Is the emergency alert system a good idea?

..is not supposed to be used on Part 15.

You can relay information during emergencies without using the alert.

NO. It's not a good idea.  That SAGE is on ebay because 25,000 radio stations were forced by new regulations and requirements that forced them to buy $4,000 EAS units.  I know. I  installed several.   The one on eBay will not work properly with the new system, and there will be thousands of them being thrown out or sold cheap. That unit being sold is not legal for a licensed broadcaster in the USA. In case of a serious national emergency, I do not think, my or other part 15'ers are prepared to dessiminate critical information.  Participating in EAS requires monitoring assigned stations and the internet (the new units require connection to the internet), running regular tests, etc.  There's already a good thread on here....

http://www.part15.us/forum/part15-forums/general-discussion/homebrew-eas

That said, I did simply utilize a Uniden/Bearcat weather radio (I believe it's a WX100) that has a pair of relay contacts on it.  I built a simply audio relay box that interfaces between the weather radio and my audio chain.  The radio can be set up for counties, and types of alerts.  When a warning or watch comes to my county, (the counties and type or warnings programmed in my me) the radio alarm activates, tripes the audio relay through it's own built in relay contacts, puts the warning on the air, then returns to normal broadcasting after, with no interference from me.  The radios are like 20-40 bucks, I built the relay box for about $30 (i bought pretty jacks and a project box, etc... it could be done cheaper).  If there's a war or a toxic chemical spill or terrorist attack, I'd rather my people listen to a major broadcaster. 

Tim in Bovey

Iron Range Country

Is it because of FCC fines? Or is it because of the National Test that happened on 11/9/12?

i use a sage digital endec (its expensive) for just decoding and relaying alerts and weekly test, nothing more.

the eas monitors i use is 96.7 WBAP FM and 102.5 KMAD FM.

you can use eas on your station.

the fcc doesnt care as long as you dont send fraud eas alerts and keep the handbook and test it.

ironrangecountry said: NO. It's not a good idea.  That SAGE is on ebay because 25,000 radio stations were forced by new regulations and requirements that forced them to buy $4,000 EAS units.  I know. I  installed several.   The one on eBay will not work properly with the new system, and there will be thousands of them being thrown out or sold cheap. That unit being sold is not legal for a licensed broadcaster in the USA.

To which abmedia1 said: you can use eas on your station.

the fcc doesnt care as long as you dont send fraud eas alerts and keep the handbook and test it.

So, is the EAS allowed or not? And is that sage eas endec legal or what??? Or do I need a digital endec to get things working???

The ENDEC units you see on ebay are NOT legal for use on any licensed AM/FM/TV/Cable station. They may well be capable of receiving monitored alerts from the proper FM stations that are to be monitored.  Each State has their own EAS team that handles the system as determined to be best for that area.  In Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio handles it, and all other stations monitor MPR stations. If you search for "EAS Manual (your state) you'll find information.  Most of what I find is outdated, and does not include the latest EAS-CAP information that is in effect now. 

I'm quite sure that no one can point me to any FCC rule that states "FCC does not care if Part 15 stations or other unlicensed stations use outdated ENDEC units and pretend to be EAS compliant"  You will NOT be able to correctly receive/decode/relay information with an outdated machine.  Yes, it will most likely monitor assigned FM stations and receive and relay tests.  This is a far cry from actually doing what it's supposed to do in a real emergency.  Do you really want to mislead your listeners into believing that in an emergency you are fully capable and able to operate as a legit EAS station with outdated equipment?  For licensed stations, these old units are ILLEGAL.  They had to be removed and replaced with the current technology to be compliant. In some cases a software update or an "adapter" (costing a thousand bucks) could bring some older units into compliance.

Is it a good idea?  I don't know, you're making people think you're able to handle a real emergency when you really won't be able to. Many alerts in real life (not tests received via radio monitors) arrive via internet.  I don't know that misleading people is a "good" idea. If you want to do it for real, I'd inquire with the FCC. Random people can't just become EAS compliant and start being official.  The cost to do it right, and be in compliance is not small, it's a big expense for many small licensed stations around the country  -- you have to receive weekly tests from two different monitor stations, as well as receive monthly tests, broadcast weekly tests, and monthly tests, keep a log of all this activity, and be able to show to an FCC inspector that you can and do this. And you need have logs to back it up (the new units are nice as they generate a log that is stored in it's own memory, which it also emails to me after every test, and I download and archive them monthly from the units memory as well and save them on a separate computer, all at the commercial stations I work for). Some stations in some states are also required to have NWS/NOAA tied into their EAS system. Local officials, state, county, city, also need access which they gain through the internet.  For the system to be legal it has to be installed to break into the audio feed where your programing audio enters processing (if any) before going to the transmitter, so it can break into your broadcast and put itself on the air when you are not there, or with no participation from the operator. Running it into your board or mixer and putting iton the air when you want is not an option. 

As to the Op stating "I keep hearing emergency tests on many radio stations around in my area. I'm tired of this."  Are you tired of it because you can't do it, or because the tests irritate you? If the latter, why would you want to irritate your listeners?  Further, a test today, that's fully legal, does not have to contain ANY intelligible speech or information to the listener. A couple short data bursts is all a test needs to consist of these days.  If you hear more than that the station is just showing off.  It certainly beats the old EBS system that was in place for many years, with the horribly annoying two note tone that plays for 22 seconds.  If you still hear THAT (and some stations still use it) it's completely unnecessary and stations that play it are doing so because it's tradition, and some think it's a good attention getter for emergencies -- which it may very well be. Those two tones not only alerted the public, but also acted as the activation signal for stations down the line. 

Do some googling and see what a job proper EAS is. Also, in the world of licensed broadcasting, probably the number one causes of violations is improper EAS use, either tests, receiving tests, logging, etc. It's one of the first and main things checked at commercial stations in an inspection.  And EVERY operator had better be able to issue a test instantly at the inspectors request!

Tim inBovey

Iron Range Country

Ok...So it's illegal to broadcast the EAS on licensed stations, plus, is it illegal to broadcast the EAS on part 15 radio, as well?

While the matter of EAS gets pitched back and forth I wish to address the general subject of providing useful information to the public when dangerous events take place.

The licensed stations in this town all get an F for providing anything of any use during an event.

There are only two stations in town that have staff on duty, but if there is a major sports event on they will not cut in to report on tornadoes and torrential rains and hail that are actually in progress, and both stations depend on sports for commercial income.

If a neighbor next door claimed to offer special emergency coverage from his Part 15 station I'd ignore him, because he doesn't know any more than I know.

I think the future belongs to a mutated version of AM T.I.S. stations, special stations dedicated to providing public information.

Now back to your discussion.

on Part 15.

In 2004, Florida was hit with several hurricanes. This repeated itself in 2005.

During Hurricane Frances, four of the five licensed AM stations were knocked off the air for days. The one that stayed on played preaching programs and inspirational gospel music.

My Part 15 at that time was on 1160. Due to the moisture it was getting out a couple of miles. I did not run EAS. I did stay on the air live 10 to 12 hours a day (I was running 1160 as a daytimer) with weather, shelter availability, road closings, Red Cross information, etc. I would play a couple of songs then go to the information updates. Then go back to music while I gathered more information.

I would recommend doing it this way rather than trying to deal with EAS. People did hear 1160 and found the information helpful. Luckily, I did not lose power.

radioboy "gathered information" while playing music.

But where did the information come from?

Did you make phone calls?

Go out with a notepad and try to witness situations?

Getting information during a crisis seems to me like a difficult job for a Part 15 station.

The information was supplied to "the press" via the Internet, press releases, and such. This was set up during my years as the manager of the licensed AM. The information was made available via the city and county press liason folks.

Some phone calls were involved. They also sent out a lot of emails, which is good, because it is easy to write something down wrong. I request that even PSAs be in writing.

When the storms hit we were ready to roll. A power outage would have knocked me off the air, too. But my power never went out - so I took to the air. I was streaming then, too.

When I say "teach us" I mean teach them, all the Part 15 people who want to operate emergency stations.

I myself close shop at the first sign of trouble and hide in the depths of the sub-basement ready with a can opener and plenty of canned fish.

But your experience, radioboy, could be very helpful to the guy sitting in Omro, Wisconson, microphone live watching an ice-storm cause trees to fall, you could tell him who to call and what to say.

If you were still streaming I could switch to your stream and listen to you down in my shelter.

radioboy has it right.  If you have the information, share it. 

Oftimes you may have information that's theoretically available to everyone else in the public, however you may have resources they don't. Internet contacts with officals that keep you informed, internet access driven by both regular internet and smart phone -- if the ISP goes down, you may still have it on your 3G or 4G connection. You may have back up power, where the public may not. You are probably more resourceful than the general public in gathering and sharing information.  If the power goes out here the internet (as long as there's a connection) and the part 15 station stay on, as long as the UPC's last (a few hours) and there's gas for the generator (several days).

I did not say that EAS was illegal on commercial stations (someone said this above) but having an OUTDATED, non-compliant EAS unit in a commercial station in operation IS a violation. Commercial stations MUST have the up to date equipment.

Trying to use an outdated EAS on your Part 15 station is sort of like putting a box of Band-Aids in your glove box and an ambulance sign on your car. 

I often hear about commercial stations with no staff that don't run anything special during severe weather. Not unusual. Again, this may depend somewhat on your State's EAS plan.  Rarely, if ever, is EAS activated for a weather watch, sometimes for a warning, and probably if immediate harm to people and property is on the way.  Some states weather monitoring for EAS is not even required. Someone down the line is reponsible for activating an EAS alert, this is generally NOT something a station decides to do. The NWS or local officials (Sheriff, police chief, etc) would activate EAS for local concerns (this is one reason why the new units are tied to the internet).  Any legal commercial station MUST have (to be compliant and avoid LARGE fines) proper, current, configured, working EAS equipment. If they are NOT issuing an EAS when you think they should be, either their gear is broken (not likely) or no actual EAS alert has been issued.  There ARE stations that fire off their EAS warnings for evey little thunderstorm that comes along. This is not necessary or required. Certainly we all like to believe that in the case of severe weather any station would be on the air with information. In the case of so many non-staffed stations this often does not happen, but it is not required.  But if there's severe weather and an EAS at a level requiring broadcast is isued, their equipment better put it on! A weather alarm alert is NOT an EAS alert.

At the commercial stations I work for, our EAS monitors the NWS, and our two assigned MPR stations. It's also tied into local authorities through the internet. Real alerts will automatically interrupt our broadcast and trasmit the emergency information. The operator does nothing to make this happen, and if live on the air, can't stop it from going on the air -- with the possible exception of ripping the wires out of the EAS unit. We also subscribe to a weather service that has access to our broadcast line.  When severe weather is heading our way, they automatically break into both our AM and FM simultaneously to braodcast weather alerts.  They are staffed 24-7 and are VERY good at keeping our listeners updated. This is done via phone, and they (or we, for that matter) can, from any phone dial a number, punch in a code, and go live on the air, the return the station to normal programs. 

We have staff in the building from 4:30 AM till 11 PM, no one on weekends unless we're running local sports (like high school games).  Our EAS, NWS receiver, and meterologists make sure any actual emergency is covered.  Our transmitters remote control systems will call the engineer (me) then the PD, then the owner, if any transmitter parameter surpasses legal limits so we can tend to it.  It will also alert us if either station goes silent. 

Your outdated EAS will NOT receive/broadcast local alerts, unless you're in a big city and you're monitoring stations near by, but it may very well not decode the current alerts and work properly. if you're like us, we monitor stations 70 miles away.  They won't activate us with anything exclusive to our area. You might receive national alerts. But I've been in the biz for 40 years and have NEVER been at a station that received an actual national EAS/EBS alert.  It was not even activated following 9/11. At least, not into our state system. Generally the only alerts I've received were severe weather (in two cases our meterologists had broke in with tornado information 10-15 minutes before the EAS), one toxic chemical spill from a train dereilment (local alert activated), and several Amber alerts. These are things you will NOT receive with your outdated EAS units. You may get a statewide Amber alert, if your outdated machine is new enough to have Amber alert codes in it I'm sure those of you in hurricane areas get a lot of activations (but maybe not -- does your state fire EAS for those? I imagine so since that covers a wide area. Tornados and thunderstorms here are pretty localized and weather warnings move across the state with the movement of the system).

Really no point in tying in an EAS unit that's over 4 years old.  I would recommend tying in a weather alert system (I mentioned above in previous post) if you like. If you want to do EAS buy a new machine and do it right.  As for legality, the more I think about it, the more I think... hey.. the FCC has no programming requirements for us, no logging requirements, etc so they may not care, but there is nothing that says it's legal.  But I certainly wouldn't put a non-compliant unit on the air. 

Tim in Bovey

Iron Range Country