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Radio frequency, or RF, refers to that portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in which electromagnetic waves can be generated by alternating current fed to an antenna. Such frequencies account for the following parts of the spectrum:
Band name Abbr ITU band Frequencies Wavelength Below 3 Hz > 100,000 km Extremely low frequency ELF 13-30 Hz 100,000 km – 10,000 km Super low frequency SLF 130–300 Hz 10,000 km – 1000 km Ultra low frequency ULF 2300–3000 Hz 1000 km – 100 km Very low frequency VLF 33–30 kHz 100 km – 10 km Low frequency LF 430–300 kHz 10 km – 1 km Medium frequency MF 5300–3000 kHz 1 km – 100 m High frequency HF 63–30 MHz 100 m – 10 m Very high frequency VHF 730–300 MHz 10 m – 1 m Ultra high frequency UHF 8300–3000 MHz 1 m – 100 mm Super high frequency SHF 93–30 GHz 100 mm – 10 mm Extremely high frequency EHF 1030–300 GHz 10 mm – 1 mm Above 300 GHz < 1 mm
Note: above 300 GHz, the absorption of electromagnetic radiation by Earth's atmosphere is so great that the atmosphere is effectively opaque to higher frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, until the atmosphere becomes transparent again in the so-called infrared and optical window frequency ranges.
The ELF, SLF, ULF, and VLF bands overlap the AF (audio frequency) spectrum, which is approximately 20–20,000 Hz. However, sounds move at the speed of sound, rather than the speed of light.
Electrical connectors designed to work at radio frequencies are known as RF connectors. RF is also the name of a standard audio/video connector, also called BNC (BayoNet Connector).
L band 1 to 2GHz S band 2 to 4GHz C band 4 to 8GHz X band 8 to 12GHz Ku band 12 to 18GHz K band 18 to 26GHz Ka band 26 to 40GHz V band 40 to 75GHz W band 75 to 110GHz
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Radio spectrum |
| Electromagnetic Spectrum
Radio waves | Microwave | Infrared | Visible light | Ultraviolet | X-ray | Gamma ray Visible: Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue | Indigo | Violet |