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802.11 Wireless Channels
A range of frequencies have been specified for open, public use by most countries. These fall between 2.4GHz and 2.5GHz and are being used by many companies to produce wireless network devices. These frequencies have been divided into several channels as indicated below although not all channels are available in all countries.
| Channel | Frequency |
| 1 | 2.412GHz |
| 2 | 2.417GHz |
| 3 | 2.422GHz |
| 4 | 2.427GHz |
| 5 | 2.432GHz |
| 6 | 2.437GHz |
| 7 | 2.442GHz |
| 8 | 2.447GHz |
| 9 | 2.452GHz |
| 10 | 2.457GHz |
| 11 | 2.462GHz |
| 12 | 2.467GHz |
| 13 | 2.472GHz |
| 14 | 2.484GHz |
|
| Country | Channels |
| Europe (ETSI) | 01 - 13 |
| USA (FCC) | 01 - 11 |
| France | 10 - 13 |
| Japan | 01 - 14 |
|
Calculating Wavelength
The wavelength of a frequency is often used when designing and building an antenna. It can be found using the equation:
Where velocity is the speed of light or 3x10^10cm/sec and frequency is the frequency of the channel you are using on your wireless card (roughly 2.4GHz).
For example, to calculate the wavelength for channel 7 on a wireless card (2.442GHz), we use:
