[EAS] State Plan Mapbooks

[Adrienne Abbott]

Let's first define the FCC Mapbook...it is more than a "map"...it is a list
of all broadcasters in an EAS Operating Area and the stations they are
supposed to monitor. The perimeters of an Operating Area are defined by the
coverage of NOAA weather radio transmitters and the Local Primary stations.
Not an exact science, to be sure, and the process of developing the Mapbook
takes some time and detective work. Originally the Operating Areas came from
the FCC and were based on coverage from the old EBS. The boundaries have
since been defined and refined.

There are three EAS Operating Areas in Nevada and the signals from NOAA and
the LP stations do not overlap their boundaries due to the sheer size of the
state and our mountainous terrain. Those signals do overlap into other
states so there are stations in California, Arizona, Utah and Idaho that are
part of the Nevada EAS Plan because they can't monitor NOAA and LP stations
from their own states. Each Operating Area here has an LECC and a
relationship with state and local law enforcement, public safety and
emergency management officials.

Frankly, it took years to update the original list of stations in each
Operating Area. And before I published the new Mapbook, I tried to contact
each station to confirm their ability to monitor their assigned stations.
The FCC also considers the Mapbook an "enforcement tool" for when they
inspect stations and want to make sure the EAS equipment is set to monitor
the appropriate stations. The Nevada Mapbook is posted on the Nevada
Broadcasters Association website, wwwnevadabroadcasters.org and I
occasionally receive information from stations updating their status, call
letters and ability to monitor their assigned stations, so a Mapbook has to
be considered a "living document".  

To begin the process of updating the original 1997 Mapbook from our original
EAS Plan, I used the FCC database to develop a list of stations in the
state. You can generate an Excel spreadsheet from the database and then put
it in any order that makes it easy for you to produce your list--I put mine
in alphabetical order and then started pulling out the different communities
of license in a particular Operating Area. Then I used the geographical
features of the database to find stations in a given area. This was
particularly helpful in finding stations in other states where I wasn't as
familiar with the names of cities, towns and old railroad watering stations
where the FCC decides to put an allotment. I found that once you identify a
transmitter site you can go to Google Earth and actually look at for other
towers. You can use those coordinates to search the FCC database for nearby
stations. 

I will say that this process took years because for the most part, I would
only have an hour or two to devote to it but two things kicked it up from
being a "hobby" to actually becoming useful work. The first was the DTV
conversion and the need to understand the extent of the OTA coverage of TV
stations and translators in Nevada and the second was the National EAS Test
and the FCC's emphasis on Monitoring Assignments for the test. Now my
biggest challenge is keeping up with call letter changes. 

Adrienne Abbott
Nevada EAS Chair
"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 Richard Rudman

As most of you know the FCC expects to see a map book in state EAS plans
that actually tells the story of how the LECC's in the state are stitched
together.

We are looking for best practices on how to compile map books for state
plans. If any of you relied on your state emergency management partner to
create the map book for your original plan, and will do so for your
re-write, please let us know.

If anyone has software that might help with this that does not cost two arms
and a leg, that would be good information to get out to the group as well.

I wonder if Google might have a low or no cost solution that could be used.
If anyone has thoughts on that, please chime in.

Regards,

Richard
The BWWG