Australian amateur band plan

Australian band plan and licences

In Australia, the ACMA's amateur class licence sets the frequencies and power for each licence level, and the Wireless Institute of Australia publishes the band plan that shows how each band is shared. Australia is in IARU Region 3, so some bands differ from Europe and the Americas: 40m is 7000 to 7300 kHz, but 80m stops at 3700 kHz with a separate DX window from 3776 to 3800 kHz for Advanced licensees, and 160m runs only to 1875 kHz.

Licence levels

Foundation licensees have parts of 80m, 40m, 15m and 10m on HF at up to 10 W PEP. Standard adds 20m (and 6m on VHF) at up to 100 W PEP. Advanced licensees have every band, including 160m, 30m, 17m and 12m, at up to 400 W PEP. The "Licence" column shows who can use each band; Foundation access within a band can be narrower, so check the class licence for the exact limits.

Emergency and WICEN frequencies

The band plan reserves calling frequencies for emergency traffic, including 3600 and 3610 kHz on 80m, 7110 kHz on 40m, 14300 kHz on 20m and the WICEN frequencies on 12m and 10m. Keep them clear unless you're handling emergency traffic.

How to read it

• CW segments are at the bottom of every band, with narrow-band data modes such as FT8, PSK31 and RTTY above them, and phone (SSB) higher up.
• Centres of activity are where to look for particular activities, such as QRP (low power), image modes like SSTV, and emergency traffic.
• Frequencies are transmitted frequencies, not dial settings. On LSB your signal extends about 3 kHz below the dial, and on USB about 3 kHz above it, so keep the whole signal inside the segment and the band.
• Beacon segments around 14.100, 18.110, 21.150, 24.930 and 28.200 MHz are kept clear for the NCDXF beacons.

For the standard data mode frequencies on every band, see the digital mode frequencies page, and for contest weekends, the contest calendar.

Questions