Way Off Base! Meter Designations vs Frequencies #921

This is a good one. It caught me up when I first heard of the higher portion of the 80m band being called 75 meters. From what I understand, the Q of antennas at this band is so high, that the bandwidth is narrow and you may depending on your equipment need a different 75m antenna for the upper end of of the band.

Thanks, Dave. Always enjoy the various radio topics. 73.

Ive often wondered about this since I started studying for Tech a few years ago. Settled for just because explanation. Thanks Dave!

This video is a good warning for home brew antennas, don't cut them to half the wavelength of the band or you can be way off :)

The ones that are way out of whack, are roughly in the 5-10% of the actual band centre frequency. So in relative terms, not that band. The other thing convenient about the band designations is that you see that roughly, the key bands are about 1 octave apart. 160/80/40/20/10. Much easier than remembering actual band centres. The speed of light has been known fairly well for a very long time, but tweaks have been in the less significant figures as measurement techniques evolved. Same with the second. The second needed better and better definition as technological needs increased (GPS, for example).

Dave!!! This is a question that has plagued my mind since I very first started learning anything about HAM radio!!! This was an itch that many (most?) HAMs have wanted to itch from the very beginning! Thank you for posting this!!!

The original bands & meters were set to make remembering them easier.

Double the freq., Half the meters. It was also intended to reduce harmonic interference with other services.

Way, way back when... The 160 meter band started at 1.75 MHz, 80m @ 3.5, 40m @ 7 MHz, 20m @ 14 MHz, 15m @ 21 MHz & 10 m @ 28MHz.

If you think about it, as a CW OP, if you build say a horizontal loop antenna for 1.75 MHz, it will work for CW on every standard band, as a loop works on every harmonic! 1.75, 3.5, 7, 14, 21, & 28 MHz! Sweet, huh! It's almost like they planned it that way... 😀

Of course in '79, the WARC Bands didn't conform...

It was also intended to have "even" numbers for hams... Because Shortwave broadcasting uses "odd"ball meter labels... 11, 13, 16, 19, 22, 31, 41, 49, 60, 75, 90, 120m...

Did you notice the 2 very odd ones?
60 meters on SW broadcast is 4.75 to 5.060MHz. 60m is much higher... Still an even meter des. But just off kilter...

75 m was - AND STILL IS 3.90 to 4.00 MHz. Mostly broadcasting in the tropics, and you will hear a couple of stations broadcasting there. And now Hams too.

Thank you again, Dave.
Tradition and history will get you every time. N0QFT

I love the 33 banana band

Excellent!

Good video. What always confuses me is when someone talks about a higher band. Is that a higher wavelength or a higher frequency? Is the 40 meter band “higher” than the 20 meter band. To this day, I still don’t know.

Here in Europe, the 80m band is from 3500 - 3800. Thanks for nice content!

What a great video! I was fascinated by your insight.

If you want to get to the answer of the original question skip ahead to 11 minutes.

great discussion Dave!! Another point of confusion is to say "on a lower/higher band" which can be taken as lower/higher freq or the opposite meaning longer/shorter wavelength.

Thanks, Dave for going into so much depth on this. Great video! I'm glad that I asked as it seems other people had questions too! This could be college level right here. 73 KF0GPX

DAVE, PLEASE HELP ME! I LIVE IN TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA AND I'VE HEARD AGAIN AND AGAIN HOW EASY AND SIMPLIFIED THE PROCESS IS FOR GETTING YOUR HAM RADIO OPERATORS BASIC CERTIFICATE IS IN THE U.S.!
HERE IN CANADA, IT'S PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE! YOU HAVE TO SOMEHOW HUNT DOWN AN EXAMINER WHO IS BOTH QUALIFIED AND ALSO WILLING TO GIVE YOU THE EXAM! AND, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, IT THUS COSTS A LOT MORE THAN $20 AS YOU HAVE TO PAY THE EXAMINER THE PRICE THEY SET!
I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR ABOUT 2 YEARS (NO! REALLY! I'M QUITE SERIOUS!) I CANNOT FIND AN EXAMINER!! I'M WILLING TO PAY WHATEVER IT COSTS, AND I'VE SPENT YEARS WATCHING YOUR VIDEOS AND LEARNING EVERYTHING I CAN ABOUT HAM RADIO STATION OPERATION!!
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO! DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?
ALSO, HAVE YOU HEARD FROM ANY OTHER CANADIANS WITH THIS PROBLEM?
(BY THE WAY---THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPER VIDEOS!)

The good 'ole Melankovitch Cycle!

So when the aliens come they are going to know how stupid we are do to actual frequencies vs what we call them

Excellent presentation Dave! Learning more every day is what I love about Ham radio. Thanks for the great video. 73, K4UVX

A bit annoying, in Europe (in my case: Germany) we are much more limited in spectrum.

For example the 70cm ham band is only 430-440 MHz for us, so ATV is problematic on that band. It's legal, but it will always interfere with satellites and local repeaters.
80 is also smaller, only 3500-3800.
We don't have 1.25m at all.

As someone who is very new to ham radio, I want to thank you David for making these videos. You are the best for actually explaining the why and how behind all things ham radio. It seems like a lot of people only give answers to questions but don't explain anything else behind the answer.

The original definition of the meter was one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. 1/10,000 is way off. Love your stuff, Dave, thank you for your work!