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And Amtrak is still in business in Beech Grove to serve as a transportation hub for relocation of population and temporary camps for those we can't jail....
Conspiracy theories abound. This is similar to tests in the EBS days. AP wire would send authentication codes out. Because EAS was supposed to be a replacement for EBS this is a long time coming. The new system was supposed to avoid this because it was clustered with redundancy. Clustered. This gives someone something to do and our country some indication our government cares. Yawn.
I was asked why EAS (radio or TV) was not activated during the 9 / 11 / 2001 attacks. The President's Air Force One has (or should have the ability to use this system to inform the rest of the nation what actions to take or dangers that are or are not present. I realize most of NYC's FM's and TV stations were off messing up the local "feed", but the cable and maybe some of the AM stations could have been used. I guess they should "test" it, but lets hope they never have to use it!!
obama is going to blow into a mic and say "as of now i am the Supreme Ruler of the Country"-you are powerless to stop me" -well maybe NOT, but i can't remember a nationwide test of this kind in my lifetime. i DO remember how a ANOTHER test got screwed up back in the 70's when the codes were messed up. IT'S BIG GOVERNMENT AT ITS BEST!
hey, remember Conalrad at 640 & 1240kc on the AM dial?
go to http://historyofwowo.com/audio/WOWO-Bob SieversEBS_02-20-1971_scoped.mp3 and hear the mighty Bob Sievers going through the 1971 EBS FUBAR. He's scrambling but if you were sitting at home waiting for the bombs to drop you'd never know. (The link takes you to the History of WOWO website...it's a GREAT site dedicated to a station with a great history. (Yes I wanted to work there.)
go to http://historyofwowo.com/audio/WOWO-Bob SieversEBS_02-20-1971_scoped.mp3 and hear the mighty Bob Sievers going through the 1971 EBS FUBAR. He's scrambling but if you were sitting at home waiting for the bombs to drop you'd never know. (The link takes you to the History of WOWO website...it's a GREAT site dedicated to a station with a great history. (Yes I wanted to work there.)
Re the WOWO EBS--You can tell juuuust a little bit that everything is hitting the fan, but who better than Bob to keep things under control? Also, the EBS test was voiced by Bob Chase, who is in his mid 80's now and still the voice of the Fort Wayne Komets.
I seem to remember an attempt at a national test in the mid 90s and some stations didn't get end tones, thus simulcasting other programming.
I don't get the insistence that the EAS should have been activted on 9/11/01. Unless there is an authority with specific instructions, no one was deprived of knowing about the attacks. I'm sitting in Indianapolis on 9/11 and the EAS goes off...what is it going to tell me to do? Run to a fallout shelter? Wouldn't even know where one was. Get out of high rises? Let's cause a panic.
I don't get the insistence that the EAS should have been activted on 9/11/01. Unless there is an authority with specific instructions, no one was deprived of knowing about the attacks.
There was a lot of wasted "over reaction" to 9 / 11 / 01. That the average TV viewer, you see the towers and the Pentagon literally in flames, the President last seen getting on Air Force One, All commercial airline flights ordered to land ASAP, and TV news people not sure what is happening, and you expect them not to be scared *hit-less. IIRC there were internet rumors about gas and bio attacks, tainted water supplies. Had some "official" just had told where the confirmed attacks were, some assurance that the DOD was still functioning, what we could do to help: example stay off the phone you unless really need help. I was working in telecom at the time and you would not believe the call volume to emergency services nationwide.
On 9/11/01 WHAT GOOD would a NATIONAL EAS alert have done? This was a localized event. About the only thing it could have done, although a lot of the US was aware of the attack, would be to alert everybody watching TV or listening to a radio that hey there's something going on stop your day and come pay attention.
EBS WAS a Cold War era tool; to me EAS is a localized tool. I wonder how many people will take notice.
Much ado about nothing. It's a TEST. Not to mention that having a way to alert the nation to a national disaster is not a bad thing. Geez, people, chill out.
I'm aware of the rumors, including one that a small plane had crashed that afternoon in Dayton, Ohio; and that gas prices were going to skyrocket, which caused huge gas lines. I don't see how a two-turn alert or squawk alert with a telephonic voice following would have stopped that.
From the "FCC Emergency Alert System Handbook for November 9, 2011 Nationwide EAS Test":
Page 6:"The National Weather Service Radio will not be a source of, nor will it rebroadcast, the Nationwide EAS Test."
Considering that it's supposed to be a test of the system, excluding NOAA (which is a source that stations monitor for EAS) seems to be somewhat counterproductive in the overall scheme of things. Maybe?
Seems like the general public isn't really thinking this is as big of a deal as the broadcasters. And in the "big-picture", it's not really a big deal. Broadcasters just want to make sure it works so they don't have another headache to worry about. With so much in the way of information exchange, is OTA broadcasting really going to alert the public first? It's a test. That's it. It's going to be a milestone or a starting point for the advancement or replacement of the system. With the government not participating (NOAA), it's going to be a proving ground for broadcasters and and maybe a challenge to the ECC's to make the system work on the state and local level. With FM in cell phones, and the cellular industry floundering with ideas on public warning, this system needs to work in order for someone to take note and say "radio is still an important gateway to the public". Why make more of it than what it really is? It's a test...
A cell phone alert should be made available as an "opt-in, opt-out" kind of alert. Most TV stations have the option of joining a cell alert for weather updates and school closings. That sort of alert would be kosher I would think...
I hate to say this but, a large number of the US public is too "busy" to ever reach them with any kind of warning. I personally "check" the weather every morning, to just not be surprised when the weather becomes dangerous. It is scary how many of my I Pod coworkers were clueless last spring when the huge tornado outbreak hit the Southeast. (I was in Georgia at the time.) A cell phone EAS system would work for localized events. The cell phones that were on could receive a text and voice message for many local dangers. Cell zones are much smaller than most Broadcast stations, so when the Emergency Folks "take control" of the local stations then they could send the same message to all handsets in the effective area. To make it more practical there should be no opt outs. Of course the weekly test should not be ran over the cell system, only one "test" to check that it works should be required. The cell operators should have to keep EAS "received" logs a that is it.
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