Nationwide Emergency Alert Test Planned For October 4 - Radio, TV and Cell Phones

[Mikey Radio]

Nationwide Emergency Alert Test Planned For October 4​

Nationwide Emergency Alert Test On For Wednesday | Radio & Television Business Report

FEMA, in coordination with the FCC, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) in the midday hours of October 4. The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities.

rbr.com

FEMA, in coordination with the FCC, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) in the midday hours of the first Wednesday in October.
The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20pm Eastern on Wednesday, October 4.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.

 

[davideduardo]

The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.​

Nationwide Emergency Alert Test On For Wednesday | Radio & Television Business Report

FEMA, in coordination with the FCC, will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) in the midday hours of October 4. The national test will consist of two portions, testing WEA and EAS capabilities.

rbr.com

The folks at FEMA have a very short memory or don't understand that emergency alert systems have involved, with the first tests taking place in the later 1950's under the CONELRAD system.

"Better" does not erase previous systems. Evolution is not "invention".

 

[Mikey Radio]

I seem to recall some previous tests of nationwide alerting systems not going so well, at least in some regions.

 

[boombox4]

Has anyone ever hacked an EAS system?

I just heard an EAS test transmission on a local radio station, and, for some reason, the thought came to me that nefarious characters could have a wild time if they somehow managed to hack into the EAS system.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

What a colossal waste.. we'll obviously participate, and we participate in the regular EAS as federally required but its so useless. My EAS monitoring assignment is by satellite 250 miles away! Anything they have, except a national emergency is useless to me

 

[Don CT]

9/11 was a national emergency and the system was silent that day. When else will they ever use it.

 

[fybush]

9/11 was a national emergency and the system was silent that day. When else will they ever use it.

This hoary chestnut again?

EAS is meant to alert to immediate threats, especially when broadcasters aren't in the studio to provide their own alerts.

What would a national EAS activation have added in terms of alerting, prevention or information when every broadcaster in America was already in wall to wall coverage of what was already the aftermath of the actual event?

 

[Don CT]

This hoary chestnut again?

EAS is meant to alert to immediate threats, especially when broadcasters aren't in the studio to provide their own alerts.

What would a national EAS activation have added in terms of alerting, prevention or information when every broadcaster in America was already in wall to wall coverage of what was already the aftermath of the actual event?

So why bother with a EAS at all then if the news will cover it. What is the point of the system when there are plenty of ways to get notified.

 

[fybush]

So why bother with a EAS at all then if the news will cover it. What is the point of the system when there are plenty of ways to get notified.

Where it works best is in areas that are subject to sudden severe weather. If you're in tornado country and the NWS issues a warning, you want to know about it NOW, and EAS can interrupt every station in your town (and your cell phone) to put that alert in front of you immediately, ideally in time for you to take action and stay safe.

National EAS is there for the very worst case scenario, like a nuclear attack that wipes out most normal sources of communication. You don't ever want it to be activated, but you test it so you know how to make it work if you ever do need it.

 

[Don CT]

Where it works best is in areas that are subject to sudden severe weather. If you're in tornado country and the NWS issues a warning, you want to know about it NOW, and EAS can interrupt every station in your town (and your cell phone) to put that alert in front of you immediately, ideally in time for you to take action and stay safe.

National EAS is there for the very worst case scenario, like a nuclear attack that wipes out most normal sources of communication. You don't ever want it to be activated, but you test it so you know how to make it work if you ever do need it.

Do we know if EAS would even work during a nuclear attack?

 

[fybush]

Do we know if EAS would even work during a nuclear attack?

I hope we never have to test it... but there's been a lot of work on FEMA's end to create a hardened infrastructure for that purpose over the last couple of decades.

 

[davideduardo]

9/11 was a national emergency and the system was silent that day. When else will they ever use it.

EAS is intended to provide citizens with information on what to do in the case of an emergency. That means "take shelter" or "evacuate the forest fire zone" or "turn off your gas line" or whatever. In the case of 9/11 there was no guidance or advice to be given, so there was no reason to activate the EAS.

I have been through several significant Southern California earthquakes, such as the Northridge event in '94 and the Landers one in 1992. EAS was not activated, as there was nothing to do in response to what, even a few seconds later, was a news story and not actionable.

However, last week we had, here, the worst haboob I have seen in 22 years in the desert and there was no activation. That was an occasion that fully warranted such, as visibility was down to less than 20 feet, air quality was toxic, electricity was coming and going, roofs were being torn off and everyone should have sheltered if they were not already.

 

[davideduardo]

This hoary chestnut again?

EAS is meant to alert to immediate threats, especially when broadcasters aren't in the studio to provide their own alerts.

What would a national EAS activation have added in terms of alerting, prevention or information when every broadcaster in America was already in wall to wall coverage of what was already the aftermath of the actual event?

And, like after an earthquake, the moment those attacks were over, they were news stories and did not require protective action by "the people".

 

[Will_H_69_9]

9/11 was a national emergency and the system was silent that day. When else will they ever use it.

there's a reason why 9/11 never had a EAS Activation, even from the President, because TV and Radio was already covering the event in real time, and the President was in Florida reading to Elementary School children when the attacks were underway and then had to go safe space in a undisclosed location until he could get the all clear to go back to DC later that night. plus the New York City EAS stations had their broadcasts impacted by the attack directly as some of the stations in New York City had their signal based out of the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

 

[landtuna]

there's a reason why 9/11 never had a EAS Activation, even from the President, because TV and Radio was already covering the event in real time, and the President was in Florida reading to Elementary School children when the attacks were underway and then had to go safe space in a undisclosed location until he could get the all clear to go back to DC later that night. plus the New York City EAS stations had their broadcasts impacted by the attack directly as some of the stations in New York City had their signal based out of the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

Meantime those of us living in the Mountain and Pacific time zones were probably still in bed and sound asleep when the attack on the towers took place. Had the attack been nationwide the only option we would have had was to kiss our sweet *** goodbye. With the speed of a modern ICBM (or a fleet of passenger aircraft filled with explosive shoes) an alert system like EAS would be only marginally effective, if at all. Kind of like diving under my elementary school desk in the 50's.

Not to say it isn't something but at what cost and who is willing to take the responsibility of starting a nationwide panic?

 

[davideduardo]

Meantime those of us living in the Mountain and Pacific time zones were probably still in bed and sound asleep when the attack on the towers took place.

On 9/11 I was on an American Airlines flight headed to Mexico City from LAX and it had just started to rotate when we felt huge backthrust and the hardest breaking of a large aircraft I have ever felt. We raced, literally, back to the gate and were rushed off the plane and out of the airport.

We were wide awake when the airport closure was announced, and there was typical rush hour traffic in LA when I drove to "the stations" to assist.

Not to say it isn't something but at what cost and who is willing to take the responsibility of starting a nationwide panic?

A full national alert requires activation at the highest level, and it must be considered to be actionable and useful to do an activation.

 

[R.D.P.]

I'm glad for the EAS requirement. It helps those, like me, keep up with the severe weather and/or any other emergency, that's happening. Having the unit is a great thing indeed.

Dan <><​

 

[anotherguyTN]

Like I've said before if this test is during the daytime I hope it interrupts as many trash talk and courtroom shows and infomercials as possible. 😝

 

[gr8oldies]

Just yesterday I was our brand new Buc-cees (a growing chain of giant convenience stores headquartered in Texas, making inroads into southern states. A severe weather system was on the way and I think we heard EAS alerts from 500 phones. The system left an EF2 tornado in its wake.

 

[gr8oldies]

Like I've said before if this test is during the daytime I hope it interrupts as many trash talk and courtroom shows and infomercials as possible. 😝

"Joe Biden is going to interrupt my show and call your phone!"