Band nameAbbrITU bandFrequency and
wavelength in air
Example uses
sub-hertzsubHz0< 3 Hz
> 100,000 km
Natural and man-made electromagnetic waves (millihertz, microhertz, nanohertz) from earth, ionosphere, sun, planets, etc.[citation needed]
Extremely low frequencyELF13–30 Hz
100,000 km – 10,000 km
Communication with submarines
Super low frequencySLF230–300 Hz
10,000 km – 1000 km
Communication with submarines, Main power (50/60Hz)
Ultra low frequencyULF3300–3000 Hz
1000 km – 100 km
Communication within mines
Very low frequencyVLF43–30 kHz
100 km – 10 km
Submarine communication, wireless heart rate monitors, geophysics
Low frequencyLF530–300 kHz
10 km – 1 km
Navigation, time signals, AM longwave broadcasting (Europe and parts of Asia), RFID, amateur radio
Medium frequencyMF6300–3000 kHz
1 km – 100 m
AM (medium-wave) broadcasts, amateur radio, avalanche beacons
High frequencyHF73–30 MHz
100 m – 10 m
Shortwave broadcasts, citizens' band radio, amateur radio and over-the-horizon aviation communications, RFID, Over-the-horizon radar, Automatic link establishment (ALE) / Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) radio communications, Marine and mobile radio telephony
Very high frequencyVHF830–300 MHz
10 m – 1 m
FM, television broadcasts and line-of-sight ground-to-aircraft and aircraft-to-aircraft communications. Land Mobile and Maritime Mobile communications, amateur radio, weather radio
Ultra high frequencyUHF9300–3000 MHz
1 m – 100 mm
Television broadcasts, microwave ovens, microwave devices/communications, radio astronomy, mobile phones, wireless LAN, Bluetooth, ZigBee, GPS and two-way radios such as Land Mobile, FRS and GMRS radios, amateur radio, DBS
Super high frequencySHF103–30 GHz
100 mm – 10 mm
Microwave devices/communications, wireless LAN, most modern radars, communications satellites, amateur radio
Extremely high frequencyEHF1130–300 GHz
10 mm – 1 mm
Radio astronomy, high-frequency microwave radio relay, microwave remote sensing, amateur radio
Terahertz or Tremendously high frequencyTHz or THF12300–3,000 GHz
1 mm – 100 μm
Terahertz imaging – a potential replacement for X-rays in some medical applications, ultrafast molecular dynamics, condensed-matter physics, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, terahertz computing/communications, sub-mm remote sensing, amateur radio