FCC releases RF spectrum online tool

The FCC has released a beta version of its Spectrum Dashboard, an online tool for locating who is using the RF spectrum. You can search by location, by frequency, by name, or by license category. The Spectrum dashboard cover the frequency band from 225 MHz to 3700 MHz, which means the commercial, AM and FM broadcast bands are not included. Also excluded are VHF broadcast frequencies from 184 MHz to 216 MHz. This frequency band was formerly used for analog VHF channels 7 through 13. It’s still used for digital broadcast TV, although the channel numbers don’t necessarily correspond to the analog-era TV channels. For example, a DTV channel 7 might operate on what was the 6-MHz band that was formerly used for analog channel 9, but the station may still call itself channel 7.The Spectrum Dashboard can be a useful tool for finding who is broadcasting in year area. That can help with RF testing or EMC emissions tests where you need to identify sources of ambient emissions.