Understanding the Radio Frequency Spectrum (

[@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!

[@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!

[@StargazerTheFurry]

Thank you very much, you explained this very well. I couldn't get my head wrapped around how frequicies worked even though I learned when I was a kid. Also had a hard time getting it through my head that electromagnetic spectrum also covers visible light as well which is trippy to me.

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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!!!!

[@abigailKitt]

Wow! The diagrams helped me more than anything I’ve read! 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.

[@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.

[@ronalansing8205]

"those who can't do, teach", does that phrase seems kind of oppossite on your comment? intelligence is also subjective. Some think a person is intelligent when they speak english well, but that's not the case for people that have higher intelligence but barely know english.

[@eazypeazy6650]

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

[@22272480]

I’m really new to radio and I’m trying to learn, so this may be a dumb question. Where do the frequencies start, or how are they made?

[@ricks4361]

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

[@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).

[@BrendanGates]

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

[@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

[@DaisyHollowBooks]

I’m starting out. This was very helpful.

[@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..

[@madararam2853]

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

[@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

[@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?

[@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

[@glenwatcheston633]

Thank you for taking the time to explain this.

[@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 👊🏼😎

[@smoberdeen]

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

[@Malabus73]

Appreciate the video. Thank you for uploading.

[@robcue4543]

Great Video Dave!

[@SuperShooterX]

Great video and explanation here, thanks for this video!

[@daveyoder9231]

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

[@pache2112]

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

[@bageldad]

Thank you! It finally makes sense!!!!

[@LandonWest]

This was a great explanation, thank you!

[@Emanemoston]

Thank you for this video, sir.

[@prabhakarv4193]

Very nice and informative. Thank you

[@jimgiordano8218]

Wonderful explanation, It helped me too. Thanks

[@enriquediaz7547]

Great summary & overview!

[@chaolinshi1816]

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

[@IM1deadMONEY]

Neat! I can't seem to find anything about wave height 😕. I know that a 40 m wave is 40 m long, but what is the height? Is it variable? Or is there an exact height to length variable that is constant? Thanks in advance😊

[@trickvro]

If I understand what you're asking about, I think the height of the wave corresponds to the wave's amplitude, which is not related to frequency.

[@IM1deadMONEY]

@trickvro thank you:)

[@erryd.m307]

This is great. Keep up the excellent work. 👍

[@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.

[@LuizPizzamiglio]

Thank you for the great video.

[@georgematheson7289]

Great explanation 😊

[@osmanromero4837]

you are amazing at explaining ! much appreciated

[@davecasler]

Thanks!

[@brucebissell7626]

AWESOME JOB. THANK YOU.

[@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.

[@mohammadbarani5452]

Very useful. Thank you!

[@orangestarprinting1683]

Thank you sir

[@MrDcholland]

Just what I needed. Thanks:)

[@kez963]

Awesome 😄 Is there way I can send question?

[@glenmartin2437]

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

[@busaramiamor]

Thank you sooo freaking much

[@ChristiannTyler]

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

[@bibekghatak5860]

Very interesting 🤔 video !!

[@raymundomarroquin7105]

Thank you!

[@wutmahotel9679]

Appreciated thank you very much

[@warrenwoodruff5824]

since this is a metric system part of science, why did you give a formula using feet for wave length to establish a conversion constant for conversion. Just do it in metric!

[@SurvivalManagementGroup]

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

[@hoppareallife9297]

Helps a lot

[@allenmiddendorff2068]

thank you!

[@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?

[@lukebray2192]

Great video

[@Philip-p6q]

So what's KHz vs MHz.

[@trickvro]

A thousand hertz is one kilohertz (kHz). A thousand kilohertz (or one million hertz) is one megahertz (MHz). The prefix "kilo-" takes any metric unit and multiplies it by a thousand. The prefix "mega-" multiplies by a million. Think of it in terms of money. If you have a thousand dollars, you have a grand. If you have a thousand grand, you're a millionaire.

[@QSasquatch]

Oscillate?

[@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

[@W4BIN]

The H of Hertz is capitalized because in America because any word that is or was someone's name or words derived from a person's name is capitalized. Ron W4BIN

[@trickvro]

That's close but not entirely the case. The abbreviation "Hz" is capitalized because the international organization that defines the modern metric system made a rule that any unit named after a person gets a capitalized abbreviation. Importantly, the full name of the unit is always lower-case (unless of course it gets capitalized as the first word of a sentence). So we have, for example, Hz, V, and Ω, standing for the hertz (Heinrich Rudolf Hertz), the volt (Alessandro Volta), and the ohm (Georg Ohm).

[@mattstosh6960]

Remember the new 630 MF & 2200 LF Ham bands

[@the1spyderryder]

You missed 1¼ meters 224 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.

[@the1spyderryder]

And 1¼ meters 223 Mhz.

[@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.📏📐🤓👍