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The Pan-American television frequencies are different for
terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
and
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
systems. Terrestrial television channels are divided into two bands: the VHF band which comprises channels 2 through 13 and occupies frequencies between 54 and 216 MHz, and the UHF band, which comprises channels 14 through 36 and occupies frequencies between 470 and 700 MHz. These bands are different enough in frequency that they often require separate antennas to receive (although many antennas cover both VHF and UHF), and separate tuning controls on the television set. The VHF band is further divided into two frequency ranges: VHF low band (
Band I Band I is a range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The first time there was defined "for simplicity" in Annex 1 of "Final acts of the European Broadcasting Conference in the VHF and ...
) between 54 and 88 MHz, containing channels 2 through 6, and VHF high band (
Band III Band III is the name of the range of radio frequencies within the very high frequency (VHF) part of the electromagnetic spectrum from 174 to 240 megahertz (MHz). It is primarily used for radio and television broadcasting. It is also called high ...
) between 174 and 216 MHz, containing channels 7 through 13. The wide spacing between these frequency bands is responsible for the complicated design of rooftop TV antennas. The UHF band has higher noise and greater attenuation, so higher gain antennas are often required for UHF.


Terrestrial television


History

The
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
band plan was modified several times before 1948. The last of these changes was the deletion of channel 1, originally intended as a community channel. This allocation of the spectrum was given to two-way land-mobile radio. UHF channels 70–83 in the United States were reallocated in 1983. In March 2008, the FCC requested public comment on turning the bandwidth currently occupied by analog television channels 5 and 6 (76–88 MHz) over to extending the FM terrestrial band when the DTT transition was to be completed in February 2009 (ultimately delayed to June 2009). This proposed allocation would effectively assign frequencies corresponding to the existing Japanese FM radio service (which begins at 76 MHz) for use as an extension to the existing North American
FM broadcast band The FM broadcast band is a range of radio frequencies used for FM broadcasting by radio stations. The range of frequencies used differs between different parts of the world. In Europe and Africa (defined as International Telecommunication Union ( ...
.


700 MHz band

The UHF 700 MHz band comprised the spectrum of UHF channels 52 through 69. Channels 52–69 are no longer available for normal, high-power digital terrestrial television broadcasting in the United States, but some channels are available for use as low-power or translator stations.
Wireless microphone A wireless microphone, or cordless microphone, is a microphone without a physical cable connecting it directly to the sound recording or amplifying equipment with which it is associated. Also known as a radio microphone, it has a small, battery ...
s and
medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', "remote", an ...
devices shared some of the space on this television band, if transmitting at a very low
power Power most often refers to: * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events ** Abusive power Power may a ...
. After the migration to
digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
in 2009, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) banned all of these from using the 700 MHz band, effective June 12, 2010. The 700 MHz band is now used for public safety communications and wireless broadband providers.


600 MHz band

In 2017 the FCC auctioned off all remaining UHF spectrum including and above UHF channel 38. This required the reconfiguration of channel allotment (known in the terrestrial television industry as the channel "repack"), allowing for higher gain small antennas to cover a smaller frequency range. In April 2017 it was decided that channels 38 to 51 would be deleted, but channel 37 remains reserved. Channel repacking proceeded in 10 phases from September 2018 through July 2020.


Channel frequencies


VHF band


UHF band

The following table lists terrestrial television channels in the
ultra high frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300  megahertz (MHz) and 3  gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
band as they were allocated in their modern form by the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
on April 11, 1952. The original allocation included 70 UHF channels (14–83) with 6 MHz separation. In the decades since, many of the channels have been de-allocated and reserved for other purposes. Channels 14–36 are usable UHF channels in the United States after the most recent change was completed in 2020. Formerly allocated channels are indicated with a colored background, and their dispositions are explained in the notes below the table.


Notes

* Channels 1 and 37 (shaded pink above) are reserved for radio astronomy in the United States, Canada, Bermuda and the Bahamas; thus there are no television stations assigned to it. Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Brazil and Argentina informally observe a ban on transmitters using the channel. One
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
station,
KAXT-CD KAXT-CD (channel 1) is a low-power, Class A Decades owned-and-operated television station licensed to both San Francisco and San Jose, California, United States, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcast ...
, was assigned Channel 1 as a virtual channel in 2017, but broadcasts on UHF channel 22. One
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
station,
WNWT-LD WNWT-LD (channel 37) is a television station in New York City, airing programming from Story Television. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside Middletown Township, New Jersey-licensed MeTV station WJLP (channel 33) and Bridgeport, Conne ...
, was assigned Channel 37 as a virtual channel in 2019, but broadcasts on VHF channel 3. * Channels 38 through 51 (the 600 MHz band, shaded yellow above) have been displaced in the US by the Broadcast incentive auction. * On August 22, 2011, the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
'
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
announced a freeze on all future applications for broadcast stations requesting to use channel 51,FC
Public Notice DA-11-1428A1

Rcd PDF

Microsoft Word document

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Plain Text format
/ref> to prevent
adjacent-channel interference Adjacent-channel interference (ACI) is interference caused by extraneous power from a signal in an adjacent channel. ACI may be caused by inadequate filtering (such as incomplete filtering of unwanted modulation products in FM systems), improp ...
to the A-Block of the 700 MHz band. Later that year (on December 16, 2011),
Industry Canada Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED; french: Innovation, Sciences et Développement économique Canada; french: ISDE, label=none)''Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal ...
and the
CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
followed suit in placing a moratorium on future television stations using channel 51 for broadcast use for the same reason. * Channels 52 through 69 (the 700 MHz band, shaded brown above) in the United States have been reallocated following the conversion to digital TV on June 12, 2009, although some low-power and translator stations may still be in use on these channels. * The frequencies used by UHF channels 70 through 83 (shaded blue above) were reallocated to the
Land Mobile Radio System A land mobile radio system (LMRS) is a person-to-person voice communication system consisting of two-way radio transceivers (an audio transmitter and receiver in one unit) which can be stationary ( base station units), mobile (installed in veh ...
(
Public Safety Public security or public safety is the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety and security of the public from significant danger, injury, or property damage. It is often conducted by a state government to ensur ...
and Trunked Radio) and
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
s in a CCIR worldwide convention in 1983. * With the advent of digital television in 2009, stations are allowed to identify themselves by a
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
that may not necessarily be the same as the station's RF channel.
Virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
s 1, 37, and 70 to 99 can be assigned via
PSIP The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the MPEG (a video and audio industry group) and privately defined program-specific information originally defined by General Instrument for the DigiCipher 2 system and later extended for the AT ...
even though there is no corresponding physical station on that RF channel.


= Cable television frequency issues

= * UHF channels 14 to 43 translate to common cable-ready channels 65 to 94 (add 51). * UHF channels 44 to 83 translate to rarely used
cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
channels 100 to 139 (add 56). * Cable-ready channels 6, 95, 96, and 97 have audio carriers which overlap
FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...
stations (87.7, 95.7, 101.7 and 107.7). * Cable-ready channels 57 to 61 overlap the 70cm amateur radio band and can be used for
amateur television Amateur television (ATV) is the transmission of broadcast quality video and audio over the wide range of frequencies of radio waves allocated for radio amateur (Ham) use. ATV is used for non-commercial experimentation, pleasure, and public servic ...
. * Cable-ready channel 64 is within the
Family Radio Service The Family Radio Service (FRS) is an improved walkie-talkie radio system authorized in the United States since 1996. This personal radio service uses channelized frequencies around 462 and 467 MHz in the ultra high frequency (UHF) band. I ...
and
General Mobile Radio Service The General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-distance two-way communication and authorized under part 95 of 47 USC. It requires a license in the United States, but some GMRS compatible equipm ...
(GMRS) band. * Cable-ready channel 23 overlaps with Japanese channel 12.


Historical band plans


Cable television


Harmonically-related carriers (HRC)

Harmonically-related carriers (HRC) is a system for assigning television channel numbers to bands of frequencies over a
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
network. William Grant, in his book, states:
''"By harmonically relating the
carrier frequencies In telecommunications, a carrier wave, carrier signal, or just carrier, is a waveform (usually sinusoidal) that is modulated (modified) with an information-bearing signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier wave usually has a m ...
themselves it is … possible to improve system performance. This does not reduce the beats produced, but positions them within the system
transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...
spectrum, such that they are more tolerable. In effect, all signal carriers are spaced precisely at 6 MHz apart, and thus, all beats generated are at 6 MHz increments.'' ''Since the television signals are
vestigial sideband modulation In radio communications, single-sideband modulation (SSB) or single-sideband suppressed-carrier modulation (SSB-SC) is a type of modulation used to transmit information, such as an audio signal, by radio waves. A refinement of amplitude mod ...
, if the beat products can be manipulated to fall on or near the
Radio frequency Radio frequency (RF) is the oscillation rate of an alternating electric current or voltage or of a magnetic, electric or electromagnetic field or mechanical system in the frequency range from around to around . This is roughly between the up ...
carriers themselves, they are much less offensive.''"


Incrementally-related carriers (IRC)

Incrementally-related carriers (IRC) is a system for assigning television channel numbers to bands of frequencies over a
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
network. The IRC plan attempts to minimize distortion products by deriving all video carrier signals from a common source. The IRC system assigns channel frequencies (for the Pan-American
NTSC-M The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplementa ...
system) spaced 6 MHz apart. In an IRC system, the VHF channels are at their off-air frequencies except for channels 5 and 6, which will be 2 MHz higher than usual. Both HRC and IRC systems have the added advantage of allowing for one extra channel to be positioned between channels four and five, as the gap between them increases from 4 MHz wide to 6 MHz wide. It is often mapped as channel one or channels 2, 3, and 4 become channels 1, 2, and 3, and the new one becomes channel 5.


Channel frequencies

These frequencies are used for both
NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
-based analog television and
QAM Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is the name of a family of digital modulation methods and a related family of analog modulation methods widely used in modern telecommunications to transmit information. It conveys two analog message signa ...
-based digital television. Band plans for Pan-American American cable television systems are standardized in
EIA Eia or EIA may refer to: Medicine * Enzyme immunoassay * Equine infectious anemia * Exercise-induced anaphylaxis * Exercise-induced asthma * External iliac artery Transport * Edmonton International Airport, in Alberta, Canada * Erbil Internatio ...
standard 542-B. Channels 57 to 61, and 143 to 145, are used in
amateur television Amateur television (ATV) is the transmission of broadcast quality video and audio over the wide range of frequencies of radio waves allocated for radio amateur (Ham) use. ATV is used for non-commercial experimentation, pleasure, and public servic ...
. :NOTE: Frequencies given are for luminance carriers. For channel center frequencies, add 1.75 MHz.


Channel usage

Cable channels 98 and 99 (A2 and A1, 108-120 MHz), if used, have appeared as channel 00 and 01 respectively on some cable boxes.


See also

*
Australasian television frequencies Television frequency allocation has evolved since the start of television in Australia in 1956, and later in New Zealand in 1960. There was no coordination between the national spectrum management authorities in either country to establish the f ...
*
Broadcast television systems Broadcast television systems (or terrestrial television systems outside the US and Canada) are the encoding or formatting systems for the transmission and reception of terrestrial television signals. Analog television systems were standardized by ...
, including: **
ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an American set of standards for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like th ...
**
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
**
NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
**
NTSC-J NTSC-J is the informal designation for the analogue television standard used in Japan. The system is based on the US NTSC (NTSC-M) standard with minor differences. While NTSC-M is an official CCIR and FCCNational Television System Committee ( ...
**
PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
**
RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
**
SECAM SECAM, also written SÉCAM (, ''Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire'', French for ''color sequential with memory''), is an analog color television system that was used in France, some parts of Europe and Africa, and Russia. It was one of th ...
*
Early television stations This is a list of pre-World War 2 television stations of the 1920s and 1930s. Most of these experimental stations were located in Europe (notably in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Russia), Australi ...
*
European cable television frequencies These tables detail the frequencies used in European cable networks. Cable networks use frequencies which are used by different users terrestrially, like the military, police radio, etc. Because of the late introduction of cable television in Europ ...
*
Knife-edge effect Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...
*
Moving image formats This article discusses moving image capture, transmission and presentation from today's technical and creative points of view; concentrating on aspects of frame rates. Essential parameters The essential parameters of any moving image sequence a ...
*
Multichannel television sound Multichannel Television Sound, better known as MTS, is the method of encoding three additional audio channels into an analog NTSC-format audio carrier. It was developed by the Broadcast Television Systems Committee, an industry group, and somet ...
*
Television channel frequencies The following tables show the frequencies assigned to broadcast television channels in various regions of the world, along with the ITU letter designator for the system used. The frequencies shown are for the analogue video and audio carriers. ...
*
Ultra high frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300  megahertz (MHz) and 3  gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
*
Very high frequency Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves ( radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VH ...


References


External links


ARRL
– TV Channel, CATV and FM Broadcast Frequencies by Kevin K. Custer (W3KKC)

– J. W. Reiser, based on a Radio-Electronics article of the same name by David A. Ferre
Post-transition U.S. digital TV channel assignments as of 1 August 2007
{{CATV USA Bandplans Communications in North America
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...