Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking that it would be useful to have a URI format for describing a radio frequency or channel. Such a URI scheme would be useful for hyperlinking to a specific frequency from a link and for exchanging radio frequency lists between devices, programs, and people. (Think QR-codes)

I looked around to see if such a URI scheme had been developed, but I couldn't find anything. Since I think such a scheme would be useful, and I would like to use such a scheme in the future, I decided to go ahead and throw together an informal proposal for what such a scheme would look like and how it would work.

For now the scheme identifier is "x-freq" because it is experimental at this point. If this scheme is ever formalized into a real standard then the "x-" prefix would be dropped. UPDATE: (2014-01-08) According to RFC6648, the practice of prefixing "experimental" protocol identifiers with "x-" is now deprecated. As such, you should just use "freq" as the scheme identifier instead of "x-freq".

Here are the use cases that I would like to be able to specify this this URI scheme, along with some examples:

• A specific single frequency.
  Ex: <freq:107.9m>
• A frequency with a repeater input shift.
  Ex: <freq:145.23m-0.6>
• Split receive and transmit frequencies.
  Ex: <freq:145.93m/435.75>
• Modulation type and other parameters.
  Ex: <freq:145.23m-0.6?m=fm;dv=5;ts=100>

Augmented BNF

ABNF is a formal language for describing syntax. Here is the ABNF for the x-freq URI scheme:

frequri = 'freq:' freqcomp [ '?' querycomp ]
freqcomp    = freq [ shift / split ]
freq    = float [ unit ]
shift   = ( "+" / "-" ) freq
split   = "/" freq
float   = 1*DIGIT / ( *DIGIT "." 1*DIGIT )
unit    = 'h' / 'k' / 'm' / 'g' / 't'
querycomp   = pair *( ";" pair )
pair    = key "=" value
key     = keyfirst *( keychar ) 
keyfirst = ( ALPHA / '_' / ':' )
keychar = ( keyfirst / DIGIT / '-' / '.' )
value   = *( unreserved / pct-encoded ) [ '/' *( unreserved / pct-encoded ) ]

The primary frequency of a URI is the first frequency in the URL and represents the RX frequency. If no 'shift' or 'split' is specified, the primary frequency is both the RX and TX frequency(if applicable).

If the TX frequency is different than the primary frequency, it may be represented relative to the primary frequency (shift) or explicitly specified as a full frequency (split). For example, both of the following URI's represent the same thing:

• <freq:145.23m-0.6> (Shift notation)
• <freq:145.23m/144.63> (Split notation)

Shift notation is useful for specifying repeaters which use separate input and output frequencies. Split notation is useful when the RX and TX frequencies are on entirely different bands—which is common for satellite communications:

• <freq:145.93m/435.75>

The default unit for the primary frequency (when unspecified) is kilohertz. The default unit for any other frequency in the URI matches the unit of the primary frequency unless specified otherwise. The unit of a frequency can be specified by appending a unit code suffix. The units are:

• h — Hertz
• k — Kilohertz
• m — Megahertz
• g — Gigahertz
• t — Terrahertz

Query Component

The query component of the URI is used to specify additional parameters about the channel, such as modulation, bandwidth, CTCSS tones, etc. Here are the query parameters specified so far:

• "m" : Modulation
• "bw" : Channel spectrum bandwidth for am and sb modulation.
• "dv" : Carrier frequency deviation for fm modulation.
• "ts" : CTCSS/PL Tone (In Hz)
• "dcs" : Digital Code Squelch
• "std" : Modulation scheme (ex: NTSC, PAL, ...)
• "tp" : Transmit Power (in watts)

Most query parameters do not have any pre-defined default values. If the parameter is absent from the URI, then the default value of the parameter is implementation-specific.

Any query parameters which are unrecognized by an application should be ignored.

Split parameters

Section added 2011-10-27.

Sometimes you may need different values for the parameters for TX and RX. In those cases, you can explicitly specify separate TX or RX values by separating them with a '/' character. Just like split notation, the RX value is first, and the TX value is second. Keep in mind that for some parameters (like transmit power) this makes no sense.

m - Modulation

Currently, this query component can be one of the following values:

• am : Dual-Side-Band w/ Carrier.
• fm : Frequency Modulation
• sb : Side-Band(s) w/ Suppressed Carrier (Includes USB/LSB/DSB)
• cw : Constant-Wave (For morse-code, on-off keying, etc)

If you specify one of the following values, then some additional parameters will be assumed:

• nfm : Narrowband FM. Implies "m=fm;dv=2.5".
• wfm : Wideband FM. Implies "m=fm;dv=75".
• usb : Upper Side-Band. Implies "m=sb;bw=:3".
• lsb : Lower Side-Band. Implies "m=sb;bw=3:".

bw - Spectrum Bandwidth

Describes the total spectrum bandwidth used, centered on the primary frequency. Note that this parameter is only used for am and sb modulations. Do not use this parameter with fm modulation, use the dv (deviation) parameter instead.

In some cases, such as SSB and VSB modulation, the bandwidth is not symmetric on either side of the carrier. In these cases you can specify the bandwidth used below and above the carrier, separated with a ":" character. This allows us to specify a rich set of modulations (Like USB, LSB, VSB, DSBSC, etc.) with only two query components:

• ?m=sb;bw=4:   (Lower Side-Band (LSB), 4kHz)
• ?m=sb;bw=:4   (Upper Side-Band (USB), 4kHz)
• ?m=sb;bw=2:4   (Vestigial Side-Band w/ Suppressed Carrier)
• ?m=am;bw=1.5m:4.5   (Vestigial Side-Band w/ Carrier)

Note that bw=30 and bw=15:15 mean the same thing.

You can specify fun things like inverting linear transponders using this notation. For example, ARRISAT-1 has a 16kHz inverting linear transponder. It could be described with the following x-freq URI:

• <freq:145.9220m/435.7580?bw=:16/16:>

dv - Carrier frequency deviation

Describes the maximum absolute deviation from the center frequency when using frequency modulation. The value is specified in kHz.

ts - CTCSS/PL Tone

This specifies the "Tone Squelch" baseband frequency in hertz. Commonly used on repeaters. For TX this tone will be added when transmitting. For RX, the received signal will be squelched if the given CTCSS done is not present ("tone squelch").

dcs - Digital Code Squelch

This specifies the code for "Digital Code Squelch". This is the digital version of CTCSS. Not as common, but included here for completeness sake. Same TX/RX logic applies here as it does to the ts parameter. A '-' prefix indicates inverted polarity.

std - Modulating Standard

This parameter describes the modulating standard. You would use this parameter to describe the standard being used for this channel. For example, for a TV signal this could be ntsc, ntsc-j,pal, atsc, etc.

It can also be used as a simple way to describe standardized digital modes, like afsk1200, dfsk9600, 802.15.4, 802.11, etc.

When you use this parameter, you generally don't need to use the other parameters like m or bw, as these parameters would usually (but not always) be implied by the standard being referenced. Any parameter which is specified will over-ride any defaults associated with indicated modulation standard.

tp - Transmit Power

This parameter may be used to specify the transmit power that should be used for transmitting using this URI. It is specified in watts.

Other Examples

• "N6NFI/R": <freq:145.23m-0.6?m=fm;dv=5;ts=100>
• "APRS raw": <freq:144390?m=fm>
• "APRS ops": <freq:144390?m=fm;ts=100;std=afsk1200:ax.25>
• "ARISSat-1,TL": <freq:145.93m/435.75?bw=16>
  or, more accurately, <freq:145.922m/435.758?bw=:16/16:>
• "WWRQ": <freq:107.9m?m=fm;dv=75>
• NTSC Ch 3: <freq:61.25m?std=ntsc>
  • Video: <freq:61.25m?m=am;bw=1.5m:4.5>
  • Audio: <freq:65.75m?m=fm;dv=25>

Here are some real-world examples using the WB6ECE Repeater Group:

• Voted, linked input:
  <freq:441.3m+5?m=fm;dv=5;ts=100>
• Allison Site Only:
  <freq:441.3m+5?m=fm;dv=5;ts=100/110.9>
• Woodside Site Only:
  <freq:441.3m+5?m=fm;dv=5;ts=100/123.0>

Non-radio examples

This URI scheme can also be used to describe baseband signals as well:

• FM Stereo Diff: <freq:38?m=sb;bw=30>
• RBDS: <freq:57?m=sb;bw=1.65>
• Old long-distance idle signal: <freq:2.6?m=cw>

A few important points

One of the things you may notice is missing from this URI scheme is the leading double-slash (//). In URLs these characters denote the authority component of the URL, which contains information like the hostname, username, IP port, etc. Since none of that is relevant to this URI scheme, I have omitted it.

Most importantly, the following usage is an abomination and should never be used:

• freq://145.23m-0.6 ⬅ Don't do this!

Also note that the character to separate the query component parameters is ';' instead of '&'. This allows the scheme to be used in XML and HTML documents without doing any escaping.

Wrapping-up

This URI scheme allows you to specifically describe the fundamental parameters of a radio channel: RX frequency, TX frequency, modulation, bandwidth, and other parameters. I believe it to be concise, flexible, and human-readable.

Feedback is welcome.