Emergency Alert System (EAS)

[Utah_Viper]

I am wondering if there certain freqs used to transmit EAS alerts to the differnt agencies, Tv/cable, Cities Counties? I have seen a EAS system in the past and it seems that it can be activated by any City, County, State or NWS location that has it. i dont not know many details of how the system works other then a agency issues whatever alert there may be: amber alert, weather, evacuation etc. and then the Radio, TV, and so on broadcast it. So is there a way we can monitor and get a advance warning that the EAS is going to be activated?

 

[rdale]

EAS is usually carried over regular FM radio stations. You cannot get "advance" warning of EAS -- EAS is the first alert.

 

[Utah_Viper]

Not quite rdale, the radio and TV recieve the EAS alert from the issuing agency first. Example:

The NWS issues a Sever T-Storm Warning on thier EAS system the Radio and TV stations or Cable Providers recieve the message and Then broadcast it. I know this is how the system works from a quick briefing I had in the past. What I do not know is the Alert from the NWS, City County, or whoever sent over a radio frequency or hardline system.

 

[Microwavemike]

Eas

If you can, get a copy of your Local and State Plan. All Broadcast stations should have a copy of each in their files and studios. Each State will also have a Web site for EAS plans.
Let Google do the walking.

mm

 

[rdale]

"Not quite rdale, the radio and TV recieve the EAS alert from the issuing agency first."

Right. That's what I said. They issuing agency does not send out an alert on another frequency to say an EAS is coming. When the EAS is alerted, it's alerted.

"What I do not know is the Alert from the NWS, City County, or whoever sent over a radio frequency or hardline system."

As I mentioned, they come over FM broadcast or NOAA Weather Radio.

 

[selgaran]

There are two ways an EAS alert is most commonly sent and then broadcast:

1) NWS weather alert: The NWS issues an alert, which is transmitted on their frequencies. The TV and radio stations pick the alert up off of the weather radio, and broadcast it.

2) Local government agency alert: The local agency contacts the primary EAS broadcast station (what used to be called the LP or "Local Primary" back in the EBS days, and is usually a radio station) and has the station record the message. This message is then broadcast, and the other radio and TV stations pick up the alert and retransmit it. A variant is that the local agency has the NWS transmit the message.

There are also a lot of other ways that can be set up, depending on what agencies want to spend.

There can also be statewide alerts and national alerts, but these are rather uncommon. You probably don't really want to be on the continent if there is ever a national alert.

 

[N4DES]

Our EOC can get the EAS signal from 3 different sources: local NWS transmitter, local FM, and primarily it receives it direct via satellite from the State Warning Point. The local FM stations use the satellite as well to connect to the State Warning Point.

Mark

 

[MacombMonitor]

I think the alerts sent out by my local amateur radio SkyWarn people beat anything else out there! One thing I know for sure, here in Michigan you can't count on anything the FOX2 Weather Authority tells you...it's a total joke! :roll:

 

[K5MAR]

I think the alerts sent out by my local amateur radio SkyWarn people beat anything else out there!

What a lot of amateurs use is EMWIN, a NOAA/NWS service. This is the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network. Available via satellite, or Internet, I believe. Our local ham club president has a sat dish set to receive the data stream and he rebroadcasts it on 148.775 MHz. There are rebroadcast points all around the country, and vendors who sell the receivers. But really for this all you need for 1200 baud is a receiver, dataslicer, computer and software. For information on setting all this up, look at the link above and follow the links there.

Mark S.

 

[BLAH]

I do not have much faith in the EAS system, After all the earthquakes, 9/11 etc. The only time it goes off is to tell you it mght rain hard yaaaaaa
I think if the EAS whent off and told us the bomb from north korea was on its way it would just give us 20 min to go insane.

But if they want to keep it, I think it should go to every pager and cell phone at once, I hear they might do this or that it is in the works alredy...

mmmmmmm BLAH!

 

[sking128]

Back in the day, when I worked in NORAD, we controlled a portion of the EBS system. We had wireline teletype to about thiry agencies across the U.S. including the major broadcast companies. Once a week we would issue an EBS test, and the agencies had to acknoledge the test. If they didn't we would send an isolated test back to that agency, along with a phone call. Usually they would reply then. Ah but that was sooo long ago.
\

Steve

 

[K5MAR]

I do not have much faith in the EAS system, After all the earthquakes, 9/11 etc. The only time it goes off is to tell you it mght rain hard yaaaaaa

Not sure just what you expected the EAS to do regarding 9/11 or earthquakes. There is no advanced warning for this sort of thing. However the EAS system can be used to provide accurate information after such incidents.

I think if the EAS whent off and told us the bomb from north korea was on its way it would just give us 20 min to go insane.

That's the same argument that was used for years to stop warnings from being issued for tornados. In fact, there used to be a regulation preventing broadcasters from telling the public tornados might be possible, so people wouldn't "panic". Yep, our government knows what's best for us! :roll:

Info: From the NOAA Tornado Faq:

Was tornado forecasting once banned in the U.S.?
Yes. Before 1950, at various stages of development of the Weather Bureau, the use of the word "tornado" in forecasts was at times strongly discouraged and at other times forbidden, because of a fear that predicting tornadoes may cause panic. This was in an era when very little was known about tornadoes compared to today, by both scientists and the public at large. Tornadoes were, for most, dark and mysterious menaces of unfathomable power, fast-striking monsters from the sky capable of sudden and unpredictable acts of death and devastation. As the weather patterns which led to major tornado events became better documented and researched, the mystery behind predicting them began to clear -- a process which still is far from complete, of course. In 1950, the Weather Bureau revoked the ban on mentioning tornadoes in forecasts.

Mark S.

 

[N4UYV_Al]

For nationwide, we have a NAWAS (National Warning System) Most Federal,State & local agencies are tied into this system (Most of you 'old' emergency management peeps remember these)...As a former dispatcher, We use ta get weather warnings from Albany,NY weather using this system before it was issued on radio or tv..Today they are still an effective way to communicate from point to point at the statewide level...(Wish they could tie that phone line inta my house for just receive..lol)

 

[retroactiv]

I know every station I've worked for has a hard line which is dialed into. Once there is connection a Morse Code is sent and the equipment verifies that it is a valid EAS message. When I was in radio we had break open verifiers and verify what is being sent manually, that really sucked.

If it is an Amber Alert, then there is a system that picks up that signal and puts up EAS message screen with a crawl.... And plays the message that was sent you'll hear the morse code, then the computer voice...

If it is a weather alert then a crawl auto starts, and you'll see that little area county box come up and it'll get marked in with what is going on... And it auto alerts our weather staff to what is going on.

When any message is sent, "master control" (the people who push the buttons) have a print out which they have to sign and log into a book.

I hope this isn't so technical, but if you want to hear an EAS message, just turn on your tv or radio.

 

[K5MAR]

For nationwide, we have a NAWAS (National Warning System) Most Federal,State & local agencies are tied into this system (Most of you 'old' emergency management peeps remember these)...As a former dispatcher, We use ta get weather warnings from Albany,NY weather using this system before it was issued on radio or tv..Today they are still an effective way to communicate from point to point at the statewide level...(Wish they could tie that phone line inta my house for just receive..lol)

Yes, I remember NAWAS very well. We had the phone for our region of Oklahoma. Of course, that was about 30 years ago, and the level of technology has changed somewhat. The various alerts are now handled in a manner that ensures that most if not all of the various outlets (media, NOAA WX Transmitters, public safety, etc.) get their notification at the same time. Of course, Oklahoma may be at the forefront of alert technology due to the weather here, as well as having the NSSL and SPC here. But many times I've seen pretty much simultaneous alerts on TV, at the local EMA, and heard over NOAA WX Radio. The only way to get any prior notice is to be monitoring the weather spotter radio systems, where we'll hear one of the mets at the Norman NWS office advising somebody in the field "Thanks for the report. We're getting ready to issue a warning on that. This is WX5OUN - Norman Weather." 15-30 seconds later, here comes the B-E-E-P on the SAME Alert radio.

Mark S.