BI4OAE

ITU Regions and the IARU: Who Actually Sets Amateur Frequencies

2026-10-18 · Licensing & Regulations

“Who decides the amateur frequencies?” The answer is a chain with four links:

ITU, then the national regulator, then the band plan, then your transceiver.

Each link does something different, and mixing them up is the usual reason people end up confused about why a band chart found online does not match what they see on their own dial.

The ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for radiocommunication. Its Radio Regulations are a binding treaty for member states, and the heart of them is the Article 5 Table of Frequency Allocations, which slices the spectrum from 8.3 kHz up to 275 GHz into bands and assigns each band to one or more services — fixed, mobile, broadcasting, maritime, aeronautical, radiolocation, amateur, satellite, and so on. Allocations are either primary, printed in capitals and protected from harmful interference, or secondary, printed in lowercase, required not to interfere with primaries and entitled to no protection from them.

Because spectrum use differs by geography, the ITU divides the world into three regions, defined in Nos. 5.2 through 5.9 of the Radio Regulations by boundary lines A, B, and C:

Different regions can hold slightly different allocations for the same band. This is the root cause of most “but my book says” confusion.

The classic example is 40 meters. In Region 1 the amateur segment tops out at 7.2 MHz; in Region 2 it extends to 7.3 MHz, because the extra 100 kHz in Region 1 is shared with the broadcasting service. A Region 1 operator’s 40-meter band is simply 100 kHz narrower than a Region 2 operator’s, and no amount of wishing changes that. The 60-meter band is an even bigger outlier: whether it exists at all, and with what power limits, varies dramatically between regions. And even where a band exists in all three regions, the mode sub-band boundaries inside it need not line up.

The Radio Regulations are revised at the World Radiocommunication Conference, held every three to four years, where member states negotiate changes. The Edition of 2024, shaped by WRC-23, entered into force on 1 January 2025.

ITU allocations only become enforceable when a national administration writes them into domestic rules. China’s MIIT, the US FCC, and the UK’s Ofcom each publish their own frequency allocation tables and licensing conditions. When you ask “what amateur frequencies can I legally use here?”, the only authoritative answer is your national regulator’s current rules.

One cautionary example from China: in the 430–440 MHz segment, the amateur service is a secondary allocation there, sharing with radiolocation and aeronautical radionavigation as primary services. If you hear something strange on those frequencies — or cause interference — the amateur station is the one expected to yield. Rules like this vary country by country, so the safe habit is to check your national regulator’s table rather than assuming a band is yours.

The International Amateur Radio Union is the worldwide federation of national amateur societies. It was founded in Paris in April 1925 by representatives of 23 countries — its constitution was adopted on 17 April and its formation ratified on 18 April, a date still celebrated as World Amateur Radio Day. Its International Secretariat is operated by the ARRL from Newington, Connecticut, and membership now spans more than 160 national societies. The ITU recognizes the IARU as the representative of the global amateur community, and the IARU participates in the ITU Radiocommunication and Telecommunication Development sectors.

The IARU’s work includes defending existing amateur allocations at WRCs, pursuing new ones, coordinating regional band plans, supporting emergency communications planning, and promoting amateur radio generally.

Here is the crucial distinction: IARU band plans are voluntary agreements, not law. The legally binding layer is the ITU Radio Regulations plus national implementation. Band plans are the soft rules we agree on inside that legal framework so that SSB, CW, digital, and contest activity do not collide — widely followed, but carrying no enforcement power. Grasping this is key to understanding how amateur radio governs itself.

The IARU mirrors the ITU’s structure with three regional organizations: Region 1 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and northern Asia), Region 2 (the Americas), and Region 3 (Asia-Pacific). China sits in IARU Region 3.

Two more zone systems you should not confuse

Beyond the three ITU regions, two other numbering schemes circulate, and they are different animals from regulatory regions:

Neither system follows national borders. Neighboring countries can share a zone, and parts of your own country can sit in different ones. This matters in contests: the CQ WW exchange is signal report plus CQ zone number, and getting the zone wrong costs points.

What this means in practice

Three real problems this structure solves:

“Why doesn’t the band chart I found match my radio?” Probably because it was translated from a Region 1 or Region 2 source. Trust your national regulator’s table.

“Why is there something weird on this frequency?” Because in your region that slice of spectrum may be allocated to a different service, as with the 430–440 MHz example.

“I’m traveling — can I use my usual frequencies?” Only after checking the destination country’s plan. Assuming your home boundaries apply worldwide is a reliable way to transmit where you should not. Cross-border operation is a big enough topic that it deserves its own article.

The short version

There is no single global answer to “what are the amateur bands?” Check your region and your country first, then read the international material.

References

Chinese-language archive of this site: /zh/