Extended AM broadcast band

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The extended AM broadband is a medium wave broadcast allocation (1610-1710 kHz — sometimes known as the X-band) Officially available only in ITU Region 2 (North and South America) that became available c. 1993. It is popular with microbroadcasters for having slightly better propagation characteristics than the standard AM band. Though supported on all modern AM radio units sold in the Americas, this band is often unavailable to older radio receivers except for those with substantial overcoverage.

In the United States, commercial broadcasters using these frequencies are required to use AM stereo, though there is little commercial availability of the required receivers.

Although the extended band is not officially allocated in Europe it is used by Vatican Radio and a number of "hobby" Pirate Radio stations, particularly in The Netherlands, Greece and Serbia.