[EAS] ALL USA FIPS CODE; converter boxes

[Darryl Parker]

Dave,

Thank you for your question.

All TFT EAS Decoders, including the EAS911+, EAS911, and EAS911D, support the "All United States" FIPS code of "000000". The TFT EAS3320 CAP-to-EAS Converter also supports the "All United States" Geocode of "SAME=000000". This capability is in all versions of firmware, the current level of which is V.87.2.EN and V.87.1.SP (Spanish).

Regards,

Darryl E. Parker
TFT, Inc.
San Jose, California 95134
(1)408-943-9323, Ext. 104
DParker at TFTInc.com
www.TFTInc.com

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

I'm just curious... has anyone evaluated which of the popular EAS decoders currently in the field are already capable of handling the proposed "national FIPS Code" (000000)?  I took a look at my DASDEC and it appears to support it.  How about the other products out there?  I'm particularly interested in products that are either old enough technology to require a chip replacement to update firmware ($$$) or those few decoder vendors that charge $$$ for software updates.

I'm guessing that for many of us, either our existing hardware already supports this code or will be able to at no cost other than engineering 
time.   But at least one vendor charges over $1K for software updates on 
their currently shipping products and others charge something like a
$100 for a replacement firmware chip on older products... assuming they would even make that firmware available.

Numerous broadcasters tried to save money by purchasing converter boxes with old boxes.  It is probably not too soon to identify which of those will become non-compliant under current rules on June 30, 2015 and which of those systems the new National FIPS Code requirement will eventually make non-compliant (depending on what date the FCC sets).  The stations most likely to have invested in these "cost saving" solutions may be the ones that need to the most lead time to save up their pennies for a new box...

Dave

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