[EAS] CAP Converters

[Adrienne Abbott]

Let's not lose sight of the reason for the Governor's Must Carry
message...it was proposed in response to the complaint from emergency
managers who felt EAS was a waste of their time because broadcasters
wouldn't carry their activations. By adding the GMC, the FCC hoped to bring
more emergency managers to the EAS table and make it easier for the SECC's
to "sell" them on the benefits of adding CAP equipment. 

You can argue the practicality of the GMC, but the intent was a good one. It
got the attention of many state and local emergency managers and helped
bring them into the EAS-CAP fold. At this point, the GMC doesn't matter
nearly as much as the final CAP product--a warning message that is complete,
accurate and consistent. No matter how much you want to argue in favour of
converter boxes, the output is exactly what you have now and what we have
lived with for 15 years. And the incomplete, arcane and confusing text
produced by the SAME protocol will keep broadcasters in the back seat of the
Public Warning business. 

It reminds me of the story of the farmer who was trying to decide whether to
buy his livestock the fresh, nutritious oats that were expensive or save a
few pennies by getting oats that were a little cheaper because they had
already been through horse...do we want to be carrying a wagonload of used
oats with us into the battle over broadcast spectrum?

Adrienne

"Radio burps, it cries, it needs to be fed all the time, it requires
constant attention, but we love it." Jim Aaron WGLN 

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of Mike McCarthy

The problem with the converters has to do with must-carry governor's 
messages which can be any message type except an EAN.  There is a 
separate flag indicating that status.  I looked long and hard at the 
converters and have thus far not bought anything for this very reason.  
While my 1822's are growing long in the tooth, they still work and I 
want to see what next year's NAB brings to the market.

MM