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What the U.S. Table of Frequency Allocations permits at 1.42 GHz.
Government users: military, NASA, NOAA, FAA and other agencies (managed by NTIA).
Footnotes: US74, 5.341, US246
Everyone else: businesses, broadcasters, carriers, amateurs and the public (managed by the FCC).
Footnotes: US74, 5.341, US246
Primary services have priority; secondary ones may not interfere with them and must accept interference from them. From NTIA’s Table, edition 2026-08-11. Open in the atlas →
What physics does to a 1.42 GHz wave: its size, its reach, its path and the air it crosses.
One wave is about 0.76 × a sheet of letter paper. Antennas work best when they are a sizable fraction of a wavelength. Small enough to fold inside a phone; most phones carry several antennas for different bands.
Power spreads over an ever larger sphere, so every tenfold increase in distance costs 20 dB. At this frequency the loss is 23 dB more than FM radio’s over the same path. That frequency term comes from the antennas, not the space between them: an antenna with the same pattern is smaller at higher frequencies and catches less. A dish of fixed size wins it back by focusing.
Above about 30 MHz waves pass through the ionosphere, so they reach satellites and stars but not over the horizon. Range on Earth is set by antenna height and obstacles. From a 30 m mast to a receiver 2 m up, the radio horizon is about 28 km.
Clear air barely absorbs frequencies below about 10 GHz; walls, terrain and distance matter far more. The shaded columns are the windows between absorption lines. Curve shape after ITU-R P.676 (sea level, 7.5 g/m³ water vapour), approximate.
Radios in everyday things near 1.42 GHz.
Hydrogen line Neutral hydrogen across the galaxy
Decisions that shaped the band around 1.42 GHz.
No decision in this timeline was about exactly this band. The nearest:
Auction 97 sold licenses in 1695–1710, 1755–1780 and 2155–2180 MHz for $44.9 billion in gross bids ($41.3 billion net). Proceeds were to cover relocating or sharing with federal users in the two lower bands.
AWS-3, formerly federal: 1695–1710 MHz · AWS-3, formerly federal: 1755–1780 MHz · AWS-3: 2155–2180 MHz
Congress authorized the FCC to assign licenses by competitive bidding in August 1993. The first auction, for nationwide narrowband PCS, closed in July 1994; Auction 4 then sold the broadband PCS A and B blocks, 99 licenses for $7.02 billion.
Block A mobile: 1850–1865 MHz · Block B mobile: 1870–1885 MHz · Block A base: 1930–1945 MHz · Block B base: 1950–1965 MHz
Laws that cover all of radio: 1912 Radio Act · 1934 FCC
The sound is a synthesized interpretation of the allocations, not recorded signals: each family of services plays one note, radar pings, data bands ripple, time stations tick, and where only listening is allowed the dial goes quiet. The strip under the dial is the U.S. Table: Federal above the line, non-Federal below.