[BC] Yes, EAS works!

[Broadcast List USER]

From: Milton Holladay <miltron at att.net>

>It would probably be better if the public rarely, if  ever, heard a
>test, so that they would pay attention when an actual alert occurred.
> Perhaps all on-air tests should be at 3:00 AM Sunday morning,  and
>random closed circuit tests run to  test the equipment and the
>competence of station personnel .....

I totally disagree that tests should be run at 3AM Sunday.

First of all, the public needs to be educated as to what they should  
expect.

Second, and this only applies to live stations, it is extremely  
important that the board operators/DJs/Announcers get to run the  
equipment.  It is like any other skill, flying a plane, shooting a  
gun, if you don't practice it, you cannot reliably perform when the  
time comes.

DJs tend to be the worst.  They don't pay attention, but when the fail  
at a few EAS RWTs, and management crawls up their rear, they tend to  
begin to pay attention.

Because I want everyone to know how to run the tests, I make sure they  
were scheduled during every shift, including morning drive and weekend  
shifts.  I would generally be available so that when the test failed  
(and they do fail), I can step in and address the teachable moment.   
An EBS (in the day) or EAS test failure is actually a successful  
result.  It indicates where training is needed.

Now, looking at this entire thread from a different direction:

EAS as a system is a total failure.  Why?  Because there are no EAS  
receivers for the public!  None!  NOAA Weather Radio has consumer  
devices that even allow programming of both FIPS codes and the  
different alerts that will activate the receiver.  My two are  
programmed for my county, and only things that can hurt me.  I don't  
need Marine Warnings, as an example, so I don't include them.  Why are  
not these features available on a broadcast band radios?

One could go on and on about the relay, station to station to station  
problem, and one could look at the National test and all the patches  
and bridges made to TRY to make that "test" work, but it really  
didn't.  The test was a success, because it showed that it wouldn't  
work, but imagine if there was not a several year lead up and NPR  
didn't bring up their squawk channel to relay much of the audio to  
very many stations.  If FEMA ran that test tomorrow, it would be much  
more of a disaster than it was when everyone knew it was coming.

Then again, why does this matter?  I am in the Washington, DC metro.   
We have two stations that blow duck farts on a regular basis, WTOP and  
WMAL.  They are the LP-1s.  Not one station beyond them relays  
anything.  There can be tornados on the ground and it ends up being a  
mention on the weather reports.  TV puts five beeps on the audio and  
sends a crawl across the top of the screen.  They don't interrupt  
programming at all.  EAS, yea, right.

However, in their defense, why should they sound duck farts and dual- tone when there are absolutely zero consumer receivers in the field to  
activate?

Frankly, I believe the entire EAS system should be abandoned and the  
entire public alert segment of the system should be turned over to  
NOAA Weather Radio.  It works and receivers are readily available at  
low cost.

Comments have been made about Amber Alerts.  Most of them in the DC  
market are non-custodial parents.  On top of that, they don't  
generally hit the air, but are on the overhead signs on highways.

One must look at RDS.  RDS works.  We, in the USA don't use it at all  
(well, for emergency alerts).

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, I got a call from the BBC.  They  
wanted to demonstrate RDS, and especially the alert feature at some  
event in DC.  I said, "Cool, bring it."  They were amazed, and  
confused.  They didn't expect a positive response.  Hey, I was  
basically just volunteering my time.  It was above and beyond my CE job.

The really nice guy from the "Beeb" came in with the equipment, and  
all of the prints.  He provided me with a roll of blue line prints of  
the circuits.  I still have them somewhere.  Anyway, the installation  
went very easily, but I had to kind of skirt around injection by  
dropping programming as the 691 couldn't read the RDS subcarrier at  
the time.  I actually asked him to come back to run the RF Proof  
(required at the time) and he did.  We ran an audio proof too.  I  
figured the more data the better.

I had earlier worked in London.  I learned something I still find  
weird.  In England, you don't socialize with people with whom you  
work.  I could not make friends with people at work -- though I did  
kind of crack one technician a bit, and I was good friends with a DJ,  
though we became friends in a bar, then I got him a job with us.  Then  
again, he was a Scott not an Englishman.

Anyway, I tried to become friends with this Brit from the Beeb.  He  
was a hard nut to crack.  I had a frank conversation with him.  I  
explained he was in the USA, and in the US, we socialize with some of  
the people we work with, and I have a lot of access to trade = free  
food.

He had to have a discussion with his wife.  She agreed, so we paled  
around for several weeks.  I still have a place to stay if I ever get  
to England again.

Anyway, the demonstration of RDS with the BBC went over very well.  Of  
course, we were cart based, and had no FSK data on the cue track, so  
the music tagging didn't work, but they could call in (I gave them an  
extension on our PBX) and put stuff on the display, and they could do  
        "alerts."  At the time, there were no RDS radios in the US, so faking  
EBS type alerts didn't bother anyone.

Why we don't use this today is totally beyond me.  I am also amazed we  
don't use the Traffic feature.  The RDS radios really don't go off,  
they go on standby.  If there is an emergency, they come on, and a  
loud fixed volume.  They are very effective at alerting people, though  
they just alert within the coverage of the FM station, which can be  
much larger than the actual alert area.  Still, it actually alerts the  
public, and that is much better than what we have now.

A few years later, another station participated in a test of RDS  
alerts.  They were working with the FCC.  Someone made an activation,  
then hung up the phone.  Monday morning, a whole lot of BMWs were at  
the dealerships with dead batteries.  It turned out that whatever they  
did, turned on the radios tuned to that station (yes, I know what  
station) at a loud volume.  Even turning off the car didn't turn off  
the radio.  So, owners drove their cars to the dealerships and left  
them.  Over the weekend, the batteries were drained.  Pretty funny.

Back to the topic in question, we need to look at ways to get working  
receivers in the hands of the public.  RDS is one.  We need to  
consider it.  It would be really easy to mandate RDS at both stations  
and in radios.  Heck, my Prius has RDS, and it has the alert function,  
and the Traffic function  in it, though no station uses either of them.

--chip