[EAS] The Daisy Chain

[Bill Ruck]

My 2 cents worth.

The problem with many things is allocating the resources for training 
and practice.

One lesson I learned from my US Naval experience is the value of drills. 
  Yes, drills are a PIA and interrupt otherwise necessary work but when 
bad things happen one knows exactly what to do.

For that reason a yearly NPT is only useful to show how unstable the 
network is in practice.  Looks good on paper but each test uncovers more 
and different problems.

If, for example, daily tests of EAS were required -- and not just an 
automatic RWT -- everyone would know exactly what to do and quickly 
problem areas could be addressed.

I am not advocating tests that often but somehow the Federal Government, 
both FEMA and FCC, need to find both a carrot and a stick to motivate 
every station to give more than lip service to EAS.  The mostly 
voluntary EAS program has never worked reliably all the way back to the 
days of CONELRAD.

I will now get off my soap box.

Bill Ruck
Curmudgeon
San Francisco