Why is the 60 GHz Band not good for long-range communications? - everything RF At 60 GHz, Oxygen molecules in the atmosphere interact with the RF signals to cause significant attenuation. Due to this attenuation the 60 GHz band is not a good frequen
· archived 5/20/2026, 2:07:07 PM screenshot cached html click to expand Newsletter Advertise with us Sign In Sign Up Ask the RF Expert Product Categories New Products Directory News Articles Events Interviews RF Calculators Magazines More 5G AI Amplifier Antenna Connectors & Cables GaN GNSS IoT Military Mixers RFID Satellite Space Qualified Test & Measurement Wireless Infrastructure everything RF Technical Articles Why is the 60 GHz Band not good for long-range communications? Go Why is the 60 GHz Band not good for long-range communications? RF Basics RF Propagation 1 Answer Can you answer this question? Answer Editorial Team - everything RF Aug 17, 2017 At 60 GHz, Oxygen molecules in the atmosphere interact with the RF signals to cause significant attenuation. Due to this attenuation the 60 GHz band is not a good frequency to use for long-range radar or communication applications. At 60 GHz O2 can cause an attenuation of up to 10 dB/km. As we go higher up in frequency gasses in the atmosphere start to react with RF Signals causing attenuation. As seem in the diagram below oxygen causes significant attenuation at 60 GHz and water vapor causes similar attenuation at 24 GHz and 184 GHz. However, this attenuation only really matters in long-range communications, the 60 GHz band can still be used for short-range communications, such as local wireless area networks. The 60 GHz band can also be used for communication between satellites (called cross-linking) in the high earth orbit. Since there is almost no oxygen in space at the geosynchronous altitudes of 43,000 km or 26,000 miles, attenuation at this frequency is minimal. TagsIoT Upvote | 4 Downvote Flag it Comments-1 Comment Eric Leclerc May 16, 2018 In addition, the high attenuation level at 60 GHz due to oxygen makes this frequency useful for very short distance communications like movement detection sensors, gate openers etc. avoiding longer range EM pollution. Share this post: Featured Product End-to-End IoT Design Solutions for Every Stage, From Silicon to Deployment Design, build, and deploy connected systems faster with DigiKey. Source in-stock semiconductors, wireless SoCs, MCUs, and tools; simplify RF with pre-certified modules; and choose field-ready IoT devices—supported from prototype to production. Related Products View more products Compact, Low-Power 5G LPWA Module for Large Scale IoT Deployments Sierra Wireless Cellular 4G LTE/5G NR and Wi-Fi Combo Antenna from 617 to 7125 MHz Maxtena 8-Port Mesh Network Attenuator from 700 to 7250 MHz Vaunix Advertisement Advertisement RF & Microwave Calculators Related Featured Popular What is the Difference Between Thread and ZigBee? What is difference between LTE and LTE-M? What is the Impact of the Atmosphere on RF Signal Propagation? What is the difference between LTE Cat M1 and NB-IoT? What is LoRa? What is LPWAN? What is NB-IoT? Featured Product End-to-End IoT Design Solutions for Every Stage, From Silicon to Deployment Advertisement Advertisement Quick Links Download e-Books Digital Magazines Newsletters Add Your Company Resources Advertise with us Contact us Tools & Resources Custom Filter Quotes RF Calculators PCB Fabrication Quotes PCB Assembly Quotes Microwave Frequency Bands LTE Frequency Bands Resistor Color Code Tool Popular Categories RF Amplifiers Power Dividers SATCOM Products Test & Measurement Waveguide Components Wireless Infrastructure Wireless Modules Our Network SatNow PCB Directory GoPhotonics CalcTown EMC Directory 3D Directory everything PE Copyright 2026 © everything RF All Rights Reserved | Privacy