[EAS] FCC NPRM on improving EAS just issued

[Mike McCarthy]

As fouled up (I'm being polite) as Illinois is these days, I happen to
agree with their statewide distribution means. They use a network of
overlapping 44 Mhz base stations split into two non-overlapping groups to
circulate the state messages. That way if one TX goes down, those around
it pick-up the covered area when the 2nd group gets it's message.  This
way no one misses the message unless two TX's are down. Which is rare as
the system is also used by IDOT.

By this way, only one OTA relay is needed anywhere in the state.

The rest of IEMA....well...that's a different animal and a real mess since
we have no budget and none appears to be forthcoming anytime soon thanks
in no part to a governor who feels it's more important to help his
business friends than to do what he was voted into office.

Indiana still uses the full daisy chain however and the state message by
the time it reaches us through 5 relay hops is nearly unintelligible. But
they now also use an IP radio stream to circulate the same messages.
Problem is when the state primary blows TOR's for the Indy area, the whole
state gets the warning.

No system is perfect. Each has both threat exposure and distribution
weaknesses which need consideration.

MM

On Tue, February 2, 2016 6:59 am, Gary Glaenzer wrote:
>
> yeah good luck on that in the State of Dysfunction ( Illinois for the
> un-informed )