[EAS] Time to make the LP daisy chain history

[Barry Mishkind]

Well said, Richard.
You have my attention.

At 01:13 PM 9/1/2019, Richard Rudman wrote:
>I believe it would be helpful if FCC could clarify the voluntary role of the voluntary SECC's and acknowledge the voluntary role of the LECC's. Doing so without imposing a greater unfunded mandate burden on what we do would be a serious concern. If the FCC is listening to those of us in the trenches and is willing to accept input, a way to 

        This has been a major impediment, including,
        but not limited to, the Part 11 rewrite that was
        promised seven or eight years ago. 

        I personally offered, and was told they wanted
        input from the field. However, up until this point,
        those were unfulfilled promises. There are some
        new folks in the mix, now, and I am hopeful
        that - at least thus far - they are indeed listening. 
        Will that continue and will they work with folks
        in the field?  That is really going to be the story 
        of whether the EAS will be anything more than
        a test and national program.

>If the "stick-to-carrot" ratio gets worse, finding volunteers will only get more difficult.

        Quite so. 

>Successful monitoring plans depend on local knowledge of stations and local coverage influenced by interference, propagation conditions, and terrain, and sometimes local Industry politics. Especially in large states, there is no way a state committee can do its job without input from local EAS Participants. 

        ... and some freedom from Kingdom building or 
        silo operations. As mentioned, SECC and LECC's
        need some "framework" and - critically - need
        buy-in from management and programming.
        Without that, progress will be minimal to non-existent.

>In Los Angeles LA County, the Sheriffs Department still originates legacy EAS on VHF. 
>EAS Participants have always been encouraged to monitor LA County direct using VHF.  

        This might be a quick solution in many places
        to get the signal from PEP to an FM with 
        strong coverage.  With the VHF frequencies
        less and less populated, this should be 
        a good solution for PEP and local EM input.
        Of course, back in the 70's, the local 
        community here *gave* a VHF transmitter
        to the local County EM people. Yet, so far
        as I can tell, it was *never* used, despite
        a number of flood/fire/etc. emergencies.
        The County had no use for broadcasters.
        Whose fault was that?

>I think the LP idea may have come about primarily because of PEP. There are a number of ways to reinforce propagation for PEP available today without resorting to a daisy chain distribution topology, or relying on the LP model that is really another form of single point failure.

        I agree. The daisy chain is a dead idea. However,
        there ought to be a way to monitor statewide
        penetration without great expense to broadcasters.

>AM was chosen as the PEP backbone delivery system based on the fact that AM broadcasting was and is still the most resilient national distribution system when everything else goes away.

...

>FM stations were not seen to be as resilient as AM stations

        ... it is harder to get "back up" if the antenna
        is damaged. Longwire is not real helpful. So,
        while FM is good, can it be hardened?

>That AM practice was continued when the PEP network was built out based on realizations that PEP AM radio coverage, especially at night, is problematic.

        too bad that nice, big transmitter
        in Ohio is no longer operational!

>Underneath it all is the realization that when power fails, the internet goes down, and cell service is impaired, short of a major national EMP event, AM radio will likely survive. 

        Unfortunately, there are those, in government
        positions that refuse to acknowledge this. 
        (and satellite coverage may be crippled soon
        if the lobbyists manage to kill C-Band)

>Good reason to keep amplitude modulation and the band that supports it in our last ditch emergency public warning bag of tricks.

        Amen.