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ANOTHER National EAS Test?! Here it comes again!

ChocoMingo

ChocoMingo

Well, the FCC announced another national EAS test, coming in September 28 (on a Wednesday, again...). Unlike the last test, this one is different. Stations have to sign 3 forms, one before the test (August 26th), the other during the test, and the last one after the test (November 14th). The time expected from this test is 2:20 PM ET.

Luckily, in Pinellas, kids and teens over there will probably not hear the test, as early Wednesdays are no more, elementary school (only those released at 2:35 PM) and middle school children will not hear the test, as the will still be in school. As for high school students however, it varies for each student, since they get released at 2:00 PM. Like, if a bus has the radio on (in this case they will hear the test, unless they get to their stop by 2:20) or their parents pick them up before 2:20 (they will possibly hear the test, if the radio is on, but they could (unlike a bus :rolleyes:) turn off the radio to not hear it). The only situations where high school students won't hear it is if their parents (apparently, for various reasons) pick them up after 2:20, or they have after school activities, in this case they will get picked up almost an hour after the test is over! The last national test in 2011, students DID see or hear an EAS test after school (except middle school students), on their bus, on their car radios, or at home on their TVs.

I put this on the radio section, since this involves BOTH radio and TV, making this thread in a unique situation. Also, since there are smartphone emergency alerts, will this also effect the thousands of smartphones that many people have, like will you hear the national test on your phone, so that there is no way to avoid it?! :eek:
 
Jonathan7157 said:
I put this on the radio section, since this involves BOTH radio and TV, making this thread in a unique situation. Also, since there are smartphone emergency alerts, will this also effect the thousands of smartphones that many people have, like will you hear the national test on your phone, so that there is no way to avoid it?! :eek:
Click to expand...


The purpose of the test is not to see how many people hear it; it is to find out if the system works and to discover problems so that they can be resolved.

Whether kids on a school bus hear the test is irrelevant to the purpose.
 
Also, do smartphones apply here (they have emergency alerts too), so that we can't avoid the test no matter where we are?
 
If they could time them to interrupt as many courtroom shows, trash talk, or infomercials as possible that would be fine with me. :cool:
 
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Unless it interrupts whatever your doing on your phone, like watching Netflix.:eek:

BTW, are smartphones affected in this test?
 
Almost everyone that has a smartphone like iPhone or Android is basically opted into alerts, so you can't avoid it. I mean that if smartphone's emergency alerts are going to be tested on the same day as the national EAS test. Like if the EAS is testing out it's systems nationwide, does that mean that WEA (Wireless Emergency Alerts) will also test on the same day?

I was asking this question, because smartphones didn't have emergency alerts back then during the 2011 test, and today, now we get alerts from our smartphones, from thunderstorms (I could just see wall-to-wall coverage of the storm on a 24/7 local cable news channel (Bay News 9) instead, in my opinion ;)) to those annoying AMBER Alerts that wake you up early in the morning. For some, their alarm doesn't wake them up in the morning, the emergency alerts do (it's usually an AMBER Alerts). I think the FCC does these tests every 5 years. The last "nationwide" (quotation marks for a reason) test was actually a regional EAS test (not an RMT) involving the 2 Virginias (almost all of the Mid-Atlantic).
 
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If you have an iPhone, you may opt out of government alerts, though you are opted in by default.

Settings -> Notifications -> Scroll to very bottom, and you will see a section for "Government Alerts." You may turn off the ones you see fit to turn off.
 
I have an Android (can't opt out of government alerts), so will I recieve the EAS National Test on my smartphone, because I don't usually recieve test alerts, only alerts like AMBER Alerts, t-storm alerts, etc.
 
I've been told you can opt out of government alerts on Android phones, but it's different depending on the phone you have. Having never owned an Android, I can't tell you anything more. I was an early adapter of the smartphone, and I had AT&T. So, all you had was the iPhone.

I opted out of the alerts because I have a weather radio app and enough local news apps, I get my weather and AMBER alerts anyway. After getting awakened at 2 AM for a flood warning, I decided I'd had enough.
 
I can sort of understand smoke detectors and cell phones with localized weather warnings. Given the poor shape of many area's TV weather departments, I don't expect much beyond the alert itself when severe weather strikes. With a cell, I can look at radar maps and weather in an instant.

After getting awoken from a sleep for an AMBER Alert searching for a tan Toyota Camry (possibly the most common car and color combo out there), I opted out of the AMBER Alerts.

What I have found is in 90% + of these cases, the child in question has been completely "safe" all along -- never in harms way, never with a stranger. Most of the time it's a parent or boyfriend that the child's custodian dislikes. What it comes down to is a worried parent (often in a bitter custody dispute), a lack of logical thinking, and an itchy phone-dialing finger. The police have to make the best judgement call possible at the scene, and will tend to side with the complainant in issuing these AMBER Alert cases...if they don't, even the minuscule chance of a bad thing happening can be a PR disaster.

However, when I have a debate about the effectiveness and/or overuse of AMBER Alerts, I am almost always shot down with "You're not a parent...you'll never understand".

...To which I reply that your decision to not use a prophylactic a decade or so ago combined with your inability to have a civil conversation with an ex-lover or child's boyfriend should NOT mean my episode of Married...with Children should be interrupted by TV alerts, sirens and text messages for a person/vehicle I'll never see.

Sorry, call me cruel, insensitive, whatever. I've been called them both in this debate. Still don't care to see 'em. Still really question their overall effectiveness.

Radio-X
 
Amber Alerts were never part of the intent of such a warning system. Most Amber Alerts I get are while asleep for the night. Some are not geographically coordinated. To be awakened at 2 am by an alert about a missing person (child or elderly) in a city 250 miles away is more of a rude awakening.

I'm not against the Amber Alert but I don't consider it EAS material. On the other hand it is nice to see some entity other than radio, TV and cable used for EAS.
 
Radio-X said:
I can sort of understand smoke detectors and cell phones with localized weather warnings. Given the poor shape of many area's TV weather departments, I don't expect much beyond the alert itself when severe weather strikes. With a cell, I can look at radar maps and weather in an instant.

After getting awoken from a sleep for an AMBER Alert searching for a tan Toyota Camry (possibly the most common car and color combo out there), I opted out of the AMBER Alerts.

What I have found is in 90% + of these cases, the child in question has been completely "safe" all along -- never in harms way, never with a stranger. Most of the time it's a parent or boyfriend that the child's custodian dislikes. What it comes down to is a worried parent (often in a bitter custody dispute), a lack of logical thinking, and an itchy phone-dialing finger. The police have to make the best judgement call possible at the scene, and will tend to side with the complainant in issuing these AMBER Alert cases...if they don't, even the minuscule chance of a bad thing happening can be a PR disaster.

However, when I have a debate about the effectiveness and/or overuse of AMBER Alerts, I am almost always shot down with "You're not a parent...you'll never understand".

...To which I reply that your decision to not use a prophylactic a decade or so ago combined with your inability to have a civil conversation with an ex-lover or child's boyfriend should NOT mean my episode of Married...with Children should be interrupted by TV alerts, sirens and text messages for a person/vehicle I'll never see.

Sorry, call me cruel, insensitive, whatever. I've been called them both in this debate. Still don't care to see 'em. Still really question their overall effectiveness.

Radio-X
Click to expand...

Word.

And for the Android user, yes, you can opt out of amber/ silver alerts http://lmgtfy.com/?q=opt+out+amber+alerts+android
 
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broadcastguy said:
Word.

And for the Android user, yes, you can opt out of amber/ silver alerts http://lmgtfy.com/?q=opt+out+amber+alerts+android
Click to expand...

Actually, I was wondering if mobile smartphones are going to be included in national EAS test, along with the TV, radio, cable, satellite, and satellite radio stations, because technically, everyone has a smartphone, and some worry that the test for some is unavoidable, whether you are watching TV or you are watching Netflix on your smartphone and although I can put my phone on mute, the test will make the phone vibrate for a while and won't force the volume to go up by itself without your consent.

I am also wondering if some cable boxes turn on by themselves just to do an EAS test?
 
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I would imagine it is pretty unavoidable. The purpose of the test is to see if there ever was a national emergency if the system could get information out there quickly and flawlessly. To exclude any portion of the notification structure would not, essentially, be a true test of the infrastructure in place.
 
Jonathan7157 said:
Actually, I was wondering if mobile smartphones are going to be included in national EAS test, along with the TV, radio, cable, satellite, and satellite radio stations, because technically, everyone has a smartphone, and some worry that the test for some is unavoidable, whether you are watching TV or you are watching Netflix on your smartphone and although I can put my phone on mute, the test will make the phone vibrate for a while and won't force the volume to go up by itself without your consent.

I am also wondering if some cable boxes turn on by themselves just to do an EAS test?
Click to expand...

As said, you can deactivate MOST emergency alerts in smartphones, the only one that the used can not deactivate is the "presidential alert", so unless they test that function I doubt that users that opted out for the amber alerts will get any kind of test.

For the cable box, while it can be technically possible for the operator (a.k.a. as cable company) to turn it on remotely it's worthless since probably the TV will be off so no sound/ image, plus, it can start a privacy concern in some users.
 
The true question here is, what happens with only online stations/ apps/ services? I'm thinking of Netflix, TuneIn, Pandora, Radionomy, Spotify, etc. Can they pull the EAS through all the US based IP's connected to those platforms at that given time?
 
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