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SCA rack mount receivers & NOAA audio interrupt

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Hi all,

Again, it's the guy from the radio reading service for the blind.

I just put together an equipment rack from Middle Atlantic for some odds and ends and had a couple of questions.

First, is their such an animal as a rack-mounted SCA receiver? If so, is it tunable or crystal-controlled? I would need 67kHz at 106.7. I'd like to have a broadcast monitor but more importantly, it could feed the silent sense, so if something goes wrong, I can start from the signal and work my way back.

My other question is a NOAA receiver. I'm totally in the dark as how EAS operates. I know in my broadcast days, the NOAA receiver and EAS worked together. But is there some way to build a NOAA receiver that will trip during severe weather, interrupt audio and then return to studio audio? If not, is there a cheap version of an EAS/NOAA system out there?

I'd hate for someone to be listening to our broadcast of....say a book...and have no idea we might be under a warning.

As always, thanks for your advice.
 
Usually the EAS decoder is a separate piece of hardware that is fed by receivers tuned to the areas LP1 and LP2 stations. Most decoders have the capability of having more than just two receiver inputs so what I do, and apparently what you are asking, is that I added a NOAA weather radio to the third input on my Sage Endec. The Endec then monitors all three receivers for alerts and processes them based on how I programmed the decoder to handle them like which ones to actually break in and broadcast the alert. This works like a charm, and I get a lot more work out of the NOAA receiver with actual severe weather and tornado watches and warnings than I do with all the EAS RWT and RMT messages that just eat up paper!

Check BSW or your favorite equipment supplier. They will also help you out the SCA receiver. Hope I answered your question.
 
May be pricey for what you want, but I have a relatively new Gorman Redlich EAS decoder for sale for $800. (We installed the new CAP equipment so this is surplus). I used it with an Oregon Scientific NWS receiver, but just about any weather radio with a headphone jack would work well with this.

To interrupt the studio feed for broadcast just insert it in the program feed. Will need to be re-programmed for your area, but I'm only 45 minutes from the factory so that's easy to get done.
 
Bext sells a rack mount fm or sca receiver at around $400-$600. Dayton Industries also sells a similar unit non rack mountable.

The new Digital Alert Systems boxes seem to be similarly priced to the older units when new. We were told SAGE would always have new software updates. I will not buy a SAGE as the new boxes are identical to the old except for software and the color. If they do it one time it will happen again.
 
Like I said earlier, thanks to all of you for the suggestions. I'm not sure my board of directors will be gung-ho about spending much more right now but I will look into each of your suggestions.

Since I can't repay with technical advice, I'll pass along a quick story that I'm sure most of you are all too familiar with.

When I was PD a few years ago in my broadcast days, we used a Sage EAS Endec. The C.E. showed me the file cabinet where he put the thermal paper and showed me how to replace if it ran low. A "helpful" PD across the hall had a tendency to replace it before me, as he worked mornings. Problem was, he always, always, placed the paper backwards. So I got to hear the C.E. complain about how expensive those little printers are and that anyone who didn't know what they were doing, should stick to only replacing the toilet paper, where placing it backwards did no harm! :D

Even when I was a PD, I always said PDs were the worst at wanting to mess with the equipment and change things (air talent just breaks it)!
 
Another way to rack mount your receivers is to buy a rack shelf from Middle Atlantic. Not as "finished " looking but then you can buy cheaper receivers.
 
TomT said:
Another way to rack mount your receivers is to buy a rack shelf from Middle Atlantic. Not as "finished " looking but then you can buy cheaper receivers.
Click to expand...

Cheap is good. I was looking in the Engineering threads and saw a lot of good suggestions about wx radios.

After I first posted this, I've read about the CAP-compliant EAS encoders/decoders switchover. I'm going to show my ignorance of EAS again. Since we're just an SCA service, we're only interested in the EAS stuff to interrupt audio for weather alerts.

Does this mean everyone's having to buy new EAS equipment? Is the current EAS equipment going to be technically obsolete or just not what's required in the new rules? Would that mean there potentially will be used EAS equipment on the market that could be purchased cheaply or perhaps an in-kind donation by a company that would like the tax break for donating to a non-profit?
 
There is no requirement for SCA services to monitor or carry EAS alerts, since the main channel station (s) do this.

Once the Commission decides what it wants in EAS equipment (the NPRM on Chapter 11 rules revision was just issued today--see the front page at the "old" FCC.gov) I suspect there will be lots of surplus EAS equipment on the market.

The G/R I'm pitching is perfectly useful for the foreseeable future for NWS alerts as they will continue to send alerts in the current SAME format. G/R also sells an add-on CAP converter for the new style alerts, but for your use just a standard EAS decoder may be fine.

I'm assuming that your programming is a mixture of automated and live programming. An EAS decoder, as you suggested, would provide automatic alerts to your audience while (for example) someone is reading a recorded narration of "War and Peace." On the other hand, during your live segments, the decoder can be programmed to just turn on the speaker for such things as weather watches, as opposed to warnings--your announcer can then stop his reading of the newspaper to note the watch has been posted.
 
TomT said:
There is no requirement for SCA services to monitor or carry EAS alerts, since the main channel station (s) do this.

Once the Commission decides what it wants in EAS equipment (the NPRM on Chapter 11 rules revision was just issued today--see the front page at the "old" FCC.gov) I suspect there will be lots of surplus EAS equipment on the market.

The G/R I'm pitching is perfectly useful for the foreseeable future for NWS alerts as they will continue to send alerts in the current SAME format. G/R also sells an add-on CAP converter for the new style alerts, but for your use just a standard EAS decoder may be fine.

I'm assuming that your programming is a mixture of automated and live programming. An EAS decoder, as you suggested, would provide automatic alerts to your audience while (for example) someone is reading a recorded narration of "War and Peace." On the other hand, during your live segments, the decoder can be programmed to just turn on the speaker for such things as weather watches, as opposed to warnings--your announcer can then stop his reading of the newspaper to note the watch has been posted.
Click to expand...

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the info. We're actually so small, that for the foreseeable future, all programming will be recorded (which was a relief to our volunteers). But your analogy is right on. In my mind, I have an image of a blind or disabled person, listening to a book, newspaper or magazine and having no clue as to any bad weather that may be occurring. I'm told that many people who are blind listen well into the overnight hours when some of the severe weather may be happening.

As you mentioned, we legally don't have to do anything, so it doesn't matter if it's up to code with the new rules. It just needs to work.

When I got into broadcast forever ago, like so many, I worked for a local owner who was EXTREMELY insistent that we stop the hits and talk weather when it was necessary. He even encouraged us to record the warnings directly from NOAA, which was patched into the board, and play them back that way It was always a race to hit record on the reel to reel the second we heard the NOAA alarm sound so we could catch the feed. That was way before "Perfect Paul."

Watching video from Oklahoma, Alabama and Missouri has underscored the importance of giving them....especially those who are elderly or may have a disability...as much time as possible to prepare. That's a challenge on a non-profit budget but I think it's doable. Thanks again for your thoughts.
 
I would be willing to bet that some broadcasters in your area would be willing to donate their old EAS equipment to your group (as soon as they replace it with CAP compliant equipment). You might start with the station whose SCA service you use. Just a thought. I suspect there will be a lot of old EAS decoders that are relegated to the dumpster.....
 
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