2025 Band Plans

| February 21, 2025

The 2025 Band Plans can be found in the March edition of RadCom. These incorporate further VHF and UHF changes in response to the increased demand that has been prompted by the new Ofcom Amateur Licence; and a few from the 2023 IARU Region-1 General Conference.

The band plans are also available on the RSGB website in various formats, where more detailed change notes can also be found to guide users. In summary the changes for 2025 are:

  • HF: No change at present. However we continue to liaise at IARU level regarding proposals for harmonisation and a re-balance between CW/SSB versus digital usage
  • VHF: Three additional 145MHz FM Gateway frequencies have been included
  • UHF: The 432MHz narrowband sections have been simplified to a unified 2.7kHz max BW for all modes in line with IARU-R1 changes. A raft of detailed changes cover gateway and repeater additions and the Band Plan notes. These include a new class of 5MHz split 70cm repeaters; and a pair of 9MHz splits for emergency comms/community usage. Clearer provisions for other applications such as pagers and LoRa are included
  • Microwave: No change at present, but we have submitted options to the forthcoming IARU Interim Meeting in April, regarding potential changes to the 23cm band

The new licence includes obligations to coordinate and to carry out an interference assessment. However with the increasing numbers of repeaters and gateways it is inevitable that coverage areas and some levels of low-level mutual interference will have to be accepted, as there is now minimal capacity left in 145 and 430 MHz. However, we would welcome greater use and innovation in the 50 and 70MHz bands.

As Band Plans do change over time, please ensure you only refer or link to the current ones on the RSGB website and remove any older ones you have locally. Unfortunately, we still note some websites and unofficial usage charts have obsolete information and urge that these are all removed.

The latest band plan information, including the master Excel files, can be found on the Operating section of the RSGB website. Please do not host copies on other websites – and if you are unsure, by all means contact the relevant Spectrum Managers: hf.manager@rsgb.org.uk, vhf.manager@rsgb.org.uk or microwave.manager@rsgb.org.uk

Category: Front Page News, GB2RS Headlines, RSGB Notices