[EAS] Testing...

[David Turnmire]

A.J.
Thanks for your efforts to make EAS work in your corner of the world.  
One comment I'll make.  Broadcasters that aren't heavily involved in the 
EAS issues often make the mistake that monitoring any radio station will 
do.  But aside from the legalities, there is the practical issues.  If 
you monitor a station that doesn't forward EAS alerts for the counties 
in your coverage area... what good is that?  Or if you monitor a station 
that chooses to only do the legal minimum regarding alerts it 
forwards... then if you monitor it... you'll effectively be in the same 
boat... whether that is your intent or not.

In my state (and I'm sure in others), we have a "State Relay Network", 
which for the most part, only LP stations monitor directly.  If one 
isn't monitoring an LP... then they won't get any State Relay Network 
alerts.  Hopefully you view EAS as not just a legal obligation, but also 
an opportunity to provide a valuable service to your audience.  If that 
is the case, you'll need the right monitoring assignment choices to 
maximize that service.

In short, having an effective EAS system includes some careful planning 
and some details that the average broadcaster may not be cognizant of.  
Indeed, some public comments by the FCC makes one wonder whether they 
understand the issues involved with Monitoring Assignments.  Of course, 
the flip side is that terrain issues can get into the way of a 
particular station being able to monitor the LPs in their area.  
Stations that have their receivers co-located with a high power 
broadcast transmitter may have challenges receiving the LPs due to 
signal overload, etc.

So, as an LECC chair, I work with these stations with special problems 
to find a monitoring assignment solution that will work for them.  I'm 
sure many others on this list do likewise.  So far, I have been able to 
come up with an acceptable solution for the stations here without 
resorting to the waiver process... though a recent conversation may 
indicate my luck has run out on that score.  In any event, the key 
message... IMHO... is to talk to your LECC (if there is one) or your 
SECC regarding monitoring assignment issues.  They'll need to keep the 
FCC apprised of any monitoring assignment changes in any event.

Dave

On 8/24/2016 4:30 PM, Kxpb Radio wrote:
> Got signed up and managed to login, so this SHOULD work.  As there are
> probably many stations in the same situation we find ourselves,
> scrambling to prepare for the upcoming NPT, I'm grateful for the good
> people who recommended we do this!
>
> Having found our station able to receive alerts from the assigned NWS
> station, I've also discovered the primary monitoring assignment (KXRO
> 1320) is one that's never been set up, instead, has been using KFOO
> 102.9 which isn't even listed as a monitoring option for the Coastal
> area in Washington.  With what seems 'iffy' results from the KFOO
> connection, based upon printed logs in the past two years, we'll be
> looking to make improvements in antenna/reception to be able to reliably
> monitor a station listed in the state plan's list of premiere PEPs.
> Being out on the coast, local terrain being what it is, this will be a
> challenge in itself.
>
...