60-meter Band

60-meter Band

The 60 meter band or 5 MHz band is a relatively new amateur radio band, first introduced in 2002, that was originally only available in a few countries, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Ireland and Iceland. In the last few years however, an increasing number of countries' telecommunications administrations—together with their government and military users—have permitted Amateur Radio operation in the 5 MHz area on a short or longer term basis on either discrete channels or a frequency band allocation. At present there is no worldwide common International Telecommunication Union (ITU) frequency allocation as is the case with other amateur radio bands. Allocations are made by individual administrations in accordance with Article 4.4 of the ITU Radio Regulations, which requires non-interference with other radio services.

Where two-way amateur radio communication is authorized on 60m, it has generally been within the frequency range 5250–5450 kHz, but the whole of this range is not necessarily available and allocations vary significantly from country-to-country.

In a number of countries (but not all), the allocation is channelized at present. Voice operation is generally in upper sideband (USB) mode to facilitate inter-communication by non-amateur service users if necessary. In the United States and its Dependencies it is mandatory. Where channelization is used, the USB voice 'dial' frequency is normally 1.5 kHz below the quoted channel frequency (e.g. 5403.5 kHz is the USB voice 'dial' frequency for the channel 5405 kHz).

Amateur equipment made in Japan and surrounding countries often did not support this allocation, since it is not currently available in those countries. However it is usually possible to modify equipment to work correctly on these frequencies within the terms of the individual's licensing conditions. More recently, commercial amateur radio equipment manufactured in Asia destined for the North American market has begun to include provision for US 60m/5 MHz operation.