[EAS] Lat week's missed CAP test

[Walter R. Fletcher]

That's certainly within the ability of the FCC.  It does mean that
broadcasters end up doing something that most others won't.
I'm thinking of entities such as state agencies that monitor
FEMA IPAWS, cellular providers providing WEA capability, or
others involved in "getting the word out".  If they keep logs,
it will be on their own initiative.

Then there are those state, county, or local agencies that are
CAP originators.  The FCC can't require them to send an RWT.

What if FEMA decides the RWT's aren't necessary and discontinues
them?  The FCC does not have jurisdiction over them.  The FCC can
solicit them for cooperation, but that's it.

Extending a note of thanks to FEMA is due.  They do the IPAWS
community the courtesy of sending a monthly report, and even
the occasional immediate explanation when there is an IPAWS
impairment (thinking specifically of a couple of times recently
when we noted the missed test).

It's worth noting that because broadcasters are required to
monitor NOAA/NWS, in many statewide plans, agencies at the
state and local level rely on NOAA for dissemination of non-weather
related EAS events.  NOAA is due a debt of gratitude for that.

At the same time, the NOAA offices that serve us, or NOAA at
the national level does NOT provide the means to e-mail a summary
of impairments that I've found.  Is there any source of information
available from NOAA about such outages that doesn't involve calling
the local NWS offices?  They're nice folks that are often very busy.
Since broadcasters are required to monitor NOAA, the information
is useful for identifying real problems, not just providing information
to be thorough in your EAS logs.

I'm recalling WXM37, which was off the air for at least 2 days from
September 22-24, and possibly earlier since I didn't become aware
until early Saturday.  It seemed to come back to life at approximately
7:00 AM Monday morning.  If that had been FEMA IPAWS, we'd be
witness to a flurry of e-mails noting the fact and asking why.

__Reid__

On 9/30/2013 1:57 PM, Mike McCarthy wrote:
> I expect the FEMA test to become a required monitor in the next rules
> change.  They would not have gone through this exercise to make it
> optional.
>
> We log them with the expectation it will become the rule at some point.
> And more particularly to prove we're actively connected to and monitoring
> the CAP server.
>
> MM
>
>> If I recall correctly, the FEMA tests don't fall under the rules for EAS
>> assignments with regard to once a week followup for non-receipt.
>> They are provided as a courtesy for confidence testing.  (Note the
>> lack of an RMT at all from FEMA just like no RMT from NOAA/NWR
>> stations).