[EAS] EAS and CMAS

[Alan Kline]

As a matter of fact, I do carry earbuds with me almost all of the time. 
I keep them tucked into a fanny pack along with other odds and ends.

Sure, a lot of stations stream their content. What happens in a natural 
disaster where cell sites go down? (Sandy, Joplin, etc...) With a radio, 
I can tune around until I find someone who's up and running. If my cell 
carrier is down, I'm SOL. If I see a CMAS message that says, "Check 
local media", it's hardly a big deal to whip out the ear buds and 
listen. Assuming, of course, that I'm not at work, where I'd most likely 
already know what's going on...

It's all about making as many options available as possible for those 
emergency situations. The cell phone makers could do it for dirt 
cheap--are doing it in other countries--if it weren't for the fact that 
the carriers want to protect their monopoly and force people to use 
cellular data to listen to whatever the user wants to listen to. So far, 
we haven't had anyone in government with the courage to call the 
carriers on that.

Alan

On 1/2/2013 1:14 PM, Lowell Kiesow wrote:
> I haven't had the pleasure of testing a cell phone with FM built in.  But, my educated guess that none of have useable reception unless headphones or earbuds are plugged into them.  Why?  Because physics dictates that an effective antenna for VHF frequencies can't be built into something the size of a cell phone.  How many people keep earbuds handy at all times?  I know I don't and I don't know anyone that does.  FM in cellphones would be nice, but claiming it to be essential for emergenies is a non-starter because it simply won't function for most people.
>
> Many stations have apps available to play their web streams on smartphones.  Mine does.  I don't need FM reception to hear any of the news radio stations on my phone.