Radar Wavelength Formulas

(Revised June 2024)

Computing Radar Wavelength given Frequency

W = C / F

Where:

W: Wavelength of the Radar
F: Radar Frequency (hertz)
C: Speed of Light

NOTE: To find the wavelength in meters; use the m/sec value. For wavelength in centimeters, use cm/sec, and so on.

For the frequency, remember that it must be in Hertz; using the following table for conversion:

I realize a lot of this may seem "obvious", but putting it down on paper helps reduce cognitive load.

EXAMPLE: What is the Wavelength of a 300 MHz radar in centimeters?

First, we must convert from MHz to Hz:

300 MHz times 1,000,000 = 300,000,000 Hz

Because our wavelength is centimetric; we must insert the speed of light in centimeters/sec; thus:

29,979,245,800 cm/sec divided by 300,000,000 Hz = 99.93 cm

Thus the wavelength of a 300 MHz radar is 99.93 cm.

Again, this may seem obvious, but cognitive load is a thing; particularly when you're dealing with unit conversions.

Frequency

Wavelength Selection:

Computing Radar Frequency given Wavelength

F = C / W

Where:

W: Wavelength of the Radar
F: Radar Frequency (hertz)
C: Speed of Light

NOTE: To find the wavelength in meters; use the m/sec value. For wavelength in centimeters, use cm/sec, and so on.

For the frequency, remember that it must be in Hertz; using the following table for conversion:

I realize a lot of this may seem "obvious", but putting it down on paper helps reduce cognitive load.

EXAMPLE: What is the frequency of a radar with a 3 centimeter wavelength?

Because our wavelength is centimetric; we must insert the speed of light in centimeters/sec; thus:

29,979,245,800 cm/sec divided by 3 cm = 9,993,081,933.33333 Hertz; or 9993.08 MHz

Wavelength

Find frequency in

Pre-Computed Wavelengths/Frequencies

(Rounded off for clarity)
(For example: 1 m = 299.79 MHz, etc.)

Wavelength

Frequency

600 cm (6 meter)

50 MHz (0.05 GHz)

300 cm (3 meter)

100 MHz (0.1 GHz)

200 cm (2 meter)

150 MHz (0.15 GHz)

100 cm (1 meter)

300 MHz (0.3 GHz)

60 cm

500 MHz (0.5 GHz)

30 cm

1 GHz

10 cm

3 GHz

5 cm

6 GHz

3 cm

10 GHz

1 cm

30 GHz

50mm

60 GHz

30mm

100 GHz

20mm

150 GHz

15mm

200 GHz

12mm

250 GHz

10mm

300 GHz