[EAS] Fwd: [ChicagolandSkywarn] WEA Enabled Phones to Receive Emergency Messages

[Mike Benonis]

I don't see any advantage to forcing consumer devices to monitor broadcast sources for emergency information (be it AM, FM, TV, or NOAA).  As has been pointed out, these signals are all local to an area--so a phone, for instance, would need to have a database for LP/NOAA stations to monitor.  This would of course also draw more from the battery.

I like how the current CMAS system is set up, save for the part where cellular carriers can opt out.  I think they should be required to participate in the same way that Broadcasters must participate in EAS.  I also think users should not be able to opt out of critical alerts, including Tornado warnings.  However, because of the different nature of cellular devices compared to broadcast, it will be necessary to have some way of managing the type and frequency of alerts pushed out to avoid an onslaught of messages to users that are not relevant.

One other thought--in areas with unique emergency needs, there needs to be a way for nonstandard public safety agencies to register to be able to push alerts via CMAS.  I am thinking in particular about University environments (and mine in particular), but I could see others as well.  This may already be possible based on what Ed has said about the registration procedure but I'm not 100% sure.

I think much of this has already been voiced today but I thought it was worth stating again.

Best regards,

Mike Benonis
Transmitter Engineer, WUVT-FM
Graduate Assistant, Wireless @ VT
KI4RIX

On 16 May 2012, at 16:08 , Eric Adler wrote:

> I don't think relying on the user/listener is sane or proper for an emergency messaging implementation.  If we were relying on the user, s/he could have his address programmed into his/her phone and network based messaging could be used.  The major draw to having FM appears to be that, while phones move, FM is always (relatively) locally originated.  
> 
> I was traveling last summer and away from any familiar stations for a number of days, in a part of the country that I'd never even visited before, I didn't know what was on the FM dial other than the music station I found to keep myself sane on the road; it is highly unlikely for someone to become aware of what station to tune to for emergency information in a relatively short period of time.  I live in an area that was hit with natural disaster this past fall and folks still don't seem to agree 100% on what station is best to tune to for their emergency information needs.  I think when designing emergency notification, one needs to think about someone who just "appeared" and has minimal knowledge of the area; an airline passenger traveling who is stopped at an unfamiliar airport for a layover, awaiting his/her next flight, for a more practical example.  
> 
> I think a better course of action might be some sort of alerting tone (or perhaps a subcarrier?) that notified of availability of messaging.  NOAA would, of course, be a nice addition to phones... perhaps there could be stations that volunteer to rebroadcast their local NOAA NWS NWR station in an emergency and the (list of) frequency(-ies) could be encoded in NOAA's EAS activation?
> 
> Just some thoughts...
> 
> Eric