[EAS] : Fallout Over False Alert Continues

[Phil Johnson]

Automated stations aren't the only fly in the ointment.

Yes, we should continue working to make the system as good as it can be.  

But we should also accept the fact that as hard as we strive, it will never
be perfect.  Servers crash, cables are subject to "backhoe fade," radio
repeaters suddenly drop dead, and human beings will always make the
occasional mistake.  And as we've seen, a single typo in one line of code
can open huge security holes in a computer application or operating system
(not to mention those pesky data entry errors).

Concerning the latter point:  I don't see a box for date/time entry on the
MyStateUSA.com (AlertSense) "Send EAS" page.  I believe that information is
attached automatically when you hit "SUBMIT," apparently from the PC's
real-time clock -- which should get its "hack" from the Internet.  So
correct me, but the data and time data shouldn't be off by much when a test
or alert is originated using this method.  

Phil Johnson
 

-----Original Message-----
From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net [mailto:eas-bounces at radiolists.net] On
Behalf Of Barry Mishkind

At 09:54 AM 10/29/2014, Tim Stoffel wrote:
>I don't know how 'strict' that 'strict time' is, but an EAN (or any other
alert) that is of by days, weeks or months (and probably hours) is not
likely a valid EAS alert. 

        So ... you are saying that practical operators
        with experience, would limit the alerts to the
        specific day?

        Makes sense ... until ... What happens if a new
        person at the EM site makes a typo during an
        emergency and the initiator errs by exactly one month?

        The problem is that we can parse this into infinity.
        However, at the same time, some discussion from
        end-users as to handling would be a good idea.

        The fly-in-the-ointment is the number of automated stations
        and the difficulty in arranging for every possibility.

  

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