In US broadcasting, service contour (or protected contour) refers to the area in which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) predicts and allows coverage.
The FCC calculates FM and TV contours based on effective radiated power (ERP) in a given direction, the radial height above average terrain (HAAT) in a given direction, the FCC's propagation curves, and the station's class. AM contours are based on the standard ground wave field strength pattern, the frequency, and the ground conductivity in the area. While the FCC makes FM and TV service contour data available, there is no AM data published by the FCC (as of January 2007).
Famous quotes containing the words service and/or contour:
“We too are ashes as we watch and hear
The psalm, the sorrow, and the simple praise
Of one whose promised thoughts of other days
Were such as ours, but now wholly destroyed,
The service record of his youth wiped out,
His dream dispersed by shot, must disappear.”
—Karl Shapiro (b. 1913)
“The living language is like a cowpath: it is the creation of the cows themselves, who, having created it, follow it or depart from it according to their whims or their needs. From daily use, the path undergoes change. A cow is under no obligation to stay in the narrow path she helped make, following the contour of the land, but she often profits by staying with it and she would be handicapped if she didn’t know where it was or where it led to.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)