First test of National Alert System

[Heartless51]

November 9th at 2PM EST therewill be test of the NATIONAL Emergency Alert System. Looks like all T.V. and radio will be interupted for around 3 min.

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergen ... nwide-test


No its not a disaster, didn't know where else to put it.

[Midian]

It would worry me if there was a switch that would override all the T.V. and radio signals, or it could just be a signal that alerts the different networks to play the following transmission at there discretion.

[Heartless51]

From what I understand of the homeland security site, it is desugned to overide all t.v. and radio communications. If there were "discrection" designed into it that would defeat the purpose.

[black71label]

We recently received training on the emergency alert system that some cell phone providers are facilitating for the government. You can opt out of everything but "presidential" alerts.

[Phoenix David]

Yes I am sure there will not be an encoded signal sent to activate the hidden chips in TV and radios to turn them into DHS spy devices or any subliminal communications going on during that test.

[Valarius]

November 9th at 2PM EST therewill be test of the NATIONAL Emergency Alert System. Looks like all T.V. and radio will be interupted for around 3 min.

http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergen ... nwide-test


No its not a disaster, didn't know where else to put it.

Still newsworthy. And if I were a smart terrorist, three minutes might be all I needed.

[zulu5oscar]

November 9th at 2pm EST...SKYNET ACTIVATES!!!

[Apollo-11]

This is a nationwide test of the EAS Emergency Action Notification (SAME code: EAN). There has never before been an end-to-end test of EAS, all the way from Washington DC, all the way through the system to the radio and TV broadcasters and NOAA weather stations.

FYI, broadcasters and state emergency offices test all their systems weekly and monthly. But this is intended to be a more comprehensive test. Normally when the systems are tested, they are encoded as Required Weekly Tests (RWT) and Required Monthly Tests (RMT). There are other alerts out there such as Tornado Warnings (TOR) and other weather-related alerts, and some that deal with civil emergencies such as Amber Alerts (Child Abduction Emergency or CAE). But the Presidential Emergency Action Notification (EAN) has never been used before. It was intended to provide an emergency conduit from the White House all the way into the homes and cars of all Americans in case of nuclear war or other nationwide disaster.

An Alaska-wide test of the EAN was performed in January 2010. The results were startling. The chain of broadcasters is supposed to be redundant and overlapping, with one station relaying the message to the next. But the chain broke in several places, leaving parts of Alaska with no emergency message coverage. That trial event led to this test, because DHS, the FCC, and other government agencies want to know exactly how this system will perform in the real world and fix any problems before a real activation of the system.

If all goes well, the program audio from all radio and TV stations will be automatically interrupted for the duration of the alert. If this was a real emergency, a followup code would be sent, the Emergency Action Termination (EAT), to signify the end of the alert.

There have been rumors in the wind that this will become a yearly event, testing the EAN from end-to-end.

[Sckitzo]

Good info to know, thank you for sharing that link, I have no idea where I'd put it either

Be interesting to see what the results are, might actually have to turn a radio on for once.

[Apollo-11]

I just found out that NOAA and National Weather Service will not be participating in the test. So this will be TV & Radio broadcasters, cable TV, DBS satellite providers, and satellite radio. So if you have a NOAA weather radio that turns on during the Required Weekly Test, it will NOT be activated during the EAN test.

[TacAir]

Still scratching head...

I can see regional alerts for storms, HAZMAT accidents and such, but National?

Has any reason been given for having a National alert system? I only ask because
1) the test failed here & where is did work the audio was so bad as to be almost unintelligble
2) Not much from the L48 impacts here - ditto for HI.

So, why?

[Ableto]

Still scratching head...

I can see regional alerts for storms, HAZMAT accidents and such, but National?

Has any reason been given for having a National alert system? I only ask because
1) the test failed here & where is did work the audio was so bad as to be almost unintelligble
2) Not much from the L48 impacts here - ditto for HI.

So, why?

Maybe they know something that we dont. Time to put on tinfoil hats.

[TacAir]

Still scratching head...

I can see regional alerts for storms, HAZMAT accidents and such, but National?

Has any reason been given for having a National alert system? I only ask because
1) the test failed here & where is did work the audio was so bad as to be almost unintelligble
2) Not much from the L48 impacts here - ditto for HI.

So, why?

Maybe they know something that we dont. Time to put on tinfoil hats.

Don't know about the tin foil

THis cost something - somebody had to justify the expense - I just haven't seen anything on the web or in print on the 'why'
I was hoping a board member had seen something and could share it...

[Apollo-11]

I work in the biz.

The scuttlebutt is that they want to make sure the system works as it is, then they will begin incrementally adding on to it in order to be able to reach the public in an effective manner. They are also testing the Tsunami alert network in the US Marshall Islands and doing other system testing, as well as expanding the EAS-CAP system to include smart phones and other devices.

The national system is intended to alert the public in the event of a large scale disaster. Back in the days of CONELRAD in the 50s, it was envisioned as a way to alert the public to seek shelter in the event of a nuclear attack. As the threats to the US have evolved, the system must evolve to keep up with the threats, and to keep up with the changing ways that people get their information. In the last 10 years or so, they have added a bunch of new codes to the EAS system to be able to alert the public to specific threats, and they will continue to do so. For instance, the Amber Alert is part of the EAS system and can now disseminate information to highway billboards to alert drivers to be on the lookout for a white van, license plate ABC123, that abducted Suzy from the park. This is starting to get put into place now.

The Japanese version of EAS alerted the public in the path of the Tsunami immediately following the quake. Smart phones were set off. Reader boards in public places posted evacuation warnings. Sirens sounded. This happened within minutes. Their system is quite advanced compared to what we have; in fact, our system is outdated (although it is robust). The better our system is, the better it can warn the public in order to safeguard human lives and property. You get better by incrementally testing. This is the purpose of the test - to see how it works and how we can improve it. No tin foil hattery is necessary. I would be the first one to don one, except that I see what's going on from the inside.

[Valarius]

I work in the biz.

The scuttlebutt is that they want to make sure the system works as it is, then they will begin incrementally adding on to it in order to be able to reach the public in an effective manner. They are also testing the Tsunami alert network in the US Marshall Islands and doing other system testing, as well as expanding the EAS-CAP system to include smart phones and other devices.

I was wondering why the hell the National Weather Service, of all agencies, wouldn't be included in this. Thanks for the info.

[Apollo-11]

Strangely enough, the info that I received showed that there was no mechanism to relay the alert from the Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations to the NWS. The NWS doesn't have any way to receive the alert, and if it could, the alert will be longer than the max 2 minutes that their machines can handle.

Like I said, our system is getting old and outdated.

[oldsoldier]

Apollo, as you seem to be our inside man in this-is there an android app, that you are aware of, that is something smartphone users could DL? To be honest, my TV is rarely on-and my radio is usually on Pandora, so I wouldnt get alerts such as this-and, I think there are a LOT of folks who feel similar. As they likely cannot broadcast over the web, or send a text to every person in the country, I was wondering whether there are apps that you (or anyone else) would know of? Even local ones-emergencty broadcast system ones, that would, ideally, relay the national one.

[crypto]

Still scratching head...

I can see regional alerts for storms, HAZMAT accidents and such, but National?

Has any reason been given for having a National alert system? I only ask because
1) the test failed here & where is did work the audio was so bad as to be almost unintelligble
2) Not much from the L48 impacts here - ditto for HI.

So, why?

the stated goal of the all federal emergency broadcast systems has always been national coverage. Look up "Clear-Channel radio station". Not clearchannel the company, clearchannel as in the AM stations with special licenses to run like 300,000 watts in emergencies to get national coverage, with no competing stations on their frequency anywhere in north america.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear-channel_station
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conelrad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Alert_System

Very intriguing reading there, full of history, as different systems have evolved. But from the early days of CONELRAD, the goal has been automatic, mandatory shutdown of non-emergency broadcast traffic at a national level, and the automatic patching in and relaying of the emergency message.

The general reason for funding these national alert systems has been national level threats, such as nuclear war.

More recently, the spectre of coordinated nationwide terrorist attacks has been driving this, and to a lesser degree, pandemic disease concerns.

[crypto]

Apollo, as you seem to be our inside man in this-is there an android app, that you are aware of, that is something smartphone users could DL? To be honest, my TV is rarely on-and my radio is usually on Pandora, so I wouldnt get alerts such as this-and, I think there are a LOT of folks who feel similar. As they likely cannot broadcast over the web, or send a text to every person in the country, I was wondering whether there are apps that you (or anyone else) would know of? Even local ones-emergencty broadcast system ones, that would, ideally, relay the national one.

An EAS application is expected to be rolled out by wireless carriers soon. It's already been conceived of, and the need recognized:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/us/10 ... ss&emc=rss

[phil_in_cs]

Apollo, as you seem to be our inside man in this-is there an android app, that you are aware of, that is something smartphone users could DL? To be honest, my TV is rarely on-and my radio is usually on Pandora, so I wouldnt get alerts such as this-and, I think there are a LOT of folks who feel similar. As they likely cannot broadcast over the web, or send a text to every person in the country, I was wondering whether there are apps that you (or anyone else) would know of? Even local ones-emergencty broadcast system ones, that would, ideally, relay the national one.

An EAS application is expected to be rolled out by wireless carriers soon. It's already been conceived of, and the need recognized:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/us/10 ... ss&emc=rss

I wonder what the impact on traffic accidents will be when every driver in the country gets a text at the same time, especially the older model phones that don't normally get text msgs?

[Sckitzo]

Apollo, as you seem to be our inside man in this-is there an android app, that you are aware of, that is something smartphone users could DL? To be honest, my TV is rarely on-and my radio is usually on Pandora, so I wouldnt get alerts such as this-and, I think there are a LOT of folks who feel similar. As they likely cannot broadcast over the web, or send a text to every person in the country, I was wondering whether there are apps that you (or anyone else) would know of? Even local ones-emergencty broadcast system ones, that would, ideally, relay the national one.

An EAS application is expected to be rolled out by wireless carriers soon. It's already been conceived of, and the need recognized:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/us/10 ... ss&emc=rss

I wonder what the impact on traffic accidents will be when every driver in the country gets a text at the same time, especially the older model phones that don't normally get text msgs?

This is a good point, especially the older folks who may freak when their phone starts making noises their not used, or car's full of people that get distracted when all their phones start chiming within a few seconds of each other.

[crypto]

I wonder what the impact on traffic accidents will be when every driver in the country gets a text at the same time, especially the older model phones that don't normally get text msgs?

From what I understand, this is a feature only for smart phones made moving forward, and wont be used for a gigantic mass SMS.

[Kommander]

This is gonna be another Orsen Wells War Of The Worlds fiasco isn't it.

[crypto]

You must have missed the previous 10 posts where we've been discussing the fact that a national-level automatic emergency broadcast system has been in place for the last 60 years.

Nothing to see here, move along.