§ 73.701 - Definitions.

§ 73.701 Definitions.

The following definitions apply to terminology employed in this subpart:

(a) International broadcast stations. A broadcasting station employing frequencies allocated to the broadcasting service between 5900 and 26100 kHz, the transmissions of which are intended to be received directly by the general public in foreign countries. (A station may be authorized more than one transmitter.) There are both Federal and non-Federal Government international broadcast stations; only the latter are licensed by the Commission and are subject to the rules of this subpart.

(b) Transmitter-hour. One frequency used on one transmitter for one hour.

(c) Frequency-hour. One frequency used for one hour regardless of the number of transmitters over which it is simultaneously broadcast by a station during that hour.

(d) Multiple operation. Broadcasting by a station on one frequency over two or more transmitters simultaneously. If a station uses the same frequency simultaneously on each of two (three, etc.) transmitters for an hour, it uses one frequency-hour and two (three, etc.) transmitter-hours.

(e) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Time scale, based on the second (SI), as defined in Recommendation ITU-R TF.460-6. For most practical purposes associated with the ITU Radio Regulations, UTC is equivalent to mean solar time at the prime meridian (0° longitude), formerly expressed in GMT. (RR)

(f) Sunspot number. The 12-month running average of the number of sunspots for any month as indicated in the U.S. Department of Commerce Telecommunications Research and Engineering Report No. 13 - available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, DC 20402. The sunspot number varies in an approximate 11-year cycle.

(g) Day. Any twenty-four hour period beginning 0100 UTC and ending 0100 UTC.

(h) Schedule A. That portion of any year commencing at 0100 UTC on the last Sunday in March and ending at 0100 UTC on the last Sunday in October.

(i) Schedule B. That portion of any year commencing at 0100 UTC on the last Sunday in October and ending at 0100 UTC on the last Sunday in March.

(j) [Reserved]

(k) Seasonal schedule. An assignment, for a season, of a frequency or frequencies, and other technical parameters, to be used by a station for transmission to particular zones or areas of reception during specified hours.

(l) Reference month. That month of a season which is used for determining predicted propagation characteristics for the season. The reference month for Schedule A is July and the reference month for Schedule B is December.

(m) Maximum usable frequency (MUF). The highest frequency which is returned by ionospheric radio propagation to the surface of the earth for a particular path and time of day for 50 percent of the days of the reference month.

(n) Optimum working frequency (FOT). The highest frequency which is returned by ionospheric radio propagation to the surface of the earth for a particular path and time of day for 90 percent of the days of the reference month.

Note:

The international abbreviation for optimum working frequency, FOT, is formed with the initial letters of the French words for “optimum working frequency” which are “frequence optimum de travail.”

(o) Zone of reception. Any geographic zone indicated in § 73.703 in which the reception of particular programs is specifically intended and in which broadcast coverage is contemplated.

(p) Area of reception. Any geographic area smaller than a zone of reception in which the reception of particular programs is specifically intended and in which broadcast coverage is contemplated, such areas being indicated by countries or parts of countries.

(q) Delivered median field strength, or field strength. The field strength incident upon the zone or area of reception expressed in microvolts per meter, or decibels above one microvolt per meter, which is exceeded by the hourly median value for 50 percent of the days of the reference month.

(r) Carrier power. The average power supplied to the antenna transmission line by a transmitter during one radio frequency cycle under conditions of no modulation.

[38 FR 18892, July 16, 1973, as amended at 68 FR 25538, May 13, 2003; 70 FR 46676, Aug. 10, 2005]