[EAS] NWS through IPAWS for better alerting experience

[Sean Donelan]

On Fri, 26 May 2017, Barry Mishkind wrote:
>        All the discussion about "broadcast ready"
>        mentioned at the conference call this week
>        as well as thos about "Blue" alerts miss the
>        point that if the distribution pipeline
>        is broken at LP1 and LP2, all your work is in
>        vain.

1. Stop the daisy chain!

One of the best things Washington State did was eliminating the 
daisy-chain as much as possible.  NOAA Weather Radio transmitter coverage 
is been greatly expanded, and most stations can monitor NWS transmitters 
directly.  Monitoring NWS radio directly lets each station decide for 
itself which weather alerts are important for its audience.

LP-1/LP-2 may be needed as a backup, for the most extreme weather alerts.

2. NOAA needs to get its IPAWS CAP EAS interface working!

Improving the alert experience for viewers and listeners.  There are 
commercial weather wire services, i.e. expensive.  The major news 
broadcasters with on-staff meteorologsts likely use the commercial weather 
services instead of EAS, except maybe as a backup, for on-air alerting.

For stations without on-staff meteorologists, IPAWS CAP allows more 
selective alerting.  Stations may be more likely to carry an alert for 
extreme thunderstorms, without interrupting for every "normal" severe 
thunderstorm. With EAS, it tends to be all or nothing.