Here's how I try to get people to remember the bands and freq ranges:
Think about harmonics. Starting at 160M the range is 1800-2000. So if we turn the start into 1.8 and double it we get 3.6 which is very close to the 80M range. Double 3.6 and you get 7.2 which is right at the 40M range. Double that and you get 14.4 which is right around the 20M range. Double 14.4 and get 28.8 which is near the 10M range.
There are cases like 30M which don't fall into this paradigm but it works for the most part. For some bands you just have to remember certain things. For example, 17M is 18MHz. Double 12M to get 24MHz. Does that help any?
So we just learned that 12M x 2 = 24MHz so
G1A06 [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is in the 12 meter band?
A. 3.940 MHz
B. 12.940 MHz
C. 17.940 MHz
D. 24.940 MHz
But what about questions like these?
G1A07 [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is within the General class portion of the 75
meter phone band?
A. 1875 kHz
B. 3750 kHz
C. 3900 kHz
D. 4005 kHz
~~
G1A08 [97.301(d)]
Which of the following frequencies is within the General Class portion of the 20
meter phone band?
A. 14005 kHz
B. 14105 kHz
C. 14305 kHz
D. 14405 kHz
In the first one we learned how to figure out where 75/80M is which lets us eliminate A and D. Now we just have to remember a little more to know that it's 3800 to 4000 since we're talking about the phone band. which guides us to C. In the second, whoa! We know that 20M is 14 something, but we can't eliminate ANY of these that way. But...
Remember that the data portion is always in the lower portion of the band. So we can look for other patterns. Looking at the band chart we see that 25 is a popular number. The low end of the band for 80 is 3525. For 40M it's 7025. 20M is 14,025. See the pattern. So A is lower than the lower limit, and D is over the upper. B is legal for 20M but it's on the low end of the band so it must not be open to phone. That leaves us with C.
Really hope this is helping. It's harder than I thought to explain in written form.
Moving on, let's remember one very important thing. Most PSK is found around 070. That would be 7070, 14070, etc. That fact lets us answer a couple more questions because PSK is data.
G2E04
Which of the following 20 meter band segments is most often used for most data
transmissions?
A. 14.000 - 14.050 MHz
B. 14.070 - 14.100 MHz
C. 14.150 - 14.225 MHz
D. 14.275 - 14.350 MHz
G2E08
What segment of the 80 meter band is most commonly used for data transmissions?
A. 3570 – 3600 kHz
B. 3500 – 3525 kHz
C. 3700 – 3750 kHz
D. 3775 – 3825 kHz
G2E09
Where are PSK signals generally found on the 20 meter band?
A. In the low end of the phone band
B. In the high end of the phone band
C. In the weak signal portion of the band
D. Around 14.070 MHz
Now that we know how to get is the ballpark for band ranges we can answer even more questions.
G3B01 (B)
Which band should offer the best chance for a successful contact if the maximum
usable frequency (MUF) between the two stations is 22 MHz?
A. 10 meters
B. 15 meters
C. 20 meters
D. 40 meters
22MHz is the MAXIMUM we're looking for. Well, with our little harmonics info from above we know that 40M is 7MHz which is far from 22 so it's not D. 20M = 14. 10M is so close to CB that we know it's 28. So if it's between 10M and 20M that leaves us with 15M or B.
I'm going to stop here to make sure I'm not confusing you more. Hopefully it's not too late. ;-)
