I ask wisdom from those of the talking box faith

[jeremy]

Ok I am personally radio stupid. I know this and have came to understand this in myself. One can not know all. I have come here before the alter of you radio heads to ask understanding and wisdom from you.

1. What is the difference between UHF and VHF?

2. Which is better? And Why.

3. Can you use UHF on VHF freqs? Or vice versus?

 

[StarbaseSSD]

VHF 30-300MHz
UHF 300MHz - 3GHz

(1) frequency band used. Most radios in both bands use FM (Frequency Modulation) with the notable exception of Aircraft (108-136MHz) which uses AM (amplitude modulation.

(2) Most natural radio noise is amplitude modulated (static) noticed in the between stations in an AM radio. FM is not as susceptible to such interference.

(3) by definition, no.

Very high frequency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ultra high frequency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Farmritch]

http://www.arrl.org/FandES/field/regulations/Hambands_color.pdf

There are dual or tri band radios so in a sense yes u can use one " radio" for multiple frequencies
It's not really that generic
I'll give you ham band frequencies
28-29,5 Mhz is (10 meters) is HF or low band
50- 54 Mhz (6 meters) is VHF
144-148 Mhz (2 meters) is VHF
220-225 (we just call it 220 ) is VHF
420-450 70Cm or (440) is UHF
Typicly
VHF is line of sight communication
UHF is less
With 6 meters having a bit of the properties of Low band (1.8 to 30 Mhz) where you can have multi hop skip if conditions are right

Farmritch

 

[jeremy]

Thank you oh benevolent radio gurus!

 

[cosermann]

The difference is frequency. That's all. UHF is higher frequency than VHF. AM and FM have nothing to do with it and are just modulation methods. VHF and UHF have some slight propagation differences. UHF may penetrate some building structures better, for example. They are both mainly line-of-site frequencies except under some odd circumstances (i.e. inversion layers, tropospheric ducting, etc.)

 

[jeremy]

coserman I was following pretty good till the i.e. stuff...

 

[cosermann]

There are some atmospheric conditions and other things that can cause UHF/VHF to propagate longer distances sort of like HF/SW. These conditions come and go, are usually of short duration, and can't be counted on. Only of interest to radioheads.

So for all intents and purposes, UHF/VHF are line-of-sight bands. That's all.