September 1, 2005

Present:

Shelli Jones-KBCB-TV
Andy Wilcoxson-KBCB
Donna DiBianco-KAOS
Bill Goodwin-Click! Network
Mark Allen-WSAB
Edmund Leavitt-EMD-RACES
Jim Tharp-Entercom
Don Miller-WSEM
Laurel Nelson-King County OEM
Lowell Kiesow-KPLU
Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle
Barbara Thurman-EMD-Public Education
Terry Spring-KWPX-TV

Via Phone:
John Franz-KVOS
Art Blum-KONA
Mark Kennedy-KNDO
Kris McGowan-FCC
Dennis Hull-NWS Pendleton
Tyree Wilde-NWS Portland

Introductions were made. Bob Johnson, Kittitas County local chair, has a new address. A new Tab 1 will be on the remailer. The previous minutes were approved.

New Orleans broadcast stations took a big hit during the recent hurricane. Most radio stations are repeating WWL, the area PEP. They are supported by FEMA so they can stay on the air. A lot of the stations that survived the storm are having trouble staying on the air because of the difficulty of getting generator fuel. WWL now has 30 days worth of fuel.

EAS was not activated for the hurricane. They knew it was coming. EAS was activated for the subsequent flooding.

There is no local phone communications. Satellite phones are being used. Weather radio is out due to communications issues.

There will be a Tsunami/Earthquake drill on September 14 at 10:45 AM. The proposed text will be on the remailer. It is being worked on by WSEM and NWS.

The WSEM has two GE Weather radio transmitters waiting for the NWS to decide where they could go. The decision will be made at the regional level. They must be used in Washington.

The FreePlay radio was discussed. It uses no external power. It is powered by a hand crank. It will work well when power will be out for a long time and batteries may not be available.

The NWS RMT the week of 8/21 went awry due to operator error.

KNLR in Bend has figured out a way to have an email sent whenever an EAS event is sent. The information has been posted to the remailer.

An assessment of the last Tsunami Warning was made. The upcoming RMT will see if the problems have been fixed.

The NWS Weather Radio station in Astoria has been upgraded with a new, higher power, transmitter, new phone lines, and a new radio link.

In cable news, Bill Goodwin of Click! Network has recovered from his accident enough to attend meetings again. We are still looking for representation from Comcast, or any other cable system.

The AMBER Alert Review Committee will meet in November. Changes in the state plan will be brought back to the SECC. There was an article on EAS in Bill Virgin's radio column in the PI. See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/238781_radiobeat01.html A PSA has been produced for the Weather radio Awareness Month in September. It is available at http://emd.wa.gov/5-prog/prgms/pubed/weather/wxradio-idx.htm

The August RMT for the Central Puget Sound Area was originated, but never went out. There was a problem with the EAS box. It has been replaced.

Jefferson County issued an alert when their 911 Center went down. It was sent out as a CEM instead of a 911 outage. Also, the audio was low. Jim will be working on their Sage box.

Skagit County asked the state to originate the August RMT for the North Puget Sound. WSEM did not add them to the counties they were already originating the test for. So the RMT did not happen in that area. This problem has been addressed.

In the Mason/Thurston area, the state can now monitor alerts from that area. They can also monitor Grays Harbor and Lewis counties. They are still working on Pacific County.

Clallam County wants the capability to input to the Central Puget Sound area. That is being looked into.

The KVOS Master Control has moved to Tulsa. EAS functions are being monitored from there.

At the National Weather Service, the roof is almost done. There should be no more interruptions to their EAS relays. The possibility of providing Spanish language weather radio to Yakima and the Tri Cities is still in the talking stage. It would use low power transmitters to cover a small area. The problem with the Capitol Peak transmitter has been fixed. The September RMT will be originated by the Weather Service for the entire west coast.

Broadcast Tools has a new product that will insert an analog signal into an AES (digital) line. See http://www.broadcasttools.com/view_product.php?pid=121

A tentative RMT schedule for 2006 has been released. It is still missing some dates. Please put your comments on the remailer.

At the SBE, Clay has elected Vice President of that fine organization.

At the FCC, Kris is still looking into the NAL to the TV stations that were fined for not providing visual emergency information during disaster coverage. An EAS alert was not involved.

There is an issue with the list of recommended location codes. The Entire State of Washington (53000) is not on it, so most stations probably haven't programmed it into their EAS boxes. It will be added.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, November 9th, at 9:30 AM at Washington State Emergency Management at Camp Murray.

Terry W. Spring, Chief Engineer
KWPX Seattle