[EAS] National test won't be shown on AT&T U-verse?

[Sean Donelan]

On Wed, 9 Nov 2011, Harold Price wrote:
> This is not the way the Sage ENDECs work.  We don't join the program
> already in progress.  We record from the start of the alert, and
> begin the playback from that record point, using the record buffer as
> a delay line, playing back the alert while it is still coming in.

Which is a great feature of the Sage ENDEC, but not in the FCC rules so
not a requirement for all EAS encoder/decoders (generically ENDEC).  But 
the reality is things at the end of the daisy chain do not control what 
equipment upstream stations use or if it is configured in automatic mode
and buffer the entire message or join the feed in progress.

Some people are optimistic by nature and assume the best case scenario. 
Other people are pessimestic by nature and assume the worst case scenario.

In addition to AT&T, Comcast also put out a message to its customers 
covering some things that *could* go wrong, and how to reset their cable 
boxes.  They seem to be taking the approach be ready for the worst case 
(i.e. something doesn't work), but if everything works, that is great.

I don't know which approach is better.  Should you keep you customers 
informed about what could go wrong, or assume it will go right?

> Joining the alert in progress, when the delivery method is multiple
> hop with 15 second (or more) delay at each hop, is always less than optimal.
>
> If the President can't begin speaking until the last station in the
> link is listening to the "live" feed, when does he or she start to
> talk?  Thirty seconds?  One minute?  Three?
>
> And think about the people at the start of the chain, they hear some
> sort of vamp until ready warmup, "stand by for a message of critical
> importance from the President".

I agree it would be less than optimal, but the FCC rules haven't been 
updated and still include "vamping" and joining an EAN feed in progress 
from an "alternative" available source such as a network audio feed.

In any case, the purpose of a test is to find out what worked and what 
didn't work.  During the Alaska test, they found out odd behavior by
some EAS encoder/decoders (generically ENDECs) recording and repeating
the entire message multiple times and so forth.

FCC and FEMA will probably follow-up on things that didn't work well (not 
fines, but questions).