STATE
OF WASHINGTON
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
Approved by the
Federal Communications Commission, March
3, 1997
July 9, 2009
Present: Robert Purdom A07LJ-Amateur Radio; Roland Robinson-Bates Technical College; Terry Spring-KWPX TV; Dick Pust-KGY Olympia; Clay Freinwald-Entercom; Ruth Brownstein-KAOS Olympia; Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle; Don Miller-EMD; Jim Dalke-KDR Location Unknown
Via phone: Bob Wyatt-KSPS Spokane; Kerry Jones-NWS Spokane; Tom Saylor-KWSU Pullman; Joe Bates-Whatcom County EM; Arthur Willetts-KWDK Seatac; Don Eckis-WSU Pullman; Phil Johnson-CPS LECC; Dennis Hull-NWS Pendleton; Don White-KCPQ Seattle; Bob Jacobson-Whatcom County EM
Clay welcomed us all to the meeting and introductions were made. The minutes from the May meeting were approved.
The Fisher Plaza fire was discussed. it received national attention. It caused a major disruption to everyone in the building. The Fisher stations made some interesting improvisations to stay on the air (or not). The bus bar between the City Light handoff and the building burned up, the sprinklers were activated, and the generator transfer switches were damaged. This effectively killed the power to the building. this incident will be the subject of a future Society of Broadcast Engineers meeting. The information will be on their website (www.sbe16.org) when the date is firmed up.
The North Puget Sound LECC will meet July 29, either at KVOS or the old EOC. Participants will be contacted and given more details. The purpose is to try to reorganize the committee and have it functioning again. Information will be on the remailer.
Spectrarep, Ibiquity, and Sage have combined forces to develop a system using HD Radio technology. The plan is to send addressable alerts using a variety of devices, such as radios, cell phones, personal computers, and more. See the press release at http://www.spectrarep.com/news/press/2009/press_06172009.htm.
In the state plan, there is a change for Tab 2 in the Inland Empire. There are also changes in Cowlitz and Lewis counties. It will be updated on the WSAB web site. Tab 13, showing where alerts originate, is still being worked on. Tab 10, which shows monitoring assignments for broadcast stations in the state, will be out soon. Please get changes to Clay ASAP. This is used by the FCC to verify compliance with regulations regarding EAS. Monitoring assignments need to be changed officially by the SECC. The SECC offers technical assistance for monitoring problems. All you have to do is ask, preferably on the remailer.
Ted Buehner will be doing training in West Clallam soon.
Don Miller reports that he has 70 new Sage Digital EAS boxes that he will be distributing around the state. He is waiting for FEMA to standardize the CAP to SAME profile. It will possibly happen in the next couple of months. Anyone who has bought, or will be buying one of the new Sages boxes should contact Don so they can be integrated into the state system. At some point in the future, information for downloading the different features will be posted. The new units have many advantages over the original Sage, including generating crawls of the actual alert (instead of a generic message) and audio delivered over the internet instead of the sometimes erratic radio links.
All's quiet in Eastern Washington.
At the National Weather Service, Ted distributed scripts for the September 16 RMT. This will be part of the Tsunami Warning Communications Test and Earthquake Drill in Western Washington. In Eastern Washington it is just an Earthquake Drill as Tsunamis are not likely to reach the other side of the state. The use of EAS for the Howard Hansen Dam was discussed. The dam has reduced capacity which means that there is an increased chance of flooding downstream in the Green River System. See http://www.kingcounty.gov/safety/prepare/FloodPlan_GRiverBasin.aspx. Ted will be traveling to different areas around the state to give training. In Pendleton, they are trying to make their alerts shorter. In Spokane, there are fewer alerts. They have raised the standards for Thunderstorm warnings.
All stations are required to receive 2 EAS tests a week, and send 1. If any are missed, it is your obligation to find out why and note it in the log.
Roland will start working on the 2010 Test Schedule sometime in August.
The next meeting will be on September 9 at 9:30 AM at Camp Murray.
Terry Spring
Chief Engineer
KWPX TV/DT
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