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Remote EAS

W

WNTIRadio

Here's a question for the brain trust:

I have a client that has two non-comm stations that air the same programming. They are located about 110 miles apart, in different states. One site is near the studio, the other is the "remote" site. They have a main studio waiver to operate the remote site from the "mothership" station.

Currently, there is a TFT EAS 911 endec at the remote transmitter site. TFT makes a dial-up interface to send EAS tests and check status. From what I can tell, it doesn't support sending any data back, such as logging monthly tests. Right now, it's a lonnnnngggg drive to push a button and check a register receipt each week.

So the question is twofold: First, with the main studio waiver, is a separate EAS unit necessary? Yes, both stations are in different operational zones in different states. I have another client that is signing on a second station in the same state (different zone) and only need one EAS unit to cover both stations. Does being in a different state make a difference?

If the unit IS needed at the remote site, is there a way to at least log the weekly tests sans the print out that is acceptable to the FCC? Can a regular log with test issued etc. be kept at the main studio and then the print outs collected once per month?

I know there are new fancy units that have ethernet capability, but that's a moot point since DSL/T1 etc. aren't available at the remote site, and the budget isn't there for a complete new EAS unit.

Any ideas??

Thanks!!
 
Each state has its own statewide plan, so the second station would need a separate EAS, since it would have different monitoring assignments.

How is the second station fed? Would a test on station one automatically be rebroadcast over the (remote) station 2? If so, the logging at station one of a test would indicate the likelihood that the test would go over station 2. Then the printed log from station 2 would show the receipt ( and rebroadcast) of any monthly tests & the re-broadcast of actual alerts from the monitoring sources at that remote site.

Once "CAP" is agreed upon, you might plan on a newer EAS that can be polled, perhaps by dial-up.
If you don't have broadband not sure how the "CAP receiver would get anything, anyway, but, hey, that's going to be a problem a lot of places.
 
Not sure about the TFT, but the Sage ENDEC supports modem dialup access for originating alerts and log retrieval.
 
Same situation, 150 mile studio difference. Depending on the stations--- why not use streaming as the audio feed for the EAS?

In your letter did you address EAS? In this case we were in the same State.
 
Thanks for all the information, I'm going to look at the Trilithic and DAS units to get a price.

Station 1 is fed from a T1 to the transmitter site that's about 10 miles away. Station 2 is up in the nether-regions of NY state and is fed by a switched 56 line (using a Telos Zephyr Xstream) because that's still the only thing as far as a data line that's available up there. The phone company quoted a copper T1, which I've never been a fan of especially on long runs with lots of repeater cans, and the price was about $1,500 a month PLUS the costs to nail it up to the site. And the kicker is that they said they can do it a couple of years from now, not now, because the infrastructure isn't in place yet. So any kind of high-speed point to point is out of the question.

Streaming is out of the question due to lack of broadband that's reliable and available. HugesNet would be the only thing that might work, but everything I've heard about it says "stay away".

Eventually, if the stations grow, a satellite feed might be the answer for audio/data purposes. But that still doesn't solve the EAS unit being 3 hours away... and you're right about CAP, how does one get it without broadband? What a dumb way to send emergency information, over the most unreliable network. Why can't they use a tiny slice of bandwidth on Sirius or the DirecTV bird? Or anything where you can stick an 18" dish up and grab it out of the sky......
 
Doesn't the Zephyr allow a Serial connection using a small portion of the bandwidth? While I don't use the TFT's, I know that the Sage units allow you to send the Printer data out a serial port as well. If the TFT is similar, this could be connected to a Serial printer at the Mothership...
 
Hmmmmm... that's a good idea on the Zephyr. I don't know if that will work on the SW56 circuit or not, I'll have to put a call into Telos. Right now it's connected with v.35 interface to an ADTRAN CSU/DSU. I don't know whether the ancillary data, which is probably 300bps, is injected at the Zephyr or the CSU/DSU
 
WNTIRadio said:
Hmmmmm... that's a good idea on the Zephyr. I don't know if that will work on the SW56 circuit or not, I'll have to put a call into Telos. Right now it's connected with v.35 interface to an ADTRAN CSU/DSU. I don't know whether the ancillary data, which is probably 300bps, is injected at the Zephyr or the CSU/DSU
Click to expand...

If you are using MPEG not G.722 you will have the serial ancil data ZXS to ZXS. You will need the right serial cables at each end (see the manual) . Just mind your DTEs and your DCEs and the cabling will make sense.

The actual throughput bit rate is low (it depends on the algorithm and bit rate, see chart in the manual), though you can set the I/O to any common speed. As long as the equipment does not require parity (not very likely for a printer) you should be good to go
 
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