[BC] Florida to take on the GSS program?

[Mike McCarthy]

The systems biggest weakness is the public IP connections needed to access 
the remote server and public IP connectivity to the TX sites.  I had a 
proponent call me wanting access to one of our TX's offering free DSL 
service and the RDS box.  I told them simply, "Put the message on a RF 
channel from the EOC(s) to the TX site and it's a done deal."  The system 
provider balked  that we (the radio station) needed to provide that 
equipment and the channel. I politely said, "IP weak link, radio is not. 
See ya...not our responsibility to aid your equipment sales."

So many people have come to rely on the internet that they forget the 
fragility of the system in the big picture.  It's easily overloaded and all 
it takes is one dirty bomb with a big EMP to K'O a large area of the US's 
IP infrastructure...which is inherently vulnerable.

Sorry....any system which relies on remote IP at (some times quite) distant 
locations in the chain of emergency message dissemination is asking for a 
failure when the system is needed the most.

We have systems available to relay messaging.  The problem is the high 
techers seem to have overlooked the fact the simplest way to relay is not 
in their business plan or model.

MM

At 12:32 AM 3/5/2007 -0700, Reader wrote

><http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-mwarning0907feb09,0,7803083.story?coll=orl-home-headlines>http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-mwarning0907feb09,0,7803083.story?coll=orl-home-headlines 
>
>
>
>
>KILLER TORNADOES: THE AFTERMATH
>
>
>
>
>A wake-up call for saving lives
>
>
>
>
>In Mississippi, radio warnings target residents in harm's way
>
>Maya Bell
>Sentinel Staff Writer
>
>February 9, 2007
>
>Imagine this: Before last week's devastating tornado touched down on 
>Cooter Pond Road in Lake Mack, everybody living near the rural Lake County 
>street was jolted awake by a cheap bedside FM receiver that signaled the 
>impending danger.
>
>For the state of Mississippi, such a pinpoint warning system is not some 
>far-fetched fantasy, but technology now within reach.
>
>Still recovering from 2005's Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi just became 
>the first state to unveil a targeted warning system that uses existing FM 
>broadcast stations to send mass or personalized alerts about an unfolding 
>disaster, all in a matter of seconds.
>
>The digital alerts can be sent to a specially designed $25 FM receiver or 
>any device equipped with a standard FM-receiver chip and certain software. 
>Today, that includes everything from cell phones and iPods, to smoke 
>detectors and vacuum cleaners.
>
>"It's a standard off-the-shelf chip you find in your car radio," said 
>Matthew Straeb, executive vice president of Global Security Systems, the 
>Mississippi-based company that created that state's First Alert System. 
>"They'll ship 300 million of them this year.''
>
>So, it's no surprise that, in the wake of last week's trio of pre-dawn 
>tornadoes, Global Security Systems is turning its sights on Florida. It's 
>starting by courting FM broadcasters.
>
>Pat Roberts, president of the Florida Association of Broadcasters, said he 
>would recommend this month that the association board help the company 
>"get their system going'' because it relies "on the most stable and widely 
>available platform in the world: FM radio.''
>
>"I'm supportive of multiple ways of warning the public, but I still 
>believe in old-timey radio,'' said Roberts, who also chairs the state 
>Emergency Communication Committee.
>
>Florida considers options
>
>Florida emergency officials, who are aware of the Mississippi system, are 
>less gung-ho, saying the state needs to study all the options.
>
>"Any system is only as good as the participation of everyone involved,'' 
>said Mike Stone, a spokesman for the state Division of Emergency 
>Management. "For every positive in the continuously wireless world, you 
>have negatives.''
>
>Stone, though, agrees that radio remains vital to Florida's warning 
>system, particularly personal weather-alert radios, which can be 
>programmed to receive all-hazard warnings about a specific county from the 
>National Weather Service. They are still the best and most cost-effective 
>way of alerting Floridians to tornadoes, he said.
>
>For now, Mississippi's First Alert System is still in its infancy. It only 
>allows emergency-management officials near the state capital of Jackson to 
>send mass or individualized digital messages from one to all 82 of its 
>local emergency-management offices.
>
>The messages are entered into a computer server, then relayed by satellite 
>to the transmission stations of about 50 cooperating FM stations across 
>the state. Their FM towers in turn broadcast the messages to the intended 
>receivers.
>
>The hope, though, is that each of Mississippi's counties will buy into the 
>GSS network and install their own $25,000 GSS computer server. That would 
>allow local emergency officials to send more-localized alerts.
>
>Radio's speed is a plus
>
>Butch Hammack, emergency-management director of Madison County, north of 
>Jackson, said Madison likely will adopt the system next month because 
>officials there are sold on a key advantage: It is lightning-quick.
>
>"The most appealing part is we can alert our entire county in less than 10 
>seconds,'' Hammack said.
>
>The GSS system would replace a "reverse 911" system that Madison County 
>canceled in 2005 because it proved to too slow. When tornadoes ripped 
>through the county in November 2004, Hammack said the system began dialing 
>its 28,900 households. However, averaging 492 calls a minute, it took 70 
>minutes to compete the task.
>
>"Some people were receiving the alert an hour and a half after the weather 
>passed,'' Hammack said. "On a humorous note, I was the one running the 
>system, and it never called my home."
>
>Though weather-alert radios send out real-time messages, too, Hammack and 
>other fans of the GSS system say the latter has a number of advantages. 
>First, the $25 receivers Mississippi just distributed to each of its 
>emergency-management offices do not need to be turned on for recipients to 
>receive alerts. The devices kick on automatically -- as long as the user 
>keeps a fresh pair of AA batteries inside.
>
>With far more FM towers than National Weather Service towers -- about 350 
>vs. 30 in Florida -- the chances of an area being left without FM coverage 
>during a disaster are far less than the chances of one being left without 
>a working weather-service tower. Ditto for cell phones and pagers.
>
>"It's a more foolproof way to ensure constant communication,'' said Todd 
>Frier, a spokesman for the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security.
>
>Targeting neighborhoods
>
>Messages sent via the GSS system also can be targeted to every FM receiver 
>in a precise neighborhood, or even a subgroup of the county's population, 
>such as all insulin users or families with babies -- again, as long as the 
>intended audience has a receiver and registers it with the county.
>
>Therein lies the biggest drawback. As is the case with weather-alert 
>radios, the GSS First Alert System can save lives only if people buy the 
>receivers and use them.
>
>"Buying the server is one thing,'' Hammack said. "Getting the receivers 
>into the hands of people is another. For some people, even $25 is too big 
>of a burden -- until it's too late.''
>
>Maya Bell can be reached at 305-810-5003 or mbell at orlandosentinel.com.
>_______________________________________________
>
>The BROADCAST [BC] list is sponsored by SystemsStore On-Line Sales
>Cable-Connectors-Blocks-Racks-Wire Management-Test Gear-Tools and More! 
>www.SystemsStore.com       Tel: 407-656-3719    Sales at SystemsStore.com
>