[EAS] 2019 EAS National Periodic Test -- The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

[Sean Donelan]

Since Local Primary stations are volunteers, if the rules are too strict, 
at what point do they stop volunteering?  Unfunded mandated, etc, etc, 
etc.

WTOP has been shrinking its EAS Attention Tone length and modulation 
levels for a few years.  It used to be 8 seconds long, then 6 seconds 
long, now WTOP only transmits the attention tone for 4 seconds.  Due to 
the audio processor, the modulation level appears to rise over a couple 
of seconds.

I don't know any members of the public saying they wished the EAS 
Attention Tone was louder or longer. It just needs to be clean enough and 
long enough for downstream EAS boxes to detect and remove the dual-tones.

But I don't know the limitations EAS manufacturer's equipment have
detecting the dual-tone.

On Thu, 22 Aug 2019, Mike McCarthy wrote:
> There is a solution for this already in place...enforce the rule on
> minimum modulation levels of the EAS/EBS tones. I have found the older
> processors with slower limiting and gating set points are better than the
> present day digital boxes which clamp down on steady non-dynamic audio.
>
> This is why it is so important to have a loop available for EAS and PPM
> just before the final final brick wall limiter. And even better, a closure
> on them to fix the limiter to a certain amount of reduction so the EAS/EBS
> tones and message can be set to modulate 70% or greater and reduce
> cascading daisy chain artifacts.