20-561.fm Page 39 Wednesday, August 4, 1999 3:48 PM

A GENERAL GUIDE TO SCANNING

Reception of the frequencies covered by your scanner is mainly “line-of-sight.” This means you cannot usually hear stations that are beyond the horizon.

UNITED STATES BROADCAST BAND

In the United States, there are several broadcast bands. The stan- dard AM and FM bands are probably the most well known. There are also four television audio broadcast bands — the lower three transmit on the VHF band and the fourth transmits on the UHF band. You can use your scanner to monitor the 470512 MHz por- tion of the UHF band.

TYPICAL BAND USAGE

The following charts show the types of broadcasts you can hear in each band, the number of the search band where you can search for them, and the frequency range of the broadcasts.

VHF Band (30.00-300.0 MHz)

Broadcast Type

Search

Frequency Range (MHz)

Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10-Meter Amateur, VHF

0

29.00

50.00

Lo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6-Meter Amateur

1

50.00

54.00

 

 

 

 

Aircraft/Air Shows

2

108.00

136.975

 

 

 

 

Aircraft/Air Shows/Gov-

3

137.00

144.00

ernment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Radio Shack PRO-63 General Guide to Scanning, United States Broadcast Band, Typical Band Usage, VHF Band 30.00-300.0 MHz