[EAS] FW: State use of NPT

[Mike Rice]

I fully agree with Alex on this.  We had a very successful NPT test from
FEMA last month.  It was a very good exercise.

Mike Rice, Vice President & SECC
Connecticut Broadcasters Assn
90 South Park St.  
Willimantic CT  06226
(860) 456-0443 
mcrice at prodigy.net   

Al Kenyon gave a presentation at the Wisconsin Broadcasters Clinic last week
that was quite informative on this. Right now, with the regionalized testing
of the NPT, it's uncovering localized flaws and allowing FEMA to better
understand what could go wrong should they activate nationwide. So far, the
results are very positive with a better than 80% capture rate, but they've
identified vendor issues of caching in some hardware, the allowance of "no
audio" with the tones, etc. This allows for better scrutiny over the entire
system if you break it up in to smaller chunks. 

But the NPT itself shouldn't come from a local level, i agree. It's a
National test, meaning FEMA/DHS should be the administering party. But the
NPT can supplant a RMT as well, so if they adjust the timing right, the RMT
is not needed for that month the NPT went out.

AFAIK, the NPT regional testing right now isn't going through the FCC, just
FEMA. So any feedback i believe is going to Al and his group for study and
reporting... for now.

--
Alex Hartman
 

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