[EAS] RWT embedded announcement

[David Turnmire]

On 6/3/2013 7:30 AM, Dave Kline wrote:
> I was out of town last week and heard a station run an RWT with an embedded announcement.
>
> Headers... "This is a test of the emergency alert system"... EOM's
There isn't anything in the rules to prohibit it and we do it routinely 
in Idaho.  You just have to make sure to include the attention tone IF 
you have voice embedded.  Of course, adding the voice makes the RWT 
longer and for broadcast purposes, it is normally desirable to minimize 
the disruption of your air space. But if you are using the RWT to test a 
State Relay Network, CAP delivery system, etc., the general public isn't 
affected because, of course, RWTs were designed with the intent they not 
be forwarded. So, it makes a handy way for emergency management to test 
their staff's ability to use the system... including recording the voice 
message... without adverse affect down stream.  In theory...

This demonstrates a couple examples of where the regulations and system 
was designed with once idea in mind, but because the rules don't forbid 
something, sometimes the unexpected occurs for perfectly good reasons.  
In this case, one "unexpected" scenario is the inclusion of voice 
messages and attention tone on an RWT.  The other "unexpected" scenario 
is that sometimes there are  reasons why it is considered beneficial to 
forward RWTs.  For instance, our state relay network (SRN) forwards CAP 
alerts, including RWTs, on to our legacy SRN.  Forwarding CAP alerts 
provides redundancy in case of internet problems for particular EAS 
Participants.  Likewise we forward PEP alerts over our SRN since most of 
the state is out of reception range of a PEP.  But since "real"civil 
alerts (to say nothing of EANs!) are relatively rare, we forward the 
RWTs as well to verify the whole thing works.  Some broadcasters forward 
RWTs for their own internal reasons.

The downside, of course, of doing something "unexpected", is that it 
sometimes leads to other "unexpected" and less desirable affects. 
Manufacturers of decoders differ in the extent they treat an RWT like 
any other alerts or a special case.  Broadcasters focused on relaying 
the RWT of a sister station may overlook that their decoder will forward 
ALL received RWTs in that case, not just the one... thus impacting their 
air space more.  Etc, etc.

Dave