There is some overlap in signal types, so a transmission might legitimately be described by two or more designators. In such cases, there is usually a preferred conventional designator.
Broadcasting ;A3E or A3E G : Ordinary
amplitude modulation used for
low frequency and
medium frequency AM broadcasting ;A8E, A8E H:
AM stereo broadcasting. ;F8E, F8E H :
FM broadcasting for radio transmissions on
VHF, and as the audio component of
analogue television transmissions. Since there are generally pilot tones (subcarriers) for stereo and
RDS the designator '8' is used, to indicate multiple signals. ;C3F, C3F N : Analogue
PAL,
SÉCAM, or
NTSC television video signals (formerly type
A5C, until 1982) ;C7W :
ATSC digital television, commonly on VHF or UHF ;G7W :
DVB-T,
ISDB-T, or
DTMB digital television, commonly on VHF or UHF
Two-way radio ;A3E : AM speech communication – used for
aeronautical & amateur communications ;F3E : FM speech communication – often used for
marine radio and many other
VHF communications ;20K0 F3E : Wide FM, 20.0 kHz width, ±5
kHz deviation, still widely used for
amateur radio,
NOAA weather radio, marine, and aviation users and land mobile users below 50 MHz ;11K2 F3E : Narrow FM, 11.25
kHz bandwidth, ±2.5
kHz deviation – In the United States, all Part 90
Land Mobile Radio Service (LMRS) users operating above 50 MHz were required to upgrade to narrowband equipment by 1 January 2013. ;6K00 F3E : Even narrower FM, future roadmap for
Land Mobile Radio Service (LMRS), already required on 700 MHz public safety band ;J3E :
SSB speech communication, used on
HF bands by marine, aeronautical and amateur users ;R3E : SSB with reduced carrier (
AME) speech communication, primarily used on
HF bands by the military (a.k.a.
compatible sideband)
Low-speed data ;N0N : Continuous, unmodulated carrier, formerly common for
radio direction finding (RDF) in marine and aeronautical navigation. ;A1A : Signalling by keying the carrier directly, a.k.a.
continuous wave (CW) or
on–off keying, currently used in
amateur radio. This is often but not necessarily
Morse code. ;A2A : Signalling by transmitting a modulated tone with a carrier, so that it can easily be heard using an ordinary AM receiver. It was formerly widely used for station identification of
non-directional beacons, usually but not exclusively
Morse code (an example of a
modulated continuous wave, as opposed to
A1A, above). ;F1B :
Frequency-shift keying (FSK) telegraphy, such as
RTTY. ;F1C :
High frequency Radiofax ;F2D : Data transmission by frequency modulation of a radio frequency carrier with an audio frequency FSK subcarrier. Often called AFSK/FM. ;J2B : Phase-shift keying such as
PSK31 (BPSK31)
Other ;P0N : Unmodulated
Pulse-Doppler radar ==Notes==