Emergency Medical Services Radio

Frequencies

These are the original Special Emergency/Emergency Medical radio service frequencies. Except for the medical paging and American Red Cross frequencies, they are now part of the Public Safety Pool and may be used for other public safety purposes.

VHF Low Band

Frequency	Usage
33.0200
33.0600
33.1000
37.9000
37.9400
37.9800
35.6400	Medical Paging
35.6800	Medical Paging
43.6400	Medical Paging
43.6800	Medical Paging
45.9200
45.9600
46.0000
46.0400
47.4200	American Red Cross
47.4600
47.5000
47.5400
47.5800
47.6200
47.6600

VHF High Band

Frequency	Usage
150.7750
150.7900
150.8050
152.0075	Medical Paging
155.1600	Search and Rescue in many areas; interoperability channel VSAR16 (PL 127.3)
155.1750
155.2050
155.2200
155.2350
155.2650
155.2800
155.2950
155.3250
155.3400	EMS to Hospital (known as HEAR in many areas); Interoperability channel VMED28 (PL 156.7)
155.3550
155.3850
155.4000
157.4500	Medical Paging
163.2500	Medical Paging

UHF

The UHF "Med" channels 1-8 (some regions use different names, such as "Mednet") are used by Emergency Medical Technicians to communicate with the hospital. Information transmitted may be as little as the patient's age, sex, and general condition or as extensive as a full diagnostic workup.

In some areas, Paramedics are only able to give certain treatments under authority of an MD or specially-trained RN. This type of traffic is on the decline as well as Paramedics are given more independent treatment authority.

Analog transmission of electrocardiograms was quite common in the early days of modern EMS, but these modulated 1000 Hz tones are heard less and less as more and more EMS medical traffic is handled via cell phone. The FCC regulations (47 CFR Ch 1 Sec 90.20) reflect the old way in that Med 1-3 (and also Med 11-33) are allocated primarily for transmitting this type of telemetry, although this is rarely done and hence the channels are also used for other purposes (such as voice and paging).

Med channels 9 and 10 (and also Med 91-103) were added later below the original band of 8 and are allocated for dispatch purposes instead of medical control. They also explicitly allow paging, typically the same type as used by fire departments.

The UHF frequencies are assigned in pairs. In semi-duplex mode the higher frequency of the pair is usually used by the mobile while the lower frequency is used by the base (usually a hospital). Some EMS systems have the system configured for full-duplex where both parties can transmit and recieve at the same time. In many areas, they are configured as repeaters on mountaintops with the hospitals transmitting and receiving the same as any mobile. PL tones are selected by the ambulance crew to select which hospital hears the traffic, since many hospitals may be able to hear the same repeater on a particular pair.

Med channels 11-103 are "splinter" frequencies added the most lately. They are situated between the original existing channels. The channel numbers ending in a "2" (which are .0125 step channels) are limited to 11.25 kHz bandwidth (FMN). The channel numbers ending in a "1" or "3" (which are .00625 step channels) are limited to 6 kHz bandwidth. (See: Narrowbanding)

Mobile and portable stations above 2.5 watts, licensed before July 6, 2000 must have Med channels 1-8. Those licensed between July 6, 2000 and December 31, 2005 must have Med channels 1-8, plus Med channels 12-82 (those intermediate splinters ending in "2"). Starting January 1, 2006, they must have all 40 channels. Base stations and portables below 2.5 watts are excepted.

Mobile Rx	Mobile Tx	Name	Primary Allocation	Notes
463.0000	468.0000	Med 1	Biomedical Telemetry
463.0250	468.0250	Med 2	Biomedical Telemetry
463.0500	468.0500	Med 3	Biomedical Telemetry
463.0750	468.0750	Med 4	Medical Control (voice)
463.1000	468.1000	Med 5	Medical Control (voice)
463.1250	468.1250	Med 6	Medical Control (voice)
463.1500	468.1500	Med 7	Medical Control (voice)
463.1750	468.1750	Med 8	Medical Control (voice)
462.9500	467.9500	Med 9	Dispatch/Paging
462.9750	467.9750	Med 10	Dispatch/Paging
463.00625	468.00625	Med 11	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.0125	468.0125	Med 12	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.01875	468.01875	Med 13	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.03125	468.03125	Med 21	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.0375	468.0375	Med 22	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.04375	468.04375	Med 23	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.05625	468.05625	Med 31	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.0625	468.0625	Med 32	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.06875	468.06875	Med 33	Biomedical Telemetry	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.08125	468.08125	Med 41	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.0875	468.0875	Med 42	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.09375	468.09375	Med 43	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.10625	468.10625	Med 51	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.1125	468.1125	Med 52	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.11875	468.11875	Med 53	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.13125	468.13125	Med 61	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.1375	468.1375	Med 62	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.14375	468.14375	Med 63	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.15625	468.15625	Med 71	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.1625	468.1625	Med 72	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.16875	468.16875	Med 73	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.18125	468.18125	Med 81	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
463.1875	468.1875	Med 82	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
463.19375	468.19375	Med 83	Medical Control (voice)	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
462.95625	467.95625	Med 91	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
462.9625	467.9625	Med 92	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
462.96875	467.96875	Med 93	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
462.98125	467.98125	Med 101	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz
462.9875	467.9875	Med 102	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 11.25 kHz
462.99375	467.99375	Med 103	Dispatch/Paging	bandwidth not to exceed 6 kHz

Early on, there were four other frequencies, another 5 MHz below Meds 2, 4, 6, and 8 (458.02500, 458.0750, 458.1250, 458.1750). These were used by Paramedics to relay medical and telemetry traffic from the patient's location to the ambulance or rescue vehicle and then again to the hospital or other medical control. Like the Med channels themselves, they are now all in the public safety frequency pool.

Related Links

• 47CFR90.20 Public Safety Pool

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