[EAS] From the PNW Peanut Gallary

[Botterell, Arthur@CalOES]

Hi Clay,

Yes, you make a good point.  Our legacy technologies have become burdensome more than once in the history of U.S. broadcasting.  One major legacy of EAS is the idea that the digital signaling component must always occur in the main program channel.  If I recall correctly, back in '95 some AM station owners were concerned that they not take a back-seat to FM in EAS, and thus objected to using RDS for signaling.  So we stuck with in-band signaling and here we are.

I've had this conversation with folks from the cable industry also.  If we're headed into an IP future, perhaps we should embrace the benefits.  DTV and HD Radio can both carry data outside the audio program, and clever microprocessor-equipped receivers with GPS can decode and interpret it.  Imagine an EAS that only interrupted receivers in the actual target area even when it's much smaller than a county, and let other people continue to listen to the quality programming!  Wouldn't that solve a lot of our woes?

Alas, there are careers and companies deeply invested in legacy EAS and we can expect them to resist change every bit as vigorously as the AMers of last century.  But we'll never get there if we don't start talking about it.

Art

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From: eas-bounces at radiolists.net <eas-bounces at radiolists.net> on behalf of Clay Freinwald <k7cr at blarg.net>

Art -

Good to see your comments on my computer !

A couple of thoughts on this topic-

For years we seemed to have been stuck with the notion that reverse/backward
compatibility was a requirement from the heavens - Think-

> AM Stereo
> FM Stereo
> Mono vs Stereo phonograph records
> Color TV
> etc etc

Then, as those rigid regulators died or retired new thinking came along -

> HD Radio
> HD TV
> CD's
> etc.

So is the struggle with electronic public warning systems.   Breaking these
bonds apparently is feared by some that feel a holy lightning strike might
result!

Seems to me that the EAS 'Duck Farts'  (aka Header Code) is enough to
attract the attention of everyone that's alive.  In the case of many this is
enough to cause them to change channels long before they get to be inundated
by the legacy attention tone.

We should all be having conversations about not only the elimination of the
Attention Tone (a carry over from EBS) but should be in full swing migrating
the sources of text messages away from the header codes to the information
contained in the CAP data....and while we are at it....We should (Horrors)
be thinking in terms of sun-setting SAME.

Perhaps this is one of those damned if you do and damned if you don't issues
- You are condemned by those that are convinced if you start the weaning
process that it will cost them un-told amounts of money....at the same time
there are others that will feel the same way if you suggest something that
takes advantage of improvements in technology...While the third faction will
be critical of both.

Are we having run yet?

Clay Freinwald

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