Shortwave Frequencies

Shortwave Radio Frequency List and SWL Links

© 2003-2011 by Harold Melton, KV5R. All Rights Reserved.

Shop for Shortwave Radios here.

If you’re serious about shortwave, you’ll see these sites:

Shortwave Frequency Guide (All frequencies shown in kHz)
Frequencies Service Comments
0535 | 1705 AM Broadcast Standard North America AM
1705 | 1800 Fixed Service Land/Mobile/Marine
1800 | 2000 Amateur 160 Meters
2000 | 2107 Maritime Mobile
2107 | 2170 Fixed Service Land/Mobile/Marine
2170 | 2194 Land Mobile Service
2194 | 2300 Fixed Service
2300 | 2495 Shortwave Broadcast 120 Meters
2495 | 2505 Time Standard
2505 | 2850 Fixed Service Land/Mobile/Marine
2850 | 3155 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
3155 | 3200 Fixed Service
3200 | 3400 Shortwave Broadcast 90 Meters
3400 | 3500 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
3500 | 4000 Amateur 80/75 Meters
3900 | 4000 Shortwave Broadcast 75 Meters, Not in Region 2
4000 | 4000 Time Standard
4000 | 4063 Fixed Service
4063 | 4438 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
4438 | 4650 Fixed Service
4650 | 4750 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
4750 | 5060 Shortwave Broadcast 60 Meters
5005 | 5450 Fixed Service
5450 | 5730 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
5730 | 5950 Fixed Service
5950 | 6200 Shortwave Broadcast 49 Meters
6200 | 6525 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
6525 | 6765 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
6765 | 7000 Fixed Service
7000 | 7300 Amateur 40 Meters
7100 | 7300 Shortwave Broadcast 41 Meters, Not in Region 2
7300 | 8195 Fixed Service
8195 | 8815 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
8815 | 9040 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
9040 | 9500 Fixed Service
9500 | 9900 Shortwave Broadcast 31 Meters
9775 | 9995 Fixed Service
10005 | 10100 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
10100 | 10150 Amateur 30 Meters CW/Data Only
10100 | 11175 Fixed Service
11175 | 11400 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
11400 | 11650 Fixed Service
11650 | 12050 Shortwave Broadcast 25 Meters
12050 | 12330 Fixed Service
12330 | 13200 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
13200 | 13360 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
13360 | 13600 Fixed Service
13600 | 13800 Shortwave Broadcast New WARC Allocation
13800 | 14000 Fixed Service
14000 | 14350 Amateur 20 Meters
14350 | 14995 Fixed Service
15010 | 15100 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
15100 | 15600 Shortwave Broadcast 19 Meters
15600 | 16460 Fixed Service
16460 | 17360 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
17360 | 17550 Fixed Service
17550 | 17900 Shortwave Broadcast 16 Meters
17900 | 18030 Aeronautical Mobile Transoceanic Flights
18030 | 18780 Fixed Service
18068 | 18168 Amateur 17 Meters
18780 | 18900 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
18900 | 19680 Fixed Service
19680 | 19800 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
19800 | 21000 Fixed Service
21000 | 21450 Amateur 15 Meters
21450 | 21850 Shortwave Broadcast 13 Meters
21850 | 22000 Aeronautical Mobile
22000 | 22720 Maritime Mobile Ship/Shore
22720 | 23200 Fixed Service
23200 | 23350 Aeronautical Mobile
23350 | 24990 Fixed Service
24890 | 24990 Amateur 12 Meters Shared with FixedService
25010 | 25330 Petroleum Industry
25330 | 25600 Government Frequency
25600 | 26100 Shortwave Broadcast 1 1 Meters
26100 | 26480 Land Mobile Service
26480 | 26950 Government
26950 | 26960 International Fixed Service
26960 | 27410 Citizen’s Band Channels start at 26965 kHz
27410 | 27540 Land Mobile Service
27540 | 28000 Government
28000 | 29700 Amateur 10 Meters
29700 | 29800 Forestry Service
29800 | 29890 Fixed Service
29890 | 29910 Government
29910 | 30000 Fixed Service

 

K4ZAD’s Shortwave Voice Utility Sampler
2182 Marine Emergency Calling Channel
2598 Canadian CG Marine Information Broadcasts
2670 USCG Marine Information Broadcasts
3413 Aero Weather | Shannon Ireland
3485 Aero WX | New York, NY and Gander, Newfoundland
4065 Inland River Towboats | WCM | Cincinnati
4125 Marine Ship Calling
4149 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 4B
4372 US Navy
4381 Great Lakes Ore Boats | WLC | Rogers City, MI | Ships on 4089
4582 Civil Air Patrol | Emergency Channel
4722 RAF Aero Weather | Continuous
4725 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
4742 RAF | Architect
5015 US Army Corps of Engineers | Net at 8:00 AM ET, M-F
5211 Federal Emergency Management Agency | Primary Night Channel
5505 Aero Weather | Shannon Ireland | Continuous
5598 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Gander, Shanwick
5616 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | Gander, Shanwick
5680 Search & Rescue Channel | Worldwide
5692 US Coast Guard | Chopper Ops.
5696 US Coast Guard | Air Ops.
5841 US Anti-Drug Agents
6215 Marine Ship Calling / Utility Channel (Ch. 606)
6230 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 6C
6510 River Towboats | WCM | Cincinnati
6577 Air Traffic Control | Caribbean | NY
6604 Aero WX | New York, NY and Gander, Newfoundland
6628 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Santa Maria
6676 Aero WX | Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay
6679 Aero WX | Honolulu, Tokyo, Auckland, Hong Kong
6697 US Navy
6720 US Navy
6738 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
6753 Canadian Military WX | Edmonton, Trenton, St. Johns
6812 USAF | A prime frequency for Air Force One
7527 US Anti-Drug Agents
7535 US Navy Shanwick
7635 CAP | Nationwide Freq (Command Net Weekdays at 1600 UTC)
8125 FAA | Eastern Net (Wednesdays at 10:45 AM ET)
8176 Sydney, Australia. Marine Radio | VIS | (early mornings)
8213 River Towboats | WCM | Cincinnati
8255 Marine Ship Calling (Ch. 821)
8297 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 8B
8794 Great Lakes Ore Boats | WLC | Rogers City, MI | Ships on 8270
8825 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Gander, Shanwick
8828 Aero WX | Honolulu, Tokyo, Auckland, Hong Kong
8846 Air Traffic Control | Caribbean | NY
8864 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | Gander, Shanwick
8867 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | Honolulu, Auckland, Sydney, Nandi
8903 Air Traffic Control | Pacific & Africa
8906 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Santa Maria
8912 US Anti-Drug Agents
8957 Aero Weather | Shannon Ireland | Continuous
8967 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
8980 US Coast Guard | Chopper Ops.
8984 US Coast Guard | Air Ops.
8993 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
9023 Canadian Military & USAF NORAD
9032 RAF | Architect
10051 Aero WX | New York, NY and Gander, Newfoundland
10493 Federal Emergency Management Agency | Primary Day Channel
10780 USAF | NASA Support | Cape Radio | Primary Day Channel
11176 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
11191 US Navy | Air Operations | Hershey at Key West, FL
11195 US Coast Guard | Air Ops.
11198 US Coast Guard | Chopper Ops.
11200 RAF Aero Weather | Continuous
11205 US Navy
11233 Canadian Military
11234 RAF | Architect
11255 US Navy
11267 US Navy
11279 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Gander, Shanwick
11282 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | San Francisco, Honolulu
11309 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Santa Maria
11384 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong
11387 Aero WX | Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay
11396 Air Traffic Control | Caribbean | NY
11494 US Anti-Drug Agents | Shore on 6516
12290 Marine Ship Calling Ch. (Ch. 1221) | Shore Stations on 13137
12359 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 12C (Skeds at 14:30 | 15:00 ET)
13201 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
13257 Canadian Military
13261 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | Honolulu, Auckland, Sydney, Nandi
13264 Aero Weather | Shannon Ireland | Continuops
13270 Aero WX | New York, NY and Gander, Newfoundiand
13282 Aero WX | Honolulu, Tokyo, Auckland, Hono Kong
13288 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | San Francisco, Honolulu
13297 Air Traffic Control | Caribbean | NY
13300 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong
13306 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Gander,
13312 Anti-Drug Agents and FAA and Commercial Flight Tests
13330 Air | Long Distance Operational Control | NY, Houston
13354 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | San Francisco, Honolulu
13457 FAA | Western Net (Wednesdays at 10:30 AM MT)
(Skeds at 13:00 | 14:00 ET)
15015 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
15867 US Anti-Drug Agents | Shore Stations on 8779
16420 Marine Ship Calling Channel (Ch. 1621) | Shore Stations on 17302
16534 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 16C
17904 Air Traffic Control | Pacific | Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong
17946 Air Traffic Control | North Atlantic | NY, Gander, Shanwick
17975 US Air Force | Global High Frequency System
18009 US Navy
22060 Marine Ship Calling Channel (Ch 2221) | Shore Stations on 22756
22171 Marine Simplex Utility Channel 22E
23287 US Navy

Utility Frequencies courtesy of Tom McKee, K4ZAD, from his book,
The Other Shortwave (Key Research, PO Box 846G, Cary, NC 27512).

17 thoughts on “Shortwave Frequencies
  1. Thank you so much for your practical info on basic radio theory,frequency guides,types of antennas,and the article on the 80 meter doublet.I was a ham (general) in the 1970’s and let my license lapse.Now I am retired and listen to ham bands 80 & 40 m.Don’t know if you respond to questions but here is one.I listen with a Hammarlund hq-145 which is so much better than the hw-101 I had back when.(gave it away)For dx I put up an 80 meter half square and I am very pleased with it. (I use an 80 m windom for local listening.)you said the best swl antenna is a horizontal with individual wires for each band.Would this be better for dx than the half square? I know it would be easy for me to get my general again and it is on my mind.Thanks for your attention and your efforts.You are a very effective teacher!-Ray Lazar 234-417-7054

    • Hi Ray,
      No, the half-square should be much better for DX, since it’s 2 phased verticals and has a low angle of radiation.
      The multi-wire “fan” dipole is a good all-around multi-bander, simply because it’ll provide SWR dips at desired places, and thus keep coax losses low. But it’s high-angle on the bands where it’s under half-wave high.
      73, –kv5r

  2. 0535 Khz to 1705 Khz are not shortwave frequencies.
    There is where you find the commercial American AM band.
    Those would be classified as Medium wave length.
    Smaller than 0535 Khz moves into the Long wave bands.
    Some receivers are able to get those frequencies. LW stations
    still operate out of Europe but they are very few.

    • Actually, shortwave (HF) is 3-30 MHz; medium wave (MF) is 300 kHz to 3 MHz; and long wave (LF) is 30-300 kHz. Most of what’s around 300 kHz is airport beacons.
      Yes, the AM broadcast band (and the amateur 160 band) are MF. Are you saying I shouldn’t list them in in a general list of “shortwave” frequencies? Most people that have a decent “shortwave” radio (including all amateur HF radios) can go done to 100, or even 30 kHz…

  3. Thank you for all the sw frequencies.I am new to sw and bought a tecsun pl660 radio and thanks to you I can access all the frequencies.

  4. using GQRX, (a SDR application) and have been filling in band assignments in the bookmarks list, so i can see on-screen what a section of spectrum is used for. this list will help a lot. also, being a ham (N4TKO) i have set bookmarks with various portions of the ham bands delineated… i’ll send you a copy when i get it finished.

  5. Been a swl for many years,but I am always looking for frequency lists.I find this one is just brilliant,everything in one easy list. Thanks bob

  6. Hi im an english swl listen to hf from oo oo utc on my tecsun pl-66o rx in birmingham england uk recently came across your excellent website but any chance of giving out any addresses on receiving a qsl card etc from aero military stations etc ? or is this classified info? 73 joncollins(swl) (birmingham)uk HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *