July 11 , 2007
Present: Terry Spring-KWPX-TV; Tim Lawson-Snohomish County DEM; Roland Robinson-Bates Technical College; Don White-Tribune Television; Bill Goodwin-Click CATV Tacoma; Phil Johnson-CPS LECC; Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle; Clay Freinwald-Entercom; Don Miller-WSEM
Via Phone: Bob Wyatt-KSPS Spokane; Debra Needham-Renton EM; Kerry Jones-NWS Spokane; Andy Wilcox-KBCB Bellingham; Dan Good-ESCA; Arthur Willets-KWDK Seattle; Kris McGowan-FCC; Dennis Hull-NWS Pendleton
The meeting was called to order by Clay Freinwald and introductions were made.
The FCC Report and Order on EAS was discussed. Carriage for state emergency messages will be mandated, but there is nothing on how that will happen. It will surely require changes in the state plans. There are lots of things in the R & O that are open to interpretation. There is pressure for alerts in languages other that English, something the state is now required to do in other areas.
Clay will be explaining EAS to the Coast Guard at a meeting on 7/19. The CG is interested in having some participation in EAS.
There is a new emergency network, GSS, America's Emergency Network. It provides an AMBER Alert Portal. See http://www.emergency.info/.
Art Blum is no longer with KONA in the Tri Cities.
The Department of Homeland Security will hold an anti-terrorism drill, Topoff4, in October. It will take place in several venues, including Portland. For more information see http://www.dhs.gov/xprepresp/training/gc_1179350946764.shtm.
There are still some empty local area chairs. For a list see
http://www.wsab.org/eas/eas_tab2.html. If you're area does not have a chair, your help would be greatly appreciated. Contact Clay at cfreinwald@entercom.com.
Once again, the subject of using live event codes for testing came up. The SBE (and the Washington State SECC) is opposed to this. The SBE has put out a press release. See http://www.sbe.org/pub_sc.php#EASTEST. Many groups want to do this and this would mean many test alerts.
Oregon is making the Columbia Gorge one of their local areas. We will be losing a couple of counties to Oregon (just for EAS purposes).
The coordination of local area testing was discussed. Should testing be on different days for different areas? Or should local areas come up with their own schedule? That is already done on a partial basis in the Tri Cities area due to the Hanford warning system. Please address your comments to the remailer. In any case, EAS alerts and tests should be relayed as soon as possible and not held. And for best results, alerts should be received from the source or as close to the source as possible.
The Coast Guard would like to participate in EAS. Should they be allowed to originate tests? Would they have an input into a local area? There is no provision for them in the state plan. Currently, any government agency can call the State Emergency management office to have a legitimate alert originated. Please post your thoughts to the remailer.
The recent AMBER alert was discussed. It took 13 hours for the alert to be sent. It would be better if it was quicker, although, in the past, some agencies have been criticized for being too quick. The AMBER portal was not well known and under-utilized, although it is better known now. See http://www.amberalert.com/signin.php.
The Department of Homeland Security has been giving XM Satellite Radio receivers to the states to provide another source for national alerts. Oregon is using theirs to feed the Oregon Public Broadcasting network. In Washington, they will be installed at KIRO and the state Emergency Management facility.
The basic make up and how votes are counted in the SECC was discussed. Because we vote on policies that effect many different groups, some feel that we should formalize the voting process and member ship in the committee. It would not be good if one group came in and were to take over by having enough people to monopolize the voting. Don Miller will work on a protocol.
The June RMT did not go as planned. It looked like it was sent okay, but the ENDEC lost audio. The unit has been replaced.
The EAS Web interface is still being developed. It is being upgraded so it can handle the entire state. Seven interface boxes have been bought for Central Washington. In the next round, 45 more boxes will be bought for the rest of the state. Don expects the funding to come through for this.
Sage has a new unit under development that will use the Common Alert Protocol (CAP). Presumably this will come with enhanced TV crawl capabilities.
WSEM runs an RWT every Tuesday around 10 AM. This is done to make sure the SRN is working.
The First Responder Broadcasters Act of 2007 was discussed. It will expand EAS and mandate that there is a Primary Entry Point (PEP) in each state and territory. It will designate local radio and TV as a first responder. It protects fuel, food, and other supplies so broadcast stations can keep operating in an emergency. And it will expedite access to disaster zones for equipment repair. Access will be determined by local government instead of the federal government. This was brought about because of problems that happened in New Orleans and vicinity after Katrina. See
http://landrieu.senate.gov/broadcasters/index.cfm and
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6434605.html.
In the Central Puget Sound Local Area, Phil Johnson has taken over the chair and is doing a great job.
At the National Weather Service, the new weather radio station on the Upper Cowlitz is progressing. The transmitter site is east of Randle. They are now picking a frequency and working on the licensing. They hope to have it on the air by the storm season.
Should the weather service do an EAS activation for a major flood? Please direct comments to the remailer.
Weather Radio Awareness Month is in September. There will be a dedication for the new weather radio station in Blaine. The Drop, Cover, and Hold exercise will be on September 19, in conjunction with the September RMT.
The latest on HazCollect is that it will be rolled out later this summer.
From the FCC, Kris asks that you contact her if you know of any stations that aren't complying with EAS. They are also looking for engineers with E.E. degrees.
Kris was asked about keeping logs in electronic form. That is acceptable to the FCC as long as there is a PC available for viewing them. For example, ENDEC logs can be kept on a floppy or CD as long as they can be viewed by an inspector during an inspection.
The next meeting will be on September 12 at 9:30 AM at Camp Murray.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Spring
Chief Engineer
KWPX Seattle
An Affiliate of ION Media Networks
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