Aviation VHF: Full Details

The airband or air band is the band of frequencies used for radio communication in aviation. Airband is used between 108 MHz and 137 MHz, which covers its use for commercial and general aviation, radionavigational aids, air traffic control and other uses. Military aircraft also operate using additional frequencies (225 - 400 MHz) which are not part of the airband.

The lower part of the band, from 108 to 117.975 MHz, is reserved for navigational aids such as VOR beacons, ATIS and ASOS messages, and precision approach systems such as ILS or LAAS. Some types of aviation-related stations, such as NDBs and DMEs, do not operate on these frequencies; in the case of NDBs the longwave frequency band is used. The rest of the airband is allocated to voice communications using amplitude modulation.