[EAS] Observations and a question

[Rod Simon]

Ok I was probably harsh for all the contract engineers and those who can't influence the purchase, I apologize. I should be grateful my boss had the insight to order equipment last July. While I'm only responsible for 2 units we have in Chicago our group has 36 stations spanning the country from Florida to Washington state. 

I hope your contract has billable overtime for situations like this.  I also didn't claim to be an RF transmitter engineer although I did work for a major transmitter manufacture for 18 years. Currently I am a Studio engineer for a network of 36 O&O stations and 500+ affiliates plus have responsibilities for our AM and FM station in Chicago. 

In addition from hearing stories of issues from different manufactures' I'm thankful that the box my boss selected the updates were very painless. We did however have issues when we first installed last August/September in getting the multiple station features to work.

One of the problems that I see is at least in my state the EAS committee is made up of all broadcasters not a single local emergency manager or a representative of the state emergency managers association, there is one representative from the state that who knows what his politically appointed position is. From what I hear many states are similar therefore many plans  are written from a broadcasters viewpoint not the local officials.

In addition our former governor who is now in federal prison striped the state's agency of people who really know what's going on and have put in place political favorites who just know all the buzzwords. That coupled that the state is broke implementing a state server will be a long time coming.  

I agree the guidelines are a great idea especially with different manufactures and different states  

Rod Simon, CRO, CBNT
Studio Engineer

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

> Rod Simon <rod.simon at moody.edu> wrote:

> Gregory nobody forced you to wait till the absolute last monument to install the equipment, that was your choice. Equipment was available last year, we received and installed our DASDEC units last September and have only needed a couple of firmware upgrades that took less than 5 minutes to complete. So whining that someone was holding a gun to your head to make you work till midnight when that person was you, rubs me the wrong way.
>
> As a person who has a lot of experience with disaster response and emergency management including serving on the national Red Cross Communications response team, being the communications officer for a county's Office of Emergency Management and doing consulting for local EMA around the state. My belief is that most broadcasters don't have a clue about Emergency Management, (there are definitely exceptions and many are on this list) and see EAS and now CAP as a necessary evil, not a public service. Everyone was so excited when a bill passed to include a section about EAS in the NIMS training, what would excite me would be that FEMA would develop a "Public alerting handler" training that would help broadcasters and others understand emergency Management. They should encourage all entities who handle Life safety messages including broadcasters, and make it mandatory for those who serve on state EAS committees and LP's to take this class. 
<remainder of message snipped>
 
Mr. Simon,
 
Au contraire regarding your opinion about the "last moment."  When you are a contract engineer for clients and they have the handle on ordering the recommended equipment to have it delivered at the last moment, I believe that it is they who are holding the gun to my head, not me.  Judging from your .edu extension, I feel thatyou are not in this type of business and don't totally understand the ramifications of working for others who are not under your control.
 
I respect your position of that in the emergency services.  I am not in that realm.  My profession over 33+ years has been that of a seasoned RF design engineer turned transmitter specialist.  That is where our worlds divide.  Maybe I do not have "a clue" regarding EAS but have managed to attend a few of the state EAS meetings of which I was not really impressed because this particular state happens to not really own up to that function in a very responsible fashion hence, even many of the broadcast engineers who are relatively savvy EAS people here are also left wondering at times.  That is the simple truth.  In a 2005 report issued by the National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations, they wrote that "...[this state] has a plan now although the emergency management people really didn't want one."  Get my drift?
 
As for the division between our professions, feel free to stop by some time and we will banter about complex impedances, waveguide/transmission lines, modulation theory and such,  In the meantime, I will continue to work hard at learning the basics of EAS and be willing to admit that I do not have the time to know as much about it as I should.  My long days working at completing projects (not necessarily EAS related) will continue and I will fit EAS in where I can in the most timely fashion.  And I will ask naive questions to those who know.
 
With regards to ideas for a list of general guidelines to make it easier toprogram ENDECS for those who have more tasks other than EAS, Mr. David Turnmire made an excellent comment in the Vol. 21, Issue 7 list that I highly recommend.  Maybe I should start such a list in my "spare" time, pass it around for review and distribute it as needed.
 
Must go.  Have to get back to work on preparing for investigation of a diplexed FM antenna burn at the top of a 800 foot tower...
 
Regards,
 
Greg Muir
 

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