[EAS] Timelimit

[Harold Price]

CFR 47 Part 11.33(a)(3)(i) Says a decoder must be able to "Record and 
store, either internally or externally, at least two minutes of audio 
or text messages".

Part 11.33(a)(9) says "There shall be a method to automatically or 
manually reset the decoder to the normal monitoring condition. 
Operators shall be able to select a time interval, not less than two 
minutes, in which the decoder would automatically reset if it 
received an EAS header code but not an end-of-message (EOM) code. 
Messages received with the EAN Event codes shall disable the reset 
function so that lengthy audio messages can be handled."

This is where the two minute limit came from.  Back in 1996, 
manufacturers used two minutes as the maximum as well as the minimum, 
since it didn't make sense to send an alert longer than two minutes 
if some devices or stations limited reception to two minutes.  That 
limit is mentioned in the CAP IPAWS profile, "If broadcast content 
exceeds two minutes playing time it may be truncated by exchange 
partners except for Presidential Messages", and in the
ECIG Implementation Guide, which speaks in several places about a two 
minute audio time limit.

So, as a practical matter, for adherence to the legacy EAS common 
use, and the new CAP standards, two minutes is the limit for non-EAN 
messages.  EAN messages are defined as having no time limit.

Harold

At 03:08 PM 9/10/2013, Jake. Wi. wrote:
>I think I've heard somewhere in the past that non-EAN codes have a 
>Two minute timelimt, but I dont see this in the CFR. Anybody know?
>
>...JakeWi...
>
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