Upcoming EAS test to use "live" event codes...

[gcheno]

PRESS RELEASE
April 14, 2009
Contact: Marilyn Hogan, President and CEO Colorado Broadcasters Association
And Co-Chair Colorado Emergency Communications Committee

On April 2, 2009 the Federal Communications Commission granted the Colorado Emergency
Communications Committee and National Weather Service a waiver to conduct a statewide test
of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). This test will be utilizing a 'live' Event Code ("TOR" or
“SVR”) in connection with a “statewide tornado test” planned to take place in Colorado on April
21, 2009 between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. The test is part of "Severe Weather Awareness Week",
April 19th-25th, which has been designated by Governor Bill Ritter.
The Governor’s Proclamation for Severe Weather Awareness Week is as follows:
WHEREAS, emergency preparedness depends on the leadership and efforts of elected
officials, public servants and dedicated volunteers; and
WHEREAS, damaging hail, strong winds, violent thunderstorms, tornadoes, flash floods,
and mudslides frequently occur during spring and summer in Colorado, often placing
lives and property in jeopardy; and
WHEREAS, experience has demonstrated that a well-informed and prepared public,
which heeds warnings and takes proper, protective actions, can reduce loss of life and
damage to property when threatened by Colorado’s severe weather; and
WHEREAS, the Colorado Division of Emergency Management, the National Weather
Service, and local government agencies are ready to work with the citizens of this state
and the news media to inform the public of severe weather preparedness and safety
measures;
Therefore, I Bill Ritter, Jr., Governor of the State of Colorado, do hereby proclaim April
19-25, 2009, SEVERE WEATHER AWARENESS WEEK in the State of Colorado.
In compliance with the FCC’s waiver, the Colorado Broadcasters Association and Colorado
Emergency Communications Committee endorses the judgment of the National Weather Service
(NWS) that such a test is necessary, including valid concerns that “without the live codes, the
‘test’ information would not be relayed through law enforcement communication, thus
weakening a test of warning dissemination;" The test wording will inform the public that the drill
is in fact a test as not to alarm the public and cause unnecessary panic and concern.

 

[scanlist]

Sorta like what they did with "Torex 80" in 1980 where NOAA wather radio toned out (no S.A.M.E. tech back then) and broadcast a Tornado warning that a tornado was on the ground "5 miles from your location". EBS was activated as well during that event.

 

[rdale]

Actually they did the live codes up until about 2-3 years ago, then FCC came in and told NWS they weren't allowed to ever issue a test Tornado Warning. So they issued them as test products - which means they didn't take the same paths and didn't trigger the same software that a real TOR would do.

Which means they really didn't test anything at all worthwhile.

Now FCC is wising up and letting the NWS issue test tornado warnings.

 

[gcheno]

I was around for the change from EBS to EAS, and to my knowledge, this is the first "live" test conducted by the Grand Junction NWS office.

What I found most interesting about the press release was the statement that, "without the live codes, the ‘test’ information would not be relayed through law enforcement communication..."

I know Mesa County Dispatch has an Encoder/Decoder (the only one on the western slope as far as I know), but I thought they only used the Encode side... Do they actually monitor other sources (N-LEC, FERN, etc), and re-broadcast alerts like broadcasters do?

 

[eyes00only]

Since this sounds like a good time to try the SAME codes, I have a question. In WIN500 do you need to enter the actual 162.xxx frequency that is affiliated with codes or just the codes?

JK

 

[gcheno]

If you enter the FIPS code for your county, then leave the wildcard in the event column, you should get an alert regardless which event code is received. Make sure you enter the statewide code too (008000).

 

[eyes00only]

I'm not home now, but are FIPS & SAME codes the same thing? I thought FIPS was the type of alert (snow - tornado) and you kept that column wild. But anywhose, I'm assuming that I do not need to SET the actual frequency. The reason I ask is that I lock onto two stations from my house, so one freq. will do Parker while the other will do Boulder.

JK

 

[rdale]

FIPS is the code for your county. Something like COC015 (CO = state, C means county vs Z for UGC code, and 015 = county number.) SAME is the NOAA Weather Radio designation which covers the location and type of product.

 

[eyes00only]

FIPS is the code for your county. Something like COC015 (CO = state, C means county vs Z for UGC code, and 015 = county number.) SAME is the NOAA Weather Radio designation which covers the location and type of product.

Thanks

JK

 

[gcheno]

FIPS is the code for your county. Something like COC015 (CO = state, C means county vs Z for UGC code, and 015 = county number.) SAME is the NOAA Weather Radio designation which covers the location and type of product.

Actually, those look like forecast zone designations.

A FIPS code is numeric only. The first three numbers designate the state (Colorado is 08), and the next three numbers are the area: 08001 is Adams County, 08031 is Denver County, 08000 is the entire state. A map of the state, with county FIPS codes is available here: http://nws.noaa.gov/mirs/public/prods/maps/map_images/state-maps/cnty_fips/co_cnty.pdf.

 

[rdale]

Actually, those look like forecast zone designations.

Guess it depends how you interpret it. My examples are the FIPS codes as used by the NWS in their products. COC009 for example.

Zone codes are Z (UGC). Look exactly the same, but different numbers. COZ009 is not the same area as COC009.

 

[gcheno]

I'm not home now, but are FIPS & SAME codes the same thing? I thought FIPS was the type of alert (snow - tornado) and you kept that column wild. But anywhose, I'm assuming that I do not need to SET the actual frequency. The reason I ask is that I lock onto two stations from my house, so one freq. will do Parker while the other will do Boulder.

JK

The event code is a separate thing. It's three letters. Win500 only lets you program one event for each FIPS code, so I'd leave the wildcard characters so you will get everything for each FIPS code you programmed.

In case anyone is interested, here's a list of event codes: NOAA Weather Radio

 

[eyes00only]

The event code is a separate thing. It's three letters. Win500 only lets you program one event for each FIPS code, so I'd leave the wildcard characters so you will get everything for each FIPS code you programmed.

Copy that.

Thanks / JK

 

[gcheno]

Guess it depends how you interpret it. My examples are the FIPS codes as used by the NWS in their products. COC009 for example.

Zone codes are Z (UGC). Look exactly the same, but different numbers. COZ009 is not the same area as COC009.

I see what you're saying-- when you look up the forecast for your city, state on the internet, for example, if that place is within a zone (COZ007, for example), then the watch/warning/statement will show up. Also (I think?) any place within that zone will have the same forecast.

I don't know why they don't use the same codes for EAS, but I did email someone I know at the NWS asking for a definition of both types of codes. I'll post his reply if I get it in a timely manner.

 

[eyes00only]

It's good to know that I'm not the only one that is cornfused :lol:

JK
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdale View Post
Guess it depends how you interpret it. My examples are the FIPS codes as used by the NWS in their products. COC009 for example.

Zone codes are Z (UGC). Look exactly the same, but different numbers. COZ009 is not the same area as COC009.
I see what you're saying-- when you look up the forecast for your city, state on the internet, for example, if that place is within a zone (COZ007, for example), then the watch/warning/statement will show up. Also (I think?) any place within that zone will have the same forecast.

I don't know why they don't use the same codes for EAS, but I did email someone I know at the NWS asking for a definition of both types of codes. I'll post his reply if I get it in a timely manner.

 

[rdale]

Also (I think?) any place within that zone will have the same forecast.

Yes... and no... They do "point forecasts" now so you click on a point and it pulls the info for that lat/long. There still are "zone" forecasts, using the UGC ("Z" code) which is uniform across the zone.

I don't know why they don't use the same codes for EAS

Because the FIPS codes are not defined in the same way that the zone codes are. Eventually the UGC (Z) will be removed from the system. For the most part, all warnings and the like are on FIPS codes. I wrote the software that all NWS offices (and many EM's) use for receiving warnings, and nothing is more of a pain than when they change which products use Z and which use C!

But in any case, for the purpose of setting up your scanner, use the FIPS (C) code numbers.

 

[gcheno]

Yes... and no... They do "point forecasts" now so you click on a point and it pulls the info for that lat/long. There still are "zone" forecasts, using the UGC ("Z" code) which is uniform across the zone.



Because the FIPS codes are not defined in the same way that the zone codes are. Eventually the UGC (Z) will be removed from the system. For the most part, all warnings and the like are on FIPS codes. I wrote the software that all NWS offices (and many EM's) use for receiving warnings, and nothing is more of a pain than when they change which products use Z and which use C!

But in any case, for the purpose of setting up your scanner, use the FIPS (C) code numbers.

Let me see if I have this straight.

You're saying that when an EAS event is encoded at the weather service office, the header contains both the UGC zone data AND the 6-digit FIPS code?

 

[rdale]

Nope.

EAS is always FIPS. State designation followed by county. In the text product, you'll see this:

WFUS55 KBOU 220043
TORBOU
COC121-220130-
/O.NEW.KBOU.TO.W.0001.090322T0043Z-090322T0130Z/
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
643 PM MDT SAT MAR 21 2009
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
CENTRAL WASHINGTON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO

COC121 is the FIPS line CO = Colorado, C = FIPS, 121 is the code for Washington Co.

The forecast:

COZ048>051-191100-
LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS COUNTY-
INCLUDING CROOK...MERINO...STERLING...PEETZ...AKRON...COPE...LAST
CHANCE...OTIS...JULESBURG...OVID...SEDGWICK...AMHERST...HAXTUN...
HOLYOKE
412 PM MDT SAT APR 18 2009

.TONIGHT...PERIODS OF RAIN EARLY IN THE EVENING...THEN LIGHT RAIN
POSSIBLY MIXED WITH SNOW LATE IN THE EVENING. THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY
WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN AND SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. LITTLE OR NO SNOW
ACCUMULATION. LOWS IN THE MID 30S. NORTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH.
GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH IN THE EVENING.

Washington County is designated with a UGC code of 049. So COZ048>COZ051 means CO, UGC code (Z) and then it includes 048 through 051 in that segment.

Some products are sent with Z, some with C. Sometimes those things change over time. Sometimes they change within parts of the country (some office send flood warnings with Z codes, some with C codes!)

 

[gcheno]

I had a suspicion we were talking about two different things.

What you posted is what you can find on the internet. The data sent over NWR, broadcast and cable stations follows a different protocol, and is much shorter-- and uses a six digit FIPS code, like the one I mentioned earlier.

I'll post the actual text of an eas event on Monday when I'm back at work.

 

[rdale]

Right - it uses a number for the state and removes the C. For radio programming purposes, you'd use that version.