EAS Test

[cgarison]

I personally have more faith in the EAS in eastern KY, southern OH, and southern WV than I do in southeastern PA. Perhaps this area seems a bit lax in the standard due to lack of violent storms that plague the Ohio Valley, but in the end, I feel that media here is more interested in promoting their own brand of news than providing inforamtion about an event.

And in this modern age, the current EAS system is somewhat obsolete. New alerts need to be generated and distributed to all cell phones that are tuned to towers in an alert area. National messages need to be broadcast through all media channels as well as text messages on cell phones, alerts on twitter, facebook, etc. and possibly through ISPs or media outlet's push notifacation systems to phones and other media devices. Having my Android phone come alive with a Tweet, Facebook alert, and a textmessage all at the same time is going to get my attention better than alert tone on the radio that might not be turned on.

We all talk about how the traditional broadcast model is dead. So why are we focusing on this as the way to make a "national alert."

[genlock]

Did many of us have confidence that the system would work when it was rolled out years ago?

I did not.

[rfhertz]

This is from Inside Radio…kind of interesting.



The unraveling of EAS problems begins.
Just what went wrong on Wednesday is still not entirely clear and officials say when the detective work is completed it may turn out the first nationwide EAS activation will reveal several different technical issues that need to be addressed. The glitches may also bring more federal attention to EAS.

Several engineers tell Inside Radio the biggest problem was the 63 Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations sent the data bursts, tones and audio more than once — causing the initial message to be cut off with the receipt of a second EAN header about :15-seconds later. It’s something most brands of equipment are designed to do, but the result was overlapping audio and tones on top the test message. There’s also some speculation that the hardwired telephone system that the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses to beam the alert message out to PEP stations may’ve encountered faulty equipment at a Midwest station, which echoed the audio back through the network. “There were other issues with poor audio quality and outright non receipt of the message in various areas but t it seems many of the issues were initiated ‘way upstream’ from most of the participating stations,” Greater Media VP of engineering Milford “Smitty” Smith says, a sentiment echoed by several others.

The Society of Broadcast Engineers points out that most broadcast EAS equipment worked as expected, even if the audio was difficult to hear in many cases. As for what went wrong, the group isn’t pointing fingers. “The SBE will continue to provide educational support on EAS to our members and technical guidance to the FCC and FEMA, to provide a higher success rate for the future,” SBE EAS education chair Scott Mason says.

No decision on a new test is likely for several months, but there’s a growing sense that based on this week’s results it’s pretty likely. FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen says they’re still collecting feedback on the test, but says they’re keenly aware of the problems with some stations not airing the alert and with poor audio quality. “We take these shortcomings seriously and intend to work closely with all participants over the next several weeks as we assess the nature of problems with the nationwide test and how best to address them effectively,” she says.

As unglamorous as one minute’s worth of chirps and scratchy audio may’ve been, this week’s historic testing of the Emergency Alert System could have an unintended consequence. Less-than-perfect results may help draw additional attention, and potentially federal dollars, to help further modernize the system. “It was diagnostic and showed where the system’s holes are,” New Jersey Broadcasters Association president Paul Rotella says. “We wanted the test to prove this and now we have data – and now it’s up to Congress and the Obama Administration to get the funding in place to provide us with an infrastructure.” He thinks Congress should appropriate $100 million to be equally divided among the states to upgrade their EAS equipment, create more PEP stations, and provide additional training.

While news headlines are using the word “fail” and the test glitches turned up on David Letterman’s monologue, the reality is the system worked better than some had feared. “For something that had not been tested since 1994, I think we did pretty well,” Tennessee Association of Broadcasters president Whit Adamson says. In Texas, home to 994 radio stations — more than any other state in the country — Texas Association of Broadcasters president Ann Arnold says her preliminary estimate is that 98% of stations got a message on the air. “I am amazed and extremely pleased that the test went so well,” pointing out some stations had five hops on a daisy chain and it worked without a hitch.

[rfhertz]

I utilize Sage Digital Endecs at all of my stations. No more thermal printers! The unit has a web server, so logging in and getting the logs for all stations can be done from my desk while I enjoy a cup of coffee.
We do not relay the NWS robot info, just log it. I have weather staff in the building 24/7, and they can often get an alert on air before it even shows up on an Endec.
Kansas did a RMT the day before the National "test". It was relayed flawlessly, and even had audio!!!! The problems with the national test were certainly much higher up the chain than the local broadcasters.

[cgarison]

While news headlines are using the word “fail” and the test glitches turned up on David Letterman’s monologue, the reality is the system worked better than some had feared. “For something that had not been tested since 1994, I think we did pretty well,” Tennessee Association of Broadcasters president Whit Adamson says. In Texas, home to 994 radio stations — more than any other state in the country — Texas Association of Broadcasters president Ann Arnold says her preliminary estimate is that 98% of stations got a message on the air. “I am amazed and extremely pleased that the test went so well,” pointing out some stations had five hops on a daisy chain and it worked without a hitch.

This is the best paragraph of the article. I have to agree, this test did pretty well. Even better, (and the Gaga thing aside) we are having a conversation about the system which we have not had a thread on EAS in a while.