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HF

From The RadioReference Wiki

"HF" is an abbreviation for "High Frequency." See Spectrum.

High frequency communications occur in the 3-30 MHz band. Signals in this band can be refracted by the ionosphere allowing worldwide propagation. The distance varies depending on time of day, the solar cycle and current solar and geomagnetic activity, but in general the higher frequencies go further in daylight and the lower frequncies go further at night.

Many of the FAQs linked here are courtesy of DXing.Com from Universal Radio of Reynoldsburg Oh. and the Monitoring Times website.

The RR forum for this topic can be found here

AM (MW) Band

540-1700 kHz

HF Amateur Radio Bands

160 Meters (1.800-2.000 MHz)

80 Meters (3.500-4.000 MHz)

60 Meters (see 60 Meter Frequently Asked Questions (via ARRL) for the five USB channels)

40 Meters (7.000-7.300 MHz)

30 Meters (10.100-10.150 MHz) **

20 Meters (14.000-14.350 MHz)

17 Meters (18.068-18.168 MHz)

15 Meters (21.000-21.450 MHz)

12 Meters (24.890-24.990 MHz)

10 Meters (28.000-29.700 MHz)

** NOTE US Amateurs are limited to 200w PEP, and must use CW or digital modes (no voice). This is a shared band, and hams must avoid causing interference to other users. There is an encrypted RTTY station (assumed by many to be the US Navy) in the low portion of this band.

Amateur Related and RF Safety websites

For storm-related nets, see...

Some popular ham websites:

US Navy

Citizen's Band

Short Wave Broadcast

What is short wave broadcasting? These FAQs will help explain it;

Some FAQs about the terminology you will hear used;

and there's other kinds of short wave broadcasting, too...

Utility Monitoring

The best way to describe Utility (Ute) monitoring is to use negative logic; it excludes everything defined above. Not CB, Amateur nor Short Wave Broadcast. This includes, but is not limited to, aeronautical stations, digital signals (outside of the specified amateur bands), military, maritime, federal and other users. See our Utility Monitoring page for more information and links.

HF Military Monitoring

See our HF Military Communications page for more information about monitoring the military on HF.

Miscellaneous

ITU Callsign Prefixes

Online HF Receivers

There are quite a few receivers online that you can listen to HF communications. Some of them even allow you to control the radio for limited times. Some others are set to a specific frequency on the HF band that usually has a lot of activity.

Live Tunable Receivers