- Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:41 pm
#31785
Amateur bands are for the exclusive use of licensed amateur radio operators (HAMS). It is illegal to transmit in these bands without the proper level of amateur license issued by the FCC after passing technical proficiency tests for a given license level, including Novice, Technician, General, Extra. More on this at the ARRL's website.
In other bands, it depends on what country you are in!
And
depends on what bandwidth and duty cycle you want to use!
In the US...
the unlicensed bands are governed by FCC Part 15 regulations. Google.
These regulation govern how much power you may radiate at what antenna beamwidth (if not omnidirectional), what duty cycle your transmissions may have (% of time on vs. off), and what listen-before-transmitting (spectrum sharing) procedures you must follow.
The 2.4 GHz band is popular, of course, for WiFi and cordless phones and a lot of other items. This band is partially shared with Hams, but Hams do not use it much, due to the congestion. As is the 5.8GHz band.
There are "UN-II" bands near 5.4GHz.
The 902-928MHz band is very popular.
The 430MHz and 315 MHz bands are popular but have very restrictive regulations on power and duty cycle - because there are so many transmit-only devices in these bands. Such as garage door openers, wireless thermometers, etc.
There are some VHF bands, such as MURS, that are unlicensed.
So this is the tip of the iceberg.
