Understanding the Radio Frequency Spectrum (

Dyslexic, a Ham in training, sent me a letter. He asks for me to do an Ask Dave video explaining the Ham Radio Frequency Spectrum applying to the Ham Radio Bands.
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[@peterschmidt6754]

Because most Hams are not teachers, it took me month to figure out the relationship between bands and frequencies. Bands are simply groups or sections of frequencies up and down the MHz spectrum. In other words, the FM radio in your car is just one band of frequencies that radio is allowed to play with. As you change channels on your radio, you are moving up or down through that band or group of frequencies. The same is true for AM radio or CB radio. They all are sections of frequencies. Well, Ham radio is no different, EXCEPT ham is allowed to use frequencies on multiple sections or "bands" which are not contiguous (not right next to each other). Most cheaper hand held radios only can access 2 or at most 3 bands, while the more expensive models access many, many bands. I hope that is helpful to someone.

[@helly9027]

Very helpful! Thank you! 🙏

[@1234abcfgsbsb]

This I completely understand, but what I don't understand is what bands are used for what. It would be helpful if there was a chart that thoroughly explains that. Certain bands used by law enforcement, certain band used by pilots only, certain bands used for civilians, certain bands that are used for specific purposes. That is what confuses me.

[@j.jarvis7460]

Thank you mega bunch for this!

[@SumOneSomewhere]

Thanks!

[@mada310]

Thank you for this comment. It answered the question I had when clicking on this video.

[@flhtcui2000]

Smiling! How I can relate. As a dyslexic person for some 72 years, and always considered slow are just out right dumb, by many of my family because I was a poor student. Was very hard to take a test or learn in school in the 50's and 60's. You reach a point where you just quit trying. But then my friend and Elmer WB0CKI saw my CB and said come over to the house next weekend and I will show you a real radio station. Wall to wall Heathkit, Xmiter with separate receiver and when he told me it was a kit he built himself I was blown away. Made a CQ and run a phone patch for a missionary in south America to his daughter for her birthday, I was hooked. Changed my life! The fact I could study and learn to get my novice then general, advanced and extra proved I was able to learn if I worked at it, and wanted it bad enough. Smile! 48 years and still enjoy this great hobby. Not always easy but let me tell you it's worth every hour I put in studying to pass them test in the 70's; No internet and test online to practice back then. My last job I retired from was as a Senior, Senior hardware support tech for a large airline reservations system started out as TWA, Pars, Worldspan, now Travelport. Owned by TWA, NW and Delta Airlines, back then. To God be the glory for being the ultimate teacher. Don't give up; You got this.

[@davecasler]

Thanks for sharing your story! Glad you are enjoying ham radio so much , and it's great to hear how much influence an elmer can have.

[@ptlmbutler]

I am a newly licensed technician and have been searching for months for content to actually help me understand this. Thank you for being the first person to be able to accurately explain this so I could understand!! You are the best, Dave!

[@philmaxwell1858]

I had a guy in my office who was very good at his job, but not a great intellect. When I had someone new to train, I would have him train them. It worked like a charm. His less than stellar intelligence was a great asset. He explained everything in little bites that he understood. You, Dave, are too smart, almost like an electrical engineer. Grin.

[@Larry-jf4jm]

I do appreciate you videos like this. They are great reviews. I have a new ham across the street and videos like this help me be his Elmer. Thank you.

[@ebutuoyssa]

Strange as it may seem, my major "AhHa" moment happened when you took a little detour into explaining "EMF". Everything from hydraulics to air flow came into perspective. I just stood there and gawked-great lecture!

[@madararam2853]

That was so well explained. Thank you Sir for your assistance and time.

[@BrendanGates]

Great explainer, thanks for taking the time to put it out there.

[@glenwatcheston633]

Thank you for taking the time to explain this.

[@LandonWest]

This was a great explanation, thank you!

[@Blue_Goat]

I've been reading about ham radio for the past few months to learn everything I can. This is the best explanation I've found. I wish I saw this first. Thanks

[@SuperShooterX]

Great video and explanation here, thanks for this video!

[@Malabus73]

Appreciate the video. Thank you for uploading.

[@GerardWassink]

Hi Dave, the metric system actually makes the calculations much easier, in (sort of) rounded numbers. for the purpose of calculations, C equals 300 x 10^6 meters per second. Lambda is expressed in meters. 1 MHz equals 1 x 10^6 Hz. Follows that when we divide 300 by the number of MHz’s, we get Lambda in meters. Turn it around and divide 300 by Lambda (in meters) to get the frequency in MHz. For example, the 2 meter band sits around 300 / 2 equals ~ 150 MHz. 73 from the Netherlands.

[@pache2112]

Very helpful. I understand it MUCH better now!! Thx

[@prabhakarv4193]

Very nice and informative. Thank you

[@eazypeazy6650]

It's incredible that ham radio and acoustics are so closely bound together... Fundamental knowledge.

[@robcue4543]

Great Video Dave!

[@enriquediaz7547]

Great summary & overview!

[@jimgiordano8218]

Wonderful explanation, It helped me too. Thanks

[@Emanemoston]

Thank you for this video, sir.

[@erryd.m307]

This is great. Keep up the excellent work. 👍

[@ramv1564]

Preparing for Ham licence exam. Very useful information. Thank you.

[@fixr]

Wow, this was a GREAT illustration (and trip back 30 years) to the basic understanding of HF and cross referencing and nomenclature as it "matured" thru the years. this was awesome, I will be subscribing!!!!

[@ricks4361]

Great job helping to demystify some of the more difficult concepts for NOOBs like me. Thank you!!

[@MilkBugs]

Thank you so much kind sir for your teachings! You explained this in a way I finally Understand the correlation between Meters and MHz! And your starting point of 10MHz is 30 Meters!!! I can tell your a very intelligent being and will be looking at all your vids. Thank You.

[@raymundomarroquin7105]

Thank you!

[@Abraham-mt7mo]

Thank you 😊 you have no idea how much help one sentence from this video has helped me to point me to a new derection to research you will be a piece to history

[@brucebissell7626]

AWESOME JOB. THANK YOU.

[@mohammadbarani5452]

Very useful. Thank you!

[@helly9027]

Wow thank you so much for this!! I'm a young woman trying to get into this hobby but its so difficult to find someone who can explain things so simply to someone with zero knowledge about this! Its really dense stuff! But this is amazing! Thank you so much 🙏💕

[@claudenormandeau9211]

I am with you on your meaning. I over complecate all this information and struggle with it

[@LuizPizzamiglio]

Thank you for the great video.

[@MrDcholland]

Just what I needed. Thanks:)

[@DoesAnyoneElseSmellBurntToast]

Love the little whiteboard. Thanks for making the video

[@davecasler]

The white board is very handy!

[@osmanromero4837]

you are amazing at explaining ! much appreciated

[@davecasler]

Thanks!

[@orangestarprinting1683]

Thank you sir

[@busaramiamor]

Thank you sooo freaking much

[@hoppareallife9297]

Helps a lot

[@allenmiddendorff2068]

thank you!

[@smoberdeen]

It was nice meeting you at the Dayton Hamvention. Safe travels back home. 73 K8STU.

[@wutmahotel9679]

Appreciated thank you very much

[@mikeshaffer2950]

Been waiting for someone, to produce a video showing how they came up with the frequency for HAM usage, this will be loaded next to my folder with, THE STORIES OF THE HAM RADIO CALL SIGH. Anyone studying for their license should watch this, it will greatly help understand the frequency questions. Thank You..

[@lukebray2192]

Great video

[@gruntsffs1]

8:48 after 8 min I realize you write in cuneiform…like me hahaha! Great show so far. Relearning wave propagation after being retired a retired LRS soldier 👊🏼😎

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you. Have a great trip and week, Dave. N0QFT

[@rogerlafrance6355]

Originaly, frequency was calculated in meters with a tape measure. If you measure peak or minimum voltage in an open or shorted balanced openwire transmission line you can calculate the frequency rather than meters that was common in the early days.

[@claudenormandeau9211]

That's over my knowledge of this subject

[@TheJoebsharp]

Thanks for this explanation of RF energy and how it relates to wavelength. I am curious about how the energy at low frequencies goes for being EMF to other kind of energy at audio frequencies which get propagated in the air. How low can EMF go before it becomes something else, i.e. mechanical energy?

[@chaolinshi1816]

Well explained. My dad once had an US old radio dial glass which marked as meters。xiexie谢谢！

[@MikeKoss]

Your formula at 7:15 does not make sense to me. I think it should be c = f λ (you wrote c proportional to λ / f).

[@ronmcconkey7418]

I saw you at hamvention in Xenia, Oh today, while you were in the ICOM boths. I was going to say "hi" but you were busy taking a selfie for a younger guy.

[@kez963]

Awesome 😄 Is there way I can send question?

[@daveyoder9231]

Thank you for this. I'm studying for my amateur extra test, and sometimes just hearing the basics is comforting. 73 de KB3HUC

[@willng34]

Great explanation David! I'm new to this radio world and I'm in the process of getting myself into GMRS radio. I have a question: At 12:00 you were showing that HAM radios only operate at specific chunks of the spectrum, why is that? Laws aside, does anything prevent someone from transmitting in a custom frequency, lets say outside of the permitted chunks in HAM or 22 channels on GMRS, assuming that the equipment physically allows it? Thanks

[@SurvivalManagementGroup]

Thank you so much for this right to the point video. Helped my cave man brain understand the different bands with ease.

[@jydymyyyr9630]

Very informative video... THANKS! I do however believe, when you say "vibration," you're actually meaning "cycles". I'm no expert and could be very wrong.

[@nickc242]

Question : How would Shortwave perform on planet Mars or any of our solar neighbours for that matter? Is planet Earth unique in this respect?

[@ChristiannTyler]

My head hurts.. I just wanna be able to remember what frequency is in what band. This stuff is tough to remember.

[@Robnord1]

About your age, my memory and comprehension ability is crumbling to the point learning is a huge challenge, so this was very helpful. Just getting back to test prep after a couple of years break, it's a big disappointment your lessons are now behind a $50 a year ARRL paywall. Part of the 'new normal'. Oh well

[@nastybastardatlive]

So where does CB and Side band fit into this? Please excuse my ignorance.

[@christhompson7766]

CB falls in 11 meter band at 27 mhz

[@mattstosh6960]

Remember the new 630 MF & 2200 LF Ham bands

[@QSasquatch]

Oscillate?

[@the1spyderryder]

You missed 1¼ meters 224 mhz

[@the1spyderryder]

And 1¼ meters 223 Mhz.

[@Desertwolf426]

As much as I love Dave I don't think he did a good job answering the question. I have a similar condition to dyslexia and I believe the original question was about other things than what Dave answered. To the person who wrote Dave: if I'm right and Dave did not answer your question or he didn't explain it in a way you understand please message me and I will do my best to clarify for you. 73

[@garyskett1778]

Hello Dave; Been directing my ham radio students to your videos for decades... But this one has one slight error... A "meter" is the spelling of a volt meter, an amp meter, or DMM [digital multi meter]. A metre of distance, is spelt m-e-t-r-e. A metric metre, something you Americans can't seem to get...the world uses metres of length [39.37 inches] but we do use meters to measure just about everything else...Just another difference between your English and the King's English, which as an American, you people have butchered since the Boston Tea Party in 1773! A source of great humour in Canada... Carry on being great teacher Dave... Gary VE7AS 😁

[@americancitizen2536]

@garyskett1778 I think it is you that are rudely in error. Dave is an American, and I'm pretty certain he isn't attempting to subject himself the the english-speech of some Canadian queen or king. He pronounces and spells "meter" just right. Dave never said "Meet-ah." But, as I continue to "analyze" your comments, I also "recognize" that you canadians also seem to butcher your queens british-english -- one example of many, is the dropping of the "s" from the words that your country also now spell with a "z". I suppose you are a want-to-be troll, who is just whining because he is neither "british" nor REAL American. Maybe you need to stick to watching the KZbin-r's of canada, and leave the butchers of America to their own. On this day YOU have been a source of humor in America. ...and you can bet that Dave will carry on being a great American teacher. 🤣😁

[@ReefMimic]

Omg if he didn’t understand it before he asked for helped I’m sure he is more lost than now

[@rico1319]

I agree. This gentleman has a hard time explaining it. And you can’t read his writing. Not the best person for explanation.

[@otonino1199]

Please dumb this down 😂

[@glenmartin2437]

Thank you. Just viewed the video again. A good review. Also dyslexic, so I can relate to this fellow. c=f x lambda for reference. Thank you again. N0QFT

[@DonzLockz]

Very I formative as usual Dave, my only criticism is that you should also do the metric equation as your audience goes well beyond the US.📏📐🤓👍