[EAS] Is monitoring a translator cool

[Gary Timm]

Dale,
We had this discussion in Wisconsin when our PEP got an FM translator. We decided in the end that anyone who could get a reliable signal from the low-power FM translator could also get a reliable signal from the 50kW AM - so in our case there was no point then in monitoring the FM translator. Maybe your reception situation is different.

However, to my way of thinking rather than asking us, a bunch of random people on the EAS list, you should be asking your SECC if monitoring the FM translator is OK. In turn, I would think your SECC would then need to talk to the PEP station owner with some pertinent questions:
- Is the FM translator fed by the off-air signal of the PEP, and thus would be rebroadcasting the FEMA EAS unit located at the PEP transmitter site. Remember that FM translators are not required to have their own EAS equipment, because it is understood that they rebroadcast 100% of the programming from the host station. But if the FM translator were to be fed by a studio feed from the PEP, that feed would not have the FEMA EAS unit audio on it (until much later when that audio circled back through the PEP studio EAS unit).
- My next question would be, in a disaster how committed is the station owner to getting the FM translator back on the air vs. getting the 50kW AM back on the air.

It seems to me that even if monitoring the FM translator seems workable now, things change with time. This would seem like a risky practice for the SECC to grant a waiver for in my opinion.

Gary Timm
WI SECC
On Friday, August 23, 2019, 11:10:52 AM CDT, Dale Lamm <dlamm at whbc.com> wrote:

I understand what was said about the fact that a PEP's translator might not be included in the secure program path from national authorities. Hence, monitoring a PEP's translator might not be a good idea.

However, as listeners transition away from AM radio to I/P streams and FM translators, we have to be certain that all broadcast paths convey all EAS messages of a national "must carry" nature. If they don't, aren't they obligated to go off the air during a national emergency? Time to read the rules again, but most of them were written long before I/P streaming.

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