[EAS] [EXTERNAL] Any state using TV for EAS daisy-chain distribution

[Dale Lamm]

EAS via off-air TV? Yes, Ohio is one state that has an alternate to Federal CAP over the internet. We use non-public digital paths from the capitol to various PTV stations with large footprints. An RF antenna looks at a specific PTV station at each LP. The EAS material is stripped off the ATSC stream using a Novra A75 ATSC receiver. Its output is not HDMI and analog audio, rather something that is encapsulated in I/P, which then goes straight into a modified DASDEC decoder, which then passes the message into the building's LAN. To our ENDEC 3644's, the DASDEC looks like a second CAP server, so we monitor two (including the Federal CAP server).

I'm guessing you want analog audio to feed into a spare 3644 or 1822 or similar. Can you purchase a low-end LCD television and use it's analog outputs? Some folks like to connect a high performance sound system to their TV, so there could be analog just sitting there for the taking. Can't say if a $150 TV is any better than the demodulators you are now using.

Another option is to roll your own. There is huge activity in the experimenter and ham community with SDRs. Getting one to demodulate ATSC down to video-audio has been done, but a scan of the literature says this is a fragile process.

Dale Lamm
WHBC AM-FM