May 10, 2006

Present:

Clay Freinwald - Entercom
Mario Badus Jr - WSEMD
Kris McGowan - FCC
Don White – KCPQ-TV/KTWB-TV
Jim Tharp - Entercom
Bob Wyatt - KSPS (phone)
Peter O'Connell – KING-TV (phone)
Dan Good - ESCA (phone)
Sandy - Gray's Harbor DEM (phone)
Ted Buehner - NWS Seattle
Kerry Jones - NWS Spokane (phone)
Art Blum - KONA (phone)
John Franz - KVOS-TV (phone)
Terry Spring – KWPX-TV
Mark Kennedy – KNDO-TV (phone)

Introductions were made, and the previous minutes were approved.

On March 1st and 2nd, a table top exercise was held simulating a 4 minute earthquake on a shallow Seattle fault.

Some new EAS boxes were unveiled at NAB. It is software programmable and targeted to cable head-ends and low power FM's. See www.trilithicEAS.com. The DASDEC unit is IP based and browser operated. For more information see www.digitalalertsystems.com.

Also at NAB, the annual EAS meeting was held. The CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) was discussed, as was HazCollect. See www.weather.gov/os/hazcoolect. The Western States EAS meeting was also held there. There was an excellent Power Point presentation on California's roll out of CAP on their EDIS system. See http://edis.oes.ca.gov/. For a copy, email Clay at cfreinwald@entercom.com. This is a good example of how things are going in the future. CAP will become the entry point to EAS.

The ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) has approached Clay about using the data stream in DTV for emergency messaging. This will become an SBE EAS sub-committee. A working group will be established to develop protocols. HD radio also needs to be involved.

The SECC has a new amateur radio representative, Ken Dahl (K7TAG). Welcome.

A remote operation studio is being planned for KIRO radio to be used if their main studio is destroyed or otherwise inoperative in a disaster. Possible locations are the state emergency management center or King County Emergency Operations Center. This comes from Entercom's experience with Katrina in New Orleans.

It was emphasized that stations need to monitor the source of EAS messages, not just the stations that are in the Tab 10 monitoring assignments. The only messages the FCC requires to be forwarded are national emergencies and monthly tests. So if you only monitor a broadcast station you may miss some alerts.

In Old Business, the SECC is still working on getting messages from the North Sound area into NOAA's system, so that they will go not only to NWS but to all area broadcasters, as well.

In New Business, the recent RMT's were discussed. It was suggested that anyone having audio problems with received RMT's to make a stink about it. Use the remailer to bring problems to the attention of whoever is originating the message. Provide detailed information as to exact source, location, and anything else that would help pinpoint the problem. This is the only way to get action and solve any problems that might come up. This is a problem shared by both the originators and receivers. Originators need to emphasize training. Some locations have test mode switches that can help prevent events like last monthes rogue RMT.

Coding for Clark County (Vancouver) was discussed. Because this is part of the Portland area, this effects how Oregon stations handle "All of Washington" messages. This will have to be worked out with Oregon.

Ted has been working on definitions of EAS events. The goal is to standardize event code descriptions to provide guidance to emergency management personnel. It will become Tab 8. It will be put on the remailer for comments and adopted at the next meeting.

Now that KNBQ Centralia has moved to Capitol Peak, there is a question as to what area they now serve. We will go by city of license as that is the area they are licensed to serve. KSWW in Montesano will now be in the coastal area.

The Tri Cities wants to go back to originating their own RMT's. The problem is nighttime tests that set off all the Hanford warning radios.

In Spokane, the Idaho Homeland Security Summit will be meeting at a date and time that will be announced on the remailer.

In the Yakima area, the recent Sunnyside Amber Alert was on the web site 20 minutes before the EAS alert. Once again, monitor the source.

The FCC discussed Class A TV's. They must meet all the requirements that full power TV's do, including EAS. A Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is being established. What they will do is not clear, yet. The new District Director in Seattle Is our own Kris McGowan. Acting Senior Agent is now Steve Houser. Congratulations to both. The local office will be hiring more people.

In Snohomish County, another 911 Center wants EAS capability. They will wait for the new technology to become available.

At the WSEM, Don is doing more testing on the new system. There are still some bugs to be worked out.

At NOAA, the HazCollect system will be implemented nation wide over the next year. Some bugs have been found, but they are being worked out. Testing will begin before the end of the month for the new Bellingham weather radio on 162.50 mhz. A possible site has been found for a new weather radio in Lewis County. It will cover the Upper Cowlitz River.

From the Oregon SECC meeting on May 3rd, they are trying to establish a state relay network to replace the current "daisy chain". They are working on funding. They are changing the way they originate Tsunami warning in order to have some redundancy in the system. There might be two separate alerts going out, but everyone is okay with it.

Colorado is the first state to offer AMBER Alerts for seniors. This is somewhat controversial and EAS will not be part of that plan.

The next meeting will be July 12, 2006, at Camp Murray at 9:30 AM.