[EAS] Handle SQW code

[Bennett Kobb]

Anyone can file Petitions for Rulemaking with the FCC, for example to add a code to Part 11.

Actually succeeding with a petition is something else. It takes backing from the major organizations the FCC looks to for industry consensus. It takes addressing - in advance - any objections and concerns from stakeholders. These could include NWS and FEMA.

And in this politicized environment, it would take meeting with Congressional offices with FCC oversight responsibility, as well as, ideally, the Commissioners themselves - or their staffs and bureau chiefs if they regard the issue as too obscure and technical for direct discussions at the top.

Petitions need to be fought like a political campaign if the filing is not to sit in the twilight zone at FCC for some years.

Beyond this we have the long running issue of EAS being so voluntary that probably only a minority of radio stations forward its alerts. While the current EAS Notice of Proposed Rulemaking mildly asks about this voluntary nature, it doesn't propose to change it. It doesn't propose to change anything. Despite its name it proposes no rules at all.