Megahertz

A megahertz (MHz)one million (10⁶) hertz,measurefrequency.

In radio, most frequencies fall intoMHz range:

• LF (Low Frequency) 0.1 - 1 MHz
• MF (Medium Frequency ) 1-10 MHz
• HF (High Frequency) 10-30 MHz
• VHF (Very High Frequency) 30 - 300 MHz
• UHF (Ultra High Frequency) 300 - 1000 MHz

A common alternative meansdescribingradio frequencyusing its wavelength, though sinceadoption ofhertz as an SI unit, thisbecoming rare.

In computing, most CPUsslabelledtermsmegahertz. This refers tocycle frequency ofCPU's "master" clock. If two otherwise identical CPUs have different "clock speeds",one withhigher clock speed (larger megahertz) will be faster thanother. In practice, many other factors influenceperformancecomputers,consumersadvisedplace little store on this factor when purchasingcomputer - if performanceimportant, more detailed information thanMHz ratingrequiredmake an informed decision. See benchmarkfurther discussioncomputer performance comparisons.

Note: many computers now have clock frequencies above 1000 MHz,their clock frequenciesnow quoted gigahertz (10⁹ hertz): so an 1800 MHz clock frequencyreferredas 1.8 GHz.

See also: hertz, kilohertz (1000 hertz), terahertz (10¹² hertz),petahertz (10¹⁵ hertz), SI prefixes