[EAS] EAS Digest, Vol 8, Issue 17

[Harold Price]

Reminder:

The reason why we have a problem with the EAN is:

1) The FCC did not have a code of 000000 for all of US.  They still don't.
2) There is a limitation of 31 FIPS codes in the EAS ZCZC protocol.

The 31 limitation means that there is no way to issue one EAN for 
everyone, so something else needed to be done.

What Sage did (in consultation with the FCC in 1996), was treat an 
EAN as always for everyone.  Back then, the FCC said that an EAN 
would always be issued for the US, the President would never issue an 
EAN for just your county.  To that end, we programmed the ENDEC to 
ignore the FIPS code, and to always say "All of the United States" in 
the text and crawl.  ENDECs forwarded the EAN for both of the Alaska tests.

The 000000 code should have always been there, and should have been 
added early on, but it wasn't.  It would have been painful when the 
AMBER code was added.

It is even more difficult now to add 000000 because some legacy boxes 
are no longer supported, and those legacy boxes are living beyond 
their expiration date because of "intermediary devices".

Each manufacturer will need to provide their users with a set of 
instructions for how to carry the national test EAN (and by 
extension, any for-real EAN).  This process is ongoing.

For Sage users (1822 or 3644), if you have not modified your EAN 
filter, you will be ok.  If you have removed your EAN filter, and 
didn't build another filter that included EAN explicitly, all your 
front panel lights will be blinking, and you'll have a an error 
message in the message buffer.  We'll publish explicit instructions 
on how to check your device once FEMA publishes its best practices document.

It is important to note that the live code EAN to be sent in November 
will be in the same format that all real EANs would be sent after 
that time.  If an EAN were to be sent today, it would be in that same format.

That is why it is important to check your device now.  Don't consider 
it cheating on a test.  Don't wait until your station fails the 
November test to make a change.  Don't view the failure as in some 
way showing FEMA the problem - the problem is already known.  Make 
the change now.  November is a chance to show that you made the 
correct change, not a warning that you need to make a change.

Harold

At 10:28 AM 6/24/2011, Gary Timm wrote:

>Steve & Jonathan,
>I believe I have seen right on this email list from manufacturers 
>that the DC Location Code will not be an issue.
>