It seems the band plans are absolutely packed with bands for repeaters, satellites, cw, ssb, slow scan tv, etc. As a new ham is there a easy diagram of the frequency spectrum of what I CAN use just for simple beginner voice transmissions?

    • AG7LR
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      9 months ago

      The FCC sets what parts of the bands can be used for phone and what’s CW or data only. Apart from that everything is basically a gentleman’s agreement. Since HF can go a long ways, there’s no point making local band plans for it. VHF and up is shorter range and some areas have different needs than others. There are frequency coordinators that handle the band plans and repeater pair assignments. Some states have more than one frequency coordinator for different parts of the state. Some frequency coordinators only handle repeater pairs and don’t publish a band plan.