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What Changed in the 2026 WIA Band Plan

A practical look at the 2026 WIA band plan revision, including the main HF changes, the tradeoffs behind them, and original comparison charts that point back to the official WIA documents.

The Wireless Institute of Australia has published its revised 2026 Australian Amateur Radio Band Plan after the 2025 consultation process. Band plans are voluntary, but they still shape how amateurs find each other, avoid interference, and build shared expectations about where different kinds of activity belong.

This revision is not just a visual refresh. Some HF frequencies that many Australian amateurs will recognise have moved, several digital-heavy areas are now shown more clearly in the published plan, and parts of the VHF, UHF, and microwave sections have been reorganised to match current operating patterns more closely.

Show headline changes

This is a shortlist of the changes most likely to affect day-to-day operating. If you want the full set of bands, use the band chart and inspector below.

80m

Emergency comms moves to 3610 kHz; AM CoA becomes 3686 kHz.

  • The old 3600 kHz emergency reference overlaps with the data part of the band.
  • The 2026 plan names 3686 kHz as the AM centre of activity.

40m

The main references move to 7110 kHz for emergency comms and 7125 kHz for AM; 7074-7080 kHz is now shown as DATA.

  • The 2026 plan names 7125 kHz as the AM centre of activity.
  • The 7074-7080 kHz segment is now published as DATA rather than being left as a voice/data overlap area.

30m

Recommended voice operation narrows to 10120-10131 kHz.

  • The change is small on paper and significant in practice because the band is already tight.

20m

The emergency communications frequency shown in the plan moves from 14125 kHz to 14300 kHz.

  • The new position aligns with IARU Region 3.

6m

The band plan changes the DATA, beacon, and experimental segments quite heavily.

  • 50.220-50.330 MHz becomes the new DATA segment.
  • 52.000-52.500 MHz is now wideband experimental all-modes.

VHF/UHF/SHF

Repeaters, ATV, and wideband data see some of the largest layout changes in the new plan.

  • This matters more to coordinators and experimenters than to casual operators.

Why the plan changed

The consultation outcomes point to a few recurring problems.

One was friction between voice activity and parts of the bands that now carry heavy digital use. That shows up on 80m, 40m, and 30m. Another was that some informal operating habits had drifted away from what the published plan still showed. The 2026 revision updates the published plan to match that reality more closely.

That has advantages, but it also has a cost. A more realistic band plan is useful only if people actually adjust to it, and that means some operators will need to give up habits that have been around for years. Even where the new plan makes technical sense, not everyone will agree that the new boundaries are the right ones.

There is also a difference between bands where the changes affect everyday operating and bands where the changes mostly affect coordinators, repeater groups, ATV users, or microwave experimenters. Some parts of the revision will feel immediately relevant. Other parts will seem remote unless you already work in those areas.

What this means in practice

For ordinary operating, the main message is simple: a few familiar frequencies should no longer be treated as the obvious default.

If you operate HF voice, especially on 80m, 40m, 30m, or 20m, it is worth checking the new plan rather than relying on memory. Several of the updates move voice or emergency activity away from digital-heavy areas, and several AM centres of activity are now listed by frequency in the plan.

That should reduce avoidable clashes over time. In the short term, though, it may do the opposite. During any transition, some operators will still be listening on the old frequencies, others will move to the new ones straight away, and some will not even realise anything has changed.

For POTA and SOTA activators, the main effect is better frequency choice on HF, especially around the revised voice, data, and emergency communications segments.

Band-by-band changes

Band Inspector

Select a band

Pick a band from the spectrum selector. The terminal below updates with the specific frequencies, segment changes, and tradeoffs for that band.

Chart key

CW DATA VOICE REPEATER BEACON ALL MODES ATV SATELLITE
radio://wia-band-inspector

> inspect --band 630m

The 2026 plan splits 630m into specific CW, DATA/CW, and VOICE/CW sections.

630 metres

472 kHz to 479 kHz
Earlier arrangement
Pre-2026 WIA style
CW / DATA
Shared narrowband use
2026 plan
WIA 2026
CW
DATA / CW
VOICE / CW
LSB voice

The older arrangement is shown in simplified form here because the 2026 review mainly changed how this small band is divided up.

What changed

The band is now split into separate CW, DATA/CW, and VOICE/CW sections. The 2026 plan specifically lists 478.5 kHz as the LSB voice centre of activity.

Why this was changed

This is more than a small marker change. The WIA has rewritten the way the band is divided up.

What to watch for

The band is still specialised, so a clearer plan does not necessarily mean broader use.

What the consultation outcomes suggest

Reading the consultation outcomes alongside the final plan gives a better sense of the tradeoffs.

Some of the changes are clearly overdue. A few older arrangements had become awkward enough that leaving them alone would have been harder to justify than changing them. That is particularly true where voice and data were sitting on top of each other in ways that no longer reflected actual operating.

At the same time, not every change will feel neutral. Some operators will read the revision as sensible housekeeping. Others will read parts of it as the WIA publishing changes that confirm older operating habits no longer fit the band as well as they once did. Both views can be true at once.

The strongest point in the new plan is that it is generally more in touch with current practice. The weakest point is that current practice is not always universally welcomed. A band plan can reflect reality, but it cannot make everyone happy about the reality it reflects.

Final thoughts

The 2026 WIA Australian Amateur Radio Band Plan is worth reading even if you normally ignore band-planning documents.

Several of the changes affect frequencies that many Australian amateurs use regularly, especially on 80m, 40m, 30m, and 20m. Others are more relevant to repeater groups, ATV users, and microwave experimenters, but still show where the WIA thinks structure is needed.

The update should reduce some longstanding friction. It may also create a short-term adjustment period, especially where familiar frequencies have moved or long-established habits are being pushed aside. That is probably unavoidable.

Sources: WIA Band Plans page , WIA Australian Band Plan 2026 PDF , and WIA Australian Band Plan Review - Consultation OUTCOMES - v1.3.2 PDF