[EAS] New EAS NPRM now posted on the EAS Forum Website

[Robertm]

The problem is that EAS at the core is very broken. IMHO at the government level there are too many fingers in the pie. The system still is based on Conelrad and EBS when we have better ways to distribute messages. 

Let's skip over the fact that the President can address the nation any time he wants by conventional means and in many cases faster than within the EAS structure. So let's assume that EAS is still necessary to accomplish that function for some reason but could be improved by eliminating the daisy chain. In every daisy chain there is not only the potential but the documented history of human and equipment error or failure. With the exception of FEMA providing certain facilities to PEPs, EAS is basically an unfunded mandate. Staying in that spirit, the TV networks, Direct and Dish TV along with Sirrius XM and PRSS could all provide an Audio and Data path to every station without other middlemen. This would fix the the audio quality and human error aspects of the system. If the signals were out in the clear, the costs to stations would be negligible if any. 

Statewide and local networks are more complicated but I believe that the daisy chain could be eliminated there as well. NWS is already available and as Clay has frequently pointed out Washington State has back channel distribution. The big problem here is the quality of the people actually doing activations. I have seen so much crap come through EAS logs that a station would be crazy to run it all. I think in the NYC area there has never been an activation other than tests and that includes 911, the great blackout and several major storms including Sandy. To be honest, it would have been a distraction from the quality of information being broadcast. In this market stations that do not have a news department have arrangements to rebroadcast various TV stations that do have the resources to cover a major event. 

The situation does vary by location, though. If I were in a tornado prone area or places where other natural disasters were likely I would advocate automating the appropriate alert. The same goes for those near Nuclear power and chemical plants but many things can be accomplished more effectively without EAS. 

If I were king, ( :-) ) I would tear up part 11 and start from scratch. Being a realist, I know that could never happen. ;-( 


>On Jun 30, 2014, at 2:21 PM, Barry Mishkind <barry at oldradio.com> wrote:

>Or does your local net provide crisp
>      clean audio, and the NWR and EM
>      people speak crisply and with proper
>      modulation and speed to be heard