The Toolbox — Charts

Amateur Radio

HAM license privileges, HF band plan, digital mode frequencies, repeater offsets, DTMF tones, and CTCSS tone reference.

Amateur Radio License Privileges

License	HF Privileges	VHF/UHF	Max Power	Exam
Technician	Limited HF (10m phone, 15/40/80m CW only)	Full privileges 50 MHz and above	1,500W PEP (200W on 10m phone)	Element 2 — 35 questions
General	Most HF bands with some segment restrictions	Full privileges 50 MHz and above	1,500W PEP all bands	Elements 2 + 3 — 35 questions each
Amateur Extra	All amateur bands, all segments — full access	Full privileges 50 MHz and above	1,500W PEP all bands	Elements 2 + 3 + 4 — 50 Qs for Element 4

HF Band Plan Overview (US)

General and Extra class have access to all segments except where noted. Technician class has very limited HF privileges.

Band	Frequency Range	Modes	Tech Access	Notes
160m	1.800–2.000 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	No	Night band, domestic only in US
80m	3.500–4.000 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	CW only 3.525–3.600	Popular night band, QRM heavy
60m	5 channels	USB Phone, CW, Digital	No	Channelized — 5.3305–5.4035 MHz
40m	7.000–7.300 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	CW only 7.025–7.125	Best all-around DX band at night
30m	10.100–10.150 MHz	CW, Digital only	No	No phone — CW and digital only
20m	14.000–14.350 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	No	Best daytime DX band worldwide
17m	18.068–18.168 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	No	WARC band — no contests
15m	21.000–21.450 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	CW only 21.025–21.200	Excellent DX when solar flux high
12m	24.890–24.990 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	No	WARC band — no contests
10m	28.000–29.700 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	Phone 28.300–28.500	Best DX at solar maximum
6m	50.000–54.000 MHz	CW, Phone, Digital	Full	Magic band — sporadic E openings

Digital Mode Frequency Reference

Common operating frequencies for popular digital modes. Dial frequency shown — actual signal is USB + audio offset.

Mode	Band	Dial Frequency	Notes
FT8	80m	3.573 MHz	Most popular digital mode globally
FT8	40m	7.074 MHz	Busy day and night
FT8	20m	14.074 MHz	Primary FT8 DX frequency
FT8	17m	18.100 MHz
FT8	15m	21.074 MHz
FT8	10m	28.074 MHz	Active at solar maximum
FT8	6m	50.313 MHz	Sporadic E / Es season
WSPR	40m	7.038600 MHz	Weak Signal Propagation Reporter
WSPR	20m	14.095600 MHz	Most monitored WSPR frequency
WSPR	10m	28.124600 MHz
JS8Call	40m	7.078 MHz	Message store-and-forward
JS8Call	20m	14.078 MHz
PSK31	40m	7.070 MHz	Narrow digital mode, keyboard QSO
PSK31	20m	14.070 MHz
RTTY	40m	7.080–7.100 MHz	Radioteletype — contest active
RTTY	20m	14.080–14.099 MHz
APRS	2m	144.390 MHz	US national APRS frequency

Standard Repeater Offsets

Standard input/output offset by band. Some regions use non-standard offsets — check local repeater directories.

Band	Standard Offset	Simplex Calling
6m (50 MHz)	−1 MHz	52.525 MHz
2m (144 MHz)	−600 kHz	146.520 MHz
1.25m (222 MHz)	−1.6 MHz	223.500 MHz
70cm (440 MHz)	+5 MHz	446.000 MHz
33cm (902 MHz)	−25 MHz	906.500 MHz
23cm (1240 MHz)	−20 MHz	1294.500 MHz

DTMF Tone Frequencies

Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency tones used for repeater control, autopatch, and IRLP/EchoLink node access. Each key produces a combination of one row frequency and one column frequency.

Key	Row Freq	Column Freq
1	697 Hz	1209 Hz
2	697 Hz	1336 Hz
3	697 Hz	1477 Hz
A	697 Hz	1633 Hz
4	770 Hz	1209 Hz
5	770 Hz	1336 Hz
6	770 Hz	1477 Hz
B	770 Hz	1633 Hz
7	852 Hz	1209 Hz
8	852 Hz	1336 Hz
9	852 Hz	1477 Hz
C	852 Hz	1633 Hz
*	941 Hz	1209 Hz
0	941 Hz	1336 Hz
#	941 Hz	1477 Hz
D	941 Hz	1633 Hz

CTCSS Tone Reference

Sub-audible tones for repeater access and squelch control. Also called PL tones (Private Line — Motorola trademark) or simply tone squelch.

Tone (Hz)	#	Tone (Hz)	#
67.0	1	71.9	2
74.4	3	77.0	4
79.7	5	82.5	6
85.4	7	88.5	8
91.5	9	94.8	10
97.4	11	100.0	12
103.5	13	107.2	14
110.9	15	114.8	16
118.8	17	123.0	18
127.3	19	131.8	20
136.5	21	141.3	22
146.2	23	151.4	24
156.7	25	162.2	26
167.9	27	173.8	28
179.9	29	186.2	30
192.8	31	203.5	32
210.7	33	218.1	34
225.7	35	233.6	36
241.8	37	250.3	38