[SBE] EAS CAP

[Bob Reite]

Don't forget the LP-2 in the current EAS system, at least that offers 
some redundancy, as long as the LP-1 and LP-2 stations are not 
co-located (as it was for several years in our market).

Pennsylvania has installed a ComLabs satellite based EAS distribution 
system, which all of our LP-1 and LP-2 stations have, and many (but not 
all) other broadcast stations.  It's Ku band, so it is susceptible to 
rain outages, but other than that, as long as the the link from the 
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) to the uplink is OK, the 
system is pretty robust. If the satellite connection is lost, it uses 
the Internet to inform PEMA that the site is down, and can use the 
Internet to get messages, but only as a backup, not the primary means. 
It also has authentication, so that the system can tell that the message 
is really coming from PEMA and not an unauthorized originator.

Richard Rudman wrote:

> As Clay Freinwald and others including myself have said for some time, 

> the public internet should not be the only way stations get CAP messages.

> 

> Some of you may be familiar with the Local Relay Network (LRN) concept 

> as is practiced in Washington State. Radio links act as wireless 

> multipoint distribution systems from warning centers to all EAS 

> broadcast entry points.

> 

> The existing LP relay network perpetuates the daisy chain we all thought 

> we said good-by to when we left EBS. Getting EAS messages from warning 

> centers to al broadcast entry points simultaneously. My personal take 

> (having served as an LECC Chair and still serving as the Vice-Chair for 

> the California SECC) is that depending on an LP-1 creates a link in the 

> warning chain that, if broken, will make it highly unlikely (if not 

> impossible) that any stations monitoring that LP1 will get the message.

> 

> NWS/ NOAA Weather Radio has stepped in to effectively create LRN's 

> already in some areas. I believe if local civil warning centers link up 

> with NOAA weather radio and themselves license and operate LRN's, we can 

> create a much more robust platform that can be the basis for EAS 

> monitoring assignments in future LECC and SECC plans.

> 

> There are proposals before FEMA and FCC for such wireless radio links 

> (LRN's). Stay tuned.

> 

> Richard Rudman

> 

> 

> On Oct 2, 2009, at 9:14 PM, Thomas Shanks wrote:

> 

>> This is my sticking point.  Are they actually going to require every 

>> station to have a disaster-proof Internet connection?  The internet 

>> itself is not at all disaster-proof.  The boxes really need to be 

>> listening for relay and relaying when the internet does not pass the 

>> traffic first.  The last thing we need is the FCC breathing down our 

>> throats when the low-speed wireless internet connection to the 

>> transmitter site that uses routers a 1/4 mile in the air dies for a 

>> few months due to a lightning strike.  Relay should take over, and 

>> stations should be permitted to operate over the old relay for as long 

>> as technically required.

>>

>> Come on National Office!  Get leeway out of FEMA on this!

>>

>> -- 

>> Thomas Shanks CBRE

>> Chief Engineer / chief.engineer at wrek.org / 404-894-2468

>> WREK Atlanta, Georgia Tech Student Radio

>> 40,000 Watts (100,000 in 2011!) of Quality, Diverse Programming for 

>> the Georgia Tech community, Atlanta, and the World

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