[EAS] Time to make the LP daisy chain an option

[Sean Donelan]

On Tue, 3 Sep 2019, Clay Freinwald wrote:
> Clay - In my experience, the reason we still have a Daisy Chain is because
> The FCC was reluctant to try and come up with something better during
> The transition from EBS.    I know of no-rule that states that a Daisy Chain
> Distribution system must be used.   I do know that Frank approved the
> Washington State Plan back in the last century that did not make use of it.

The FCC doesn't do engineering.  It left that job up to each individual 
state emergency communication committees.  My estimate, about two-thirds 
of the states essentially took their EBS plans -- search & replaced EBS 
with EAS adding the minimum changes, such LP-2's and intepreting EAS 
event codes. It was a lot of work, but ended up with the same basic 
framework.

A handful of states were more innovative, e.g. using satellite, 
state networks, etc; which depended a lot on the availability of state 
resources & money. I can see the results in the state plans, but don't 
know the stories behind their work.

The biggest changes to state plans started happening around the time of 
the Common Alerting Protocol and IPAWS.  A few states set up state-level 
CAP servers, and took the opportunity to redo their state plans.

Picking a few states which have tried something different, not saying its 
good or bad, just different:

Alabama
Alaska
Hawaii
Maine
New York State
Nebraska
Texas
Washington State

None have completely eliminated LP stations. Well, a couple say they did, 
but still have equivalents in their plans. But they've minimized 
daisy-chains and have tried some interesting alternatives to reach every 
EAS participant (broadcasters, cable, etc) in the state.

A few states have followed Washington State and shifted all origination 
and regular testing duties to government agencies.