighbors just below the HF range. I have no plans on working these bands due to the below points as well as antenna requirements.

• 2200 m — requires registration with the Utilities Technology Council; 1 W EIRP maximum.
• 630 m — also requires UTC registration; 5 W EIRP maximum (1 W in some areas near the Russian border).

60 meters

60 m sat in limbo for years while the FCC and ARRL sorted out privileges. In Report and Order FCC 25-60 (December 2025) the FCC adopted the WRC-15 worldwide allocation — 5351.5–5366.5 kHz, secondary, 9.15 W ERP, 2.8 kHz bandwidth, General class and up — which took effect in early 2026; the four legacy channels and their 100 W ERP limit continue. See the FCC's Report and Order (FCC 25-60), ARRL's announcement, the 60 m FAQ, and the current graphical frequency allocations. I've left 60 m off the band list for now.

To be clear, it is my opinion one should intimately know their equipment before using this band. Though General class is allowed, I'd also advise working with an elmer or Extra class operator familiar with 60 m.

The 2024 RTTY/data rule change

Until 2024, US RTTY and data on the HF bands below 28 MHz — 160, 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15 and 12 m — were held to a 300-baud symbol rate and a 1 kHz maximum FSK shift. 10 m and up were looser (10 m allowed 1200 baud). The FCC replaced those symbol-rate limits with a single 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit in the RTTY/data subbands. Kept here because the old limit still comes up in conversation. The FCC's Report and Order (FCC 23-93) has the full change.