STATE
OF WASHINGTON
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
Approved by the
Federal Communications Commission, March
3, 1997
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July 13, 2011
Present: Terry Spring-KWPX-TV; Tom Sharp-Pierce County; Ruth Brownstein-KAOS Olympia; Clay Freinwald-WSU; Jim Pace-Amateur Radio; Jim Dalke-Dalke Broadcast Services; Roland Robinson-Bates Technical College
Via Phone: Kevin Noyes-Skagit County; Dan Good-ESCA; Phil Johnson-CPS Chair; Deborah Needham-Renton; Mindy Matson-Renton; Andy Day-Island County; Arthur Willetts-Daystar TV; Kris McGowan-FCC; Larry Zarella-FCC; Anthony Cavallucci-NWS Spokane
Clay Freinwald called the meeting to order and introductions were made.
Mark Allen sent the previous meeting’s minutes out on the remailer. They were approved. Clay had a computer failure. Most EAS stuff was recovered.
The FCC has proposed changes to Part 11, EAS. They have issued a Notice Of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). Several groups are preparing comments. The FCC has also announced that there will be a national EAS test this fall. Both of these items have been covered extensively on the Washington State remailer and the EAS Forum. You need to be subscribed to both to receive local and national EAS information. To join the state remailer go to http://sea.sbe16.org/mailman/listinfo/eas-wa. To join the EAS Forum go to http://eas.radiolists.net/.
The Broadcast Working Group is preparing comments for the FCC NPRM.
The recent RMT lacked audio. It appears to be a training issue.
Next Tuesday, July 19, the Central Puget Sound LACC will be meeting at 9:30 AM at the King County EOC. Don Miller will be doing a CAP Presentation. Contact Phil Johnson for details.
The testing committee hopes to have the 2012 schedule ready for comments by the end of August. It would be presented at the next meeting.
In the Central Puget Sound area, the local area repeater is back in operation. There has not been much activity lately. The back-up transmitter is being worked on.
The North Puget Sound Area has been dormant lately. They are working to reactivate it.
AM receiver antennas were discussed. CC Crain (http://www.ccrane.com/) is a source for radios and antennas. Whip antennas work best on cars. Loop antennas work well. Beverage (long wire) antennas work best but require a lot of space. The remailer is a good source of information.
The proposal on how to address missed or faulty Required Monthly Tests was discussed. It was proposed that the rule adopted in 2009 was too strict and that local areas be authorized to schedule retests. Fisher radio proposed that the Oregon system be used, that a retest be automatically scheduled if a test is missed. Clay suggested that the proposal be discussed on the remailer and involve the Washington State Association of Broadcasters. How the automatic retest in Oregon should be investigated. What is a failed test should be defined. Loss of commercial time for the stations needs to be considered. Also compliance for stations that don’t run RWT’s on RMT weeks. If a test is missed, an explanation on the EAS log meets the FCC requirements. Explanations are posted on the remailer.
Tab 10 was discussed. Recent updates sent to Clay were lost in his computer crash. He is working on updating the monitoring assignments. He has split up the huge Tab 10 file into smaller files covering the local areas. Clay needs help! He is asking the local chairs to get the data together so Clay can compile it. He needs help from some of the less active areas. Clay will still be the clearinghouse.
Are you ready for the national test? The consensus is to just do it and let the chips fall where they may. The test will go from KIRO to Washington State Emergency Management’s State Relay Network. It is scheduled for 11/9/11. It will not be sent using CAP by either the Federal or state activation points.
The next meeting will be on September 14 at a location to be determined.
Terry Spring
Chief Engineer, KWPX TV
ION Media Networks
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