The 60m band: frequencies, band plan and propagation
The 60 metre band: a narrow secondary allocation, reliable for regional contacts day and night.
Band plan
| CW | 5.3515–5.354 MHz |
| Phone (SSB) | 5.354–5.366 MHz |
Simplified from the IARU Region 1 band plan. Your national rules and licence class decide what you may use.
- CW
- Phone (SSB)
The 60 metre band sits between 80 and 40 and behaves like both: it carries regional traffic by day and longer paths at night. Its strength is near vertical incidence, useful for contacts over a few hundred kilometres.
The allocation is narrow, secondary and different from country to country, with power limits and in some places fixed channels. Check your own licence before you transmit.
FT8 has made 60 metres a real DX band. Spots are rarer than on the other HF bands, so an alert on the band is worth having.
WARC band: no contests, by IARU agreement.
Allocation
| Region 1 | 5.3515–5.3665 MHz |
| Region 2 | 5.3515–5.3665 MHz |
| Region 3 | 5.3515–5.3665 MHz |
Region 1 is Europe, Africa, the Middle East and northern Asia; Region 2 the Americas; Region 3 Asia-Pacific.
Where to find each mode
| Mode | Frequency |
|---|---|
| FT8 | 5.357 MHz |