Economic and Physical Character of the Radio Spectrum

Electromagnetic radiation has been defined as "a form of oscillating electrical and magnetic energy capable of traversing space without benefit of physical interconnections." ¹ The rate of oscillation, expressed in cycles per second, is its frequency. Of the whole range of frequencies which together constitute the electromagnetic spectrum, only that portion from about 10,000 cycles to 3,000 billion cycles is classified as the radio spectrum. Of this range, only up to 40 billion cycles is officially allocated for radio usage today (Table 1).