July 8, 2004

Present:

Terry Spring-KWPX
Mark Allen-WSAB
Ted Buehner-NWS
Clay Freinwald-Entercom

Jim Tharp-Entercom
Don White-KCPQ/KTWB
Don Miller-WSEM
Scott Vermeys-Comcast
Bob Wyatt-Spokane(phone)
Dennis Hull-NWS Pendleton(phone)
Kris McGowan-FCC
Roland Robinson-Bates Technical College
Art Blum-KONA(phone)

The meeting was called to order by Clay Freinwald, and introductions were made.

Don reported on the Media Security Reliability Council (MSRC) meeting. They believe EAS is a mess, which is probably true nationally. Some other states are way behind Washington. Some states can't issue a state wide alert. Some stations don't want to do anything without federal funding.

The NAB's position on HD radio and EAS is that stations need to continue on with what they are doing now. There is a future possibility of an enhanced alert system, but not before the digital conversion. The present EAS equipment is okay for now.

The FCC will be issuing a Notice of Inquiry on EAS. This will be a chance to comment on all aspects of EAS, including the effectiveness of the system, whether the present voluntary requirements are sufficient, and whether broadcasters should be required to make their facilities available to emergency managers. The Partnership for Public Warning (PPW) has made some proposals that will be open to comment.

The Sunday Tacoma News Tribune had a major article on lahars. It was a good one and provided major PR.

The notes from the previous meeting were approved.

The new AMBER Web Portal was scheduled to come on line July 9th. It is still in the testing phase and not available for viewing. It will be unveiled at the National Governor's Association meeting later this month. Eleven states are now in the consortium and more are expected.

The state wide AMBER plan was previously approved. The SECC is now looking at the local plans that have been submitted. The local areas have until January 1 to submit their plans. Those areas with approved plans will not have to have Washington State Patrol approval for their alerts. Several plans have been submitted. The main thing that is being looked at is the understanding of the AMBER alert criteria. Approved are Clark, Yakima, and Thurston Counties, and Cheney, Ellensburg, and the City of Spokane. Columbia, Walla Walla, Klickitat, and Franklin County plans were approved pending changes being made.

Nothing is new on the cable over ride front.

The Tab 10 revision is still being worked on. This is the local stations monitoring assignments. The SECC is still missing information on some stations. The FCC may be getting involved in this. Stations will be informed of changes in their monitoring assignments on the WSAB web site or the WSAB news letter. The latest revision has been distributed on the remailer.

New Tabs 5 and 6 have been distributed on the remailer.

At the National Weather Service, the new event codes are now active. Clay got his environmental award at the recent weather radio dedication at Camp Murray. The Department of Homeland Security will be using the NWS weather radio for alerts. The weather radio EAS interconnection project is progressing in Pendleton and Spokane. September is Nation Weather Radio Awareness Month.

Don Miller of Washington State Emergency Management attended the second Partnership for Public Warning conference. The future of the PPW is uncertain as they are looking for private funding for when the public funding runs out.

In other WSEM news, the receivers on Capital Peak for getting local area signals to Camp Murray are being installed. Comcast has agreed to improve their system to receive disaster resistant certification. September is All-Hazards Warning Month.

The FCC is still checking for EAS compliance. A San Diego low power was recently fined $6000.

The proposed change to the RMT schedule for September is still tentative. Further information will be on the remailer.

As for the June RMT, the Kitsap County transmitter was broke. They thought they had sent the test, but it never went out. This should be noted on the stations' logs. The FCC would check for this during an inspection.

The SECC would like to reaffirm the following policy. REAL EVENT CODES ARE ONLY TO BE USED FOR REAL EMERGENCY EVENTS. Not only is there the real possibility of confusion and panic among the general public, but it is also contrary to FCC rules and leaves broadcast stations and cable systems vulnerable to being fined.

In cable TV news, SECC member Bill Goodwin of Click! Network was seriously injured in an accident. We wish him a speedy recovery.

The new SAGE firmware has been released and is available from Harris.

Clay attended the Illinois SECC meeting in Chicago and learned how EAS is handled there. Origination is done by the LP stations. The state can originate things, but mostly through the LP's. AMBER alerts are originated by the state by sending a script to the National Weather Service ready to activate by their automated voice system. That is what airs on the broadcast stations. They are trying to get the Illinois governor to voice all EAS alerts.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, September 8, at 9:30 AM at Camp Murray.

Terry Spring, Chief Engineer , KWPX-TV, Seattle