What frequency is APRS on in Europe?

144.800 MHz FM on the 2 m band at 1200 baud. IARU Region 1 harmonised on this channel, so it works unchanged across essentially all of continental Europe, the UK, Scandinavia and the Balkans.

Do I need to change frequency when driving between European countries?

No. 144.800 MHz applies from Portugal to Poland and from Norway to Greece. The APRS setting that works at home works for the whole trip, which is the practical point of the Region 1 harmonisation.

What is the LoRa APRS frequency in Europe?

433.775 MHz with BW 125 kHz, SF12 and CR 4:5, across almost all of Europe. The United Kingdom is the notable exception and uses 439.9125 MHz instead because of congestion in the 433 MHz segment.

Why does Europe use 144.800 while the Americas use 144.390?

The IARU divides the world into three regions, each with its own band plan. Europe sits in Region 1 which settled on 144.800 MHz, while the Americas are Region 2 and settled on 144.390 MHz. Neither is more correct; they are separate coordination processes.

APRS Frequency Europe — 144.800 MHz

The APRS frequency in Europe is 144.800 MHz, FM, 2 m band, 1200 baud. It is the same from Portugal to Poland, Norway to Greece, and across the United Kingdom.

That consistency is the single most useful fact about APRS in Europe. A driver can cross six borders in a day without touching the radio, and a traveller can bring a handheld anywhere on the continent and be on the network immediately.

For the full worldwide table see APRS Frequencies by Country. For UK-specific detail — where the VHF channel is the same but the LoRa channel is not — see APRS Frequency UK.

Why the Continent Agrees

The IARU divides the world into three regions, each coordinating its own band plan. Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Union make up Region 1, which settled on 144.800 MHz for APRS. The Americas are Region 2 and settled on 144.390 MHz. Asia-Pacific is Region 3 and never fully converged.

Within Region 1, each national society — DARC in Germany, REF in France, VERON in the Netherlands, URE in Spain, SSA in Sweden, TRAC in Turkey, RSGB in the UK — publishes its own band plan, and they agree on this channel. That level of agreement is unusual and worth appreciating.

Deviations Worth Knowing

The 144.800 harmonisation is nearly complete on VHF. The differences that actually exist in Europe are elsewhere:

LoRa APRS in the UK uses 439.9125 MHz rather than the continental 433.775 MHz. If you carry a LoRa tracker across the Channel, it needs reflashing.
HF conventions are consistent, but national HF band-edge and data-segment rules differ more than VHF does. Check the local plan before transmitting on 30 m.
Local packet activity on adjacent channels varies by country; 144.800 itself does not.

If you find a European country whose national society documents something other than 144.800 for APRS, we would like to know — the country table is maintained with sourced citations and we would rather correct it than defend it.

One Channel, One Continent

The flip side of harmonisation is that Europe shares a single 1200-baud channel across a densely populated continent, and during tropospheric ducting a beacon from the Netherlands can be digipeated in Denmark.

Path conventions therefore matter:

Mobile: WIDE1-1,WIDE2-1.
Fixed station with height: WIDE2-1.
Airborne, including balloon payloads: WIDE2-1 or no path.

WIDE2-2 and longer paths are strongly discouraged in Europe. During a lift, a two-hop packet crosses national borders and multiplies across digipeaters that the originating operator will never hear.

Use smart beaconing so a parked vehicle stops beaconing. On a shared continental channel this is not a nicety.

LoRa APRS in Europe

Europe is where LoRa APRS took hold first and where the network is densest. The standard is 433.775 MHz, BW 125 kHz, SF12, CR 4:5, on the 70 cm band. Cheap ESP32 boards beaconing at low power routinely cover tens of kilometres, and the iGate network in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Poland is genuinely good.

LoRa APRS packets enter APRS-IS exactly the way VHF packets do, so they appear on the live map alongside classic 1200-baud stations with no distinction.

HF and Satellite

The 30 m HF channel applies across the region: dial 10.1476 MHz USB (legacy 10.151 MHz LSB), 300 baud, with Robust Packet at 10.1473 MHz USB. Robust Packet has a genuine following in central Europe, more so than in North America. 40 m RPR activity gathers around 7.0473 MHz USB.

The ISS digipeater on 145.825 MHz simplex works well from Europe; swap your path for ARISS,WIDE2-1 during a pass.

Confirming Coverage Locally

Pick your country from the station directory — for example Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain or Turkey.
Look at which digipeaters and iGates are currently active near you and when they were last heard.
Listen on 144.800 FM for a couple of minutes. In most of Europe you will hear traffic quickly.
Beacon once and confirm you appear on the map.

APRS Frequency UK — same VHF channel, different LoRa channel.
APRS Frequencies by Country — the sourced worldwide table.
LoRa APRS Explained — the fastest-growing part of the network in Europe.
Smart Beaconing — sharing one continental channel politely.
APRS SSID List — the identifier conventions everyone reads.