[EAS] IPAWS RWTs

[Barry Mishkind]

The *very* latest (as of Sunday the 1st of July):

        As you can imagine, this, like many things with
        the federal bureaucracy, are in flux.

        We spoke with the FEMA last week. 
        At that time, there were some pressures
        from inside the FEMA and/or the FCC to
        end the RWTs completely as of 6/30/12. 
        Nevertheless, I was told that the current 
        "plan" was to run them for the next 
        few Mondays, and then phase them out.

        The theory is that since the new boxes all
        say "Connected" or "OK" or something like
        that, there is no question that the boxes
        are on line.

        Therefore, you can expect the CAP RWT's
        on Monday at 11 AM DST (for states with
        multiple time zones or that do not observe
        DST it is different!) during July. Period.

        However, as broadcasters, we typically 
        *want to see* an occasional test of all 
        sources ... just to be sure. This "need" was
        probably not immediately considered - just like
        the manufacturers "forgot" to provide us
        an instant display of receiver operations
        that users should be getting without the
        need to drill down in a browser.

        Also, with 1000 boxes still on backorder,
        a lot of folks will still want assurance their
        filters are set right.

        My request - and I'm sure that of many 
        others - is for the FEMA to run something
        periodically ... even monthly, so stations
        can be "sure" all is right.
        
        This only seems reasonable.

        At this point, though, all we can do is wait and 
        see what gets decided. 

 - - 

Barry Mishkind - Tucson, AZ