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Repeating EAS bulletins

A

artsutton

We are still operating overnights and a great deal of the weekend with
satellite programming and with an old computerized automation system (Register Data Systems Phantom) which
doesn't allow us to phone in and go directly on the air. We can interrupt via our remote control system but that doesn't sound as well as it would if we could record directly on automation system.

The concern I have is if a weather bulletin is issued during these times,
our EAS unit (Sage) will issue the bulletin directly from the National
Weather Service but that's it. It's not heard again. I would like to find a
way that the EAS message could air every 15 minutes until the bulletin is
over. Is this possible using the EAS unit?

Art Sutton
Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Group
Toccoa, GA
[email protected]
 
It saves the audio to a chip inside the unit. I'll have to dig up a manual to see if you can make a contact closure play the saved audio. We had the Phantom at Lowell's station in Perry turning the transmitter on and off so you can make it send the closure. It would be a matter of programming the Phantom to send the closure.

Upon checking further, I do not see in the manual where it will allow you to send the alert over. I was thinking it could be done with the "manual over ride" input. But the Sage will only let you re-program that input for a weekly test initiate sequence if it's not being used for an over ride.
 
Art...I have done exactly what you describe with a Phantom/Sage setup. Here's the basics:

Assuming you have a spare input on the Phantom's switcher, run post EAS audio (off air audio would be fine) to an input on the switcher. Use a contact closure from the EAS to the Phantom to trigger a command cart that will record the audio from the off-air input. The setup past that gets a bit fuzzy...I'll have to sit in front of a Phantom...but seems like I either wrote or had RDS write a 2nd command cart for me that would throw that recorded audio into the schedule. I'll see if I can dig up some more info.
 
level42 said:
Art...I have done exactly what you describe with a Phantom/Sage setup. Here's the basics:

Assuming you have a spare input on the Phantom's switcher, run post EAS audio (off air audio would be fine) to an input on the switcher. Use a contact closure from the EAS to the Phantom to trigger a command cart that will record the audio from the off-air input. The setup past that gets a bit fuzzy...I'll have to sit in front of a Phantom...but seems like I either wrote or had RDS write a 2nd command cart for me that would throw that recorded audio into the schedule. I'll see if I can dig up some more info.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

I have learned we also use a lot of TFT EAS units in the company...have one Gorman-Redlich and one MTS 3000D.
 
Doesn't matter which EAS...I'm sure all of them have a contact closure output. Next time I'm in front of a Phantom that I've set this up in, I'll take a look and get the command cart data. Feel free to call me and remind me or shoot me an email though, life has been extremely busy lately.
 
It would get annoying for the listeners to hear that there's a severe thunderstorm every 15 minutes. The radio signal is bigger than a thunderstorm, so many of the listeners won't even be affected by that storm.
 
Nick said:
It would get annoying for the listeners to hear that there's a severe thunderstorm every 15 minutes. The radio signal is bigger than a thunderstorm, so many of the listeners won't even be affected by that storm.
Click to expand...
You must not live in a small town. Plus, research shows that about 90% of a station audience lives within the 80 dBu of a FM and the 5 mVm of an AM.
 
If I were running a class A station in some small town in Georgia (per the OP's situation), I would want to announce these things somehow. If a live operator putting in the extra two hours isn't an option, the EAS repeating itself is better than nothing. If I were running a class B or C station, my opinion would change.
 
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