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Motorola HT1000 hand-held two-way radio
The business band is the name used by US
scanner hobbyists who listen to Federal Communications
Commission licensees using Industrial/Business
pool frequencies. The regulations listing frequencies in
this pool are contained in Subpart C of Part 90, Title 47 of
the CFR.
Overview
The pool describes a series of frequencies on the VHF and
UHF two-way radio bands. They are reserved
for use by businesses, and
in some cases, by individuals. In the United States, private use of
these frequencies requires a federal license issued by the U.S. FCC. The exceptions
to this are five specific frequencies that are also part of the Multi-Use Radio Service, which
permits unlicensed operation on these frequencies, provided the
output power does not exceed 2 watts.
The electromagnetic spectrum
between approximately 450 and 470 MHz is used largely for UHF business
communications, although this spectrum is not exclusively for
business use. In some large metropolitan areas, such as New York,
the UHF-T band (between 470 and 512 MHz) is also used, due to
congestion on the standard VHF or UHF bands. There are also a
number of specific frequencies, in both the VHF and UHF spectrum,
that are for business use; some of these have color-coded names,
such as Blue Dot or Red Star.
History
In the 1980s, the FCC acknowledged the need for private
frequencies for business to transmit on, and, with congressional
authorization, reserved a selection of frequencies in the
450-470 MHz range for this purpose. Business Radio
Service (BRS) is a collection of 56 UHF frequencies
selected by the FCC, that are reserved exclusively for business
use. Many enterprises choose to use these frequencies because they
are exclusive, and therefore have less cross-chatter with
unaffiliated parties. To obtain a license for conducting
transmissions at these frequencies, licensees must be registered as
a business with the Internal Revenue Service.
Frequency
charts
Although the term "business band" refers to several discrete
frequencies that are not grouped into a single band, the
frequencies are grouped by band and listed below.
Low-band
frequencies
Name |
Frequency |
Notes |
|
27.490 MHz |
Low power, itinerant |
|
27.510 MHz |
Low power |
|
27.553 MHz |
Low power |
|
30.840 MHz |
Low power |
|
33.120 MHz |
Low power |
|
33.140 MHz |
Low power |
|
33.400 MHz |
Low power |
|
35.020 MHz |
Low power |
|
35.040 MHz |
Low power, itinerant |
|
42.980 MHz |
Low power |
|
43.040 MHz |
Low power, itinerant |
VHF
frequencies
Name |
Frequency |
Notes |
Red Dot |
151.625 MHz |
Itinerant |
|
151.820 MHz |
Un-licensed Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS);
2 watts, 11.25 kHz bandwidth |
|
151.880 MHz |
Un-licensed Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS); 2 watts,
11.25 kHz bandwidth |
|
151.940 MHz |
Un-licensed Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS); 2 watts,
11.25 kHz bandwidth |
Purple Dot |
151.955 MHz |
|
|
154.515 MHz |
|
|
154.540 MHz |
|
Blue Dot |
154.570 MHz |
Un-licensed Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS); 2 watts,
20 kHz bandwidth |
Green Dot |
154.600 MHz |
Un-licensed Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS); 2 watts,
20 kHz bandwidth |
UHF and
GMRS frequencies
Name |
Frequency |
Notes |
White Dot |
462.575 MHz |
GMRS |
Black Dot |
462.625 MHz |
GMRS |
Orange Dot |
462.675 MHz |
GMRS |
Brown Dot |
464.500 MHz |
Itinerant |
Yellow Dot |
464.550 MHz |
Itinerant |
Silver Star |
467.850 MHz |
|
Gold Star |
467.875 MHz |
|
Red Star |
467.900 MHz |
|
Blue Star |
467.925 MHz |
|
|
469.500 MHz |
Itinerant |
|
469.550 MHz |
Itinerant |
External
links
References
- Fawcett, Bill. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About
Blue Dot Radios... But Were Afraid to Ask, Spaniel Journal