The dial is where you look, the span is what you collect
What is transmitting on each band
Pick a band, point a radio at it and every decoder that lives there runs at once. These pages say what is on each one, what it takes to hear it and where to start.
433.05-434.79 MHz
433 MHz
The busiest band in most homes: weather sensors, door contacts, gate remotes, tyre pressure sensors and anything else sold with a licence-exempt transmitter in it.
What is on it →863-870 MHz
868 MHz
The European short range band: utility meters, Z-Wave locks and sensors, LoRa mesh networks and the longer-range end of home automation.
What is on it →902-928 MHz
915 MHz
The North American short range band: Itron ERT utility meters, LoRa, Z-Wave at 908 MHz and a great deal of industrial telemetry.
What is on it →2400-2483.5 MHz
2.4 GHz
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE, Zigbee and Thread, drone Remote ID and the control links flying model aircraft, all in the same 83 MHz.
What is on it →5645-5945 MHz
5.8 GHz
Analogue FPV video from model aircraft, on the lettered channel plans every pilot uses.
What is on it →137-138 MHz
137 MHz satellite
Weather satellites passing overhead: NOAA APT pictures and Meteor-M LRPT, planned from the pass list and followed through Doppler.
What is on it →118-137 MHz
Airband
Air traffic control voice on the lower half, and the ACARS and VDL Mode 2 datalinks on the upper half.
What is on it →978 / 1090 MHz
1090 and 978 MHz
Aircraft transponders: ADS-B and Mode S at 1090 MHz worldwide, and UAT at 978 MHz for light aircraft in the United States.
What is on it →156-163 MHz
Marine VHF
AIS vessel positions on two channels, working channels and calling voice, and the NOAA Weather Radio alerts at the top of the band.
What is on it →144-148 / 430-450 MHz
Amateur VHF and UHF
APRS packet, SSTV pictures, M17 digital voice and the repeaters that identify themselves in Morse.
What is on it →136-174 / 400-470 MHz
Business VHF and UHF
Site radio, taxis, security, public safety and paging: DMR, P25, NXDN, analogue FM with MDC-1200 and tones, and POCSAG and FLEX paging.
What is on it →390-406 MHz
390-406 MHz
TETRA networks, weather balloons on their way to 30 km, and the distress beacons at 406 MHz.
What is on it →470-790 MHz
UHF television
DVB-T multiplexes: the transmission parameters, the services each carries, and a programme decoded to picture and sound.
What is on it →174-240 MHz
Band III
DAB ensembles, named by block rather than by frequency, with the stations inside them.
What is on it →3-30 MHz
Shortwave
Morse, RTTY, weather fax charts and DRM broadcasting, in the bands that reach across continents.
What is on it →1525-1559 MHz
L band
Inmarsat: satellite ACARS from aircraft over oceans, and the EGC and SafetyNET broadcasts sent to shipping.
What is on it →758-960 / 1805-2690 MHz
Mobile downlinks
GSM and LTE base stations identifying themselves continuously: networks, cell ids, tracking and location areas, neighbours and levels, drawn on a map of the towers around you.
What is on it →10.7-12.75 GHz
Ku band satellite
Free-to-air satellite television, reached through a dish and a universal LNB that brings the band down to 950-2150 MHz on the coax.
What is on it →
Plug in a radio and press play.
It opens on the dashboard, and the dial starts at 433.92 MHz where the devices it decodes are.
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