[EAS] CAP Compliance and IP

[Rich Parker]

At the risk of this sounding like a really dumb question... I'm working
on a presentation for our state broadcaster's meeting in mid-May and I'm
sure this will come up.....

There are a number of stations in our area which are quite rural - and
in some cases, the only IP link they have is via dialup. In order to
'comply' with the rules requiring EAS/CAP capable devices being in place
this fall, is it sufficient to assure them that 'compliance' simply
means having a CAP capable box 'in place' and 'operational' at the
station - even if it cannot receive anything more than the standard
'legacy' EAS off-air signals?

I have no idea how this might actually work in practice for Governor's
'alerts', but in our situation my assumption is that the Gov. would go
to one of the local Emergency Management headquarters from which the
existing RMT's are currently originated and 'speak into the mic' from
that site - to the legacy system in place now.

I'm sure that 'someday' the goal is to have better connectivity around
the state, but for now I want to be able to put folks' minds at ease at
the stations that they are not also being required to 'figure out' how
to have some kind of IP access to the units in order to be considered
'in compliance' with regard to the FCC CAP requirements.

Thanks,

Rich Parker
Vermont

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