September 12 , 2007
Present: Terry Spring-KWPX-TV; Roland Robinson-Bates Technical College; Jim Dalke-Dalke Broadcast Services; Don Miller-WSEM; Clay Freinwald-EAS; Ken Dahl-Amateur Radio; Jim Tharp-Bonneville Seattle
By Phone: Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle; Bob Wyatt-Spokane; Kris McGowan-FCC; Art Blum-New Northwest Broadcasters Tri Cities; Lisa Scott-Bellevue Fire; Kevin Nye's-Snohomish County; Dan Cain-Skagit County; Dan Good-ESCAPE; Arthur Willets-Daystar Television Network; Tom Sharp-Pierce County; Don White-KCPQ; Phil Johnson-CPS Local Chair
Introductions were made and the previous meeting's minutes were accepted.
Clay participated in a conference call of July 30 to discuss what is really going on with the EAS NPRM 04-296. It is long on vision and short on substance. Clay was encouraged to talk with the FCC and FEMA. FEMA wants broadcasters to lead and set the direction for the next generation of EAS. Mark Allen will be facilitating a meeting in Washington DC on October 17. There will be two representatives each from SBE, NASBA, NAB, FEMA, FCC, NWS, and NEMA. Topics will include what the feds have in mind, where is it going, and where do we want it to go. Work groups will be established. The wireless communications industry was brought into EAS several years ago. They will be participating. CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) is a done deal. This will cause new EAS gear to be required at the station level, The new required state messages will not be officially required until new state plans are submitted and approved by the FCC. There will be changes to the rules in Part 11 to help the process. There will be more information available in alerts, and it will be digital. New digital delivery systems will be put in place. The current equipment is more than ten years old, and the federal government considers it expendable. The NWS SAME system is compatible with CAP.
The practice of using live event codes was discussed again. Some organizations have taken exception to the SBE position. It is still the policy to not do it in this area.
In the Tri Cities, Art Blum has changed jobs, and now has less time available to work on EAS matters. The committee is looking for a new local chair for the area.
At the National Weather Service, September is Weather Radio Awareness Month. This month's RMT will be originated by the NWS. In Eastern Washington it will be an earthquake drill. In Western Washington it will be a tsunami and earthquake drill. The dedication for the Blaine weather radio station will be on September 24. Oregon Scientific has recalled some of their weather radios. They will offer free replacements. See http://www2.oregonscientific.com/recall_front.asp. The Upper Cowlitz weather radio station is progressing. The equipment is at the weather service. They are working with Lewis County on this project. The goal is to have it on the air by this storm season. It will operate on 162.425 MHz. It will cover the area east of Morton to east of Packwood. The weather service is still working on their SRN reception problems at Sand Point.
Roland has been working on a schedule for local area tests for next year. He has heard from 3 local areas (Coastal, Central Puget Sound, Inland NW) and is waiting for more. He will be checking for collisions, more than one test happening at the same time in adjacent areas.
The SBE will be pushing to eliminate the Required Weekly Test. It is only a partial test. All tests should be end to end.
The Coast Guard still wants to participate in EAS. So far, they have no clue as to how EAS works and no procedures in place. Clay is trying to set up a training session for them.
A discussion was held on making changes in the SECC to make the voting process more formal. In the past, the committee has been pretty much in agreement on issues that have come before it. But what happens if there is a major disagreement? Could one side of the argument "load" the committee? What about succession? Clay or Don may not want to be involved in it forever. Clay will put some ideas on paper for the next meeting. Comments on the remailer are welcome, also.
There are chair vacancies in some of the local areas. See http://www.wsab.org/eas/eas_tab1.html to check for your area. If help is needed in your area, now would be a good time to volunteer.
The FCC is still looking for stations that are out of compliance with EAS. They have handed out fines to stations in different parts of the country.
The AMBER Alert that was activated earlier this month in Spokane was to be discussed in Spokane the day after the SECC meeting. The results of that meeting will either be on the remailer or discussed at the next meeting. It will also be discussed at the state AMBER review meeting in October.
Stations are being advised to be careful about buying new EAS gear right now. Anything now in use is likely to be mandated to be replaced in the near future.
Amateur radio operators will be involved in an emergency test on September 29.
Clay Freinwald was named Radio World Engineer of the Year, largely because of his work with EAS. See http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0061/t.7990.html.
The next meeting will be on November 14 at 9:30 AM at Camp Murray.
Terry Spring
Chief Engineer
KWPX Seattle |
