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National EAS Tests

W

WLYNWAZNgm

I tried this thread once before - it was hijacked to become an indictment about the merits
(or lack thereof) of the EAS system, in general.

------ Please do not get into a rant about EAS being good or bad! -------

The question that I pose, to those of you in the business - do you think it would
be a good idea to do all MONTHLY Tests (with the voice, not just the alert tones) as NATIONAL Tests?

Discuss.
 
Did everyone get the updates into their Sage ENDEC units in preparation for this?

Has everyone signed up with the FCC to do the paperwork electronically ?

They had 20+ years to get the last one right, and it was a disaster.

As for doing one MRT generated by the national level, there is no reason why it couldn't or shouldn't happen.

But the screech has to be in the test as that is what actually triggers the EAS receivers downstream.

But it would be too simple to do the daylight hours tests at say 11:30 AM Eastern on the first Friday of the odd numbered months, and night testing 11:30 PM eastern time on the first Friday of even numbered months.

I'm sure broadcasters on a hard clock would scream at those times due to it cutting into local spots or news, and it being in AM drive on the West Coast 6 times a year, or coming out of the 11PM news on the months with night tests for the TV guys
 
Short answer: No.

EAS is far more often used for local severe weather than for any other type of emergency. The more local it remains, the more useful it is to the listeners/viewers.
 
What I don't understand is why such a crucial, legal function is universally dependent on such an apparently problematic piece of equipment as the Sage Endec. Both radio stations I'm involved with have frequent trouble with it, locking up, freezing up, not responding, etc... and I often hear similar stories about it from, and failed dead air OTA tests on, other stations as well.
 
Last edited:
LibertyNT said:
I've never had a problem with the Sage Endec units at my cluster.
Click to expand...

nor have I anywhere I worked, but it all falls back on it being loaded with the latest firmware, properly set up AND
AND AND having an antenna that will pick up the signal from the upstream station.

If you put it in a rack surrounded by all sorts of equipment, and hook a piece of wire to the back and let it hang, it is not going to pick the burst up out of the noise if it is AM, and the FM may be attenuated by the surrounding equipment.

Give them enough signal and they work fine.

I think the OP would agree that the WLYN and WAZN Sage units work well, even in an office park environment where there is always spurious radiation from everything from florescent ballasts to every piece of technology in the building and surrounding buildings. But they are not mounted in the rack room, they are in his office on an outside wall with a good antenna, and they pick up the main feeder CBS's 98.5, and the secondary CBS's AM blowtorch WBZ 1030 just fine, with the caveat that the MBRI studio location is in the middle of the 60Dbu signal for the FM and 2.5 Mv/m for the AM signal
 
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