STATE
OF WASHINGTON
EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM
Approved by the
Federal Communications Commission, March
3, 1997
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May 12, 2010
Present: Terry Spring-KWPX; Lowell Kiesow-KPLU; Ted Buehner-NWS Seattle; Andrew Kinney-Thurston County; Phil Johnson-CPS LECC; Mark Sheppard-City Of Seattle OEM; Clay Freinwald-WSU; Don Miller-WSEM; Mark Allen-WSAB; Dick Pust-KGY
Via Phone: Shad Burcham-King County; Jim Pace-Amateur Radio; Don Good-ESCA; Merle Frank-City Of Puyallup; Jeff White-KXRO; Kevin Noyes-Skagit County; Don White-KCPQ
Clay called the meeting to order and introductions were made. The yearly Spokane EAS meeting will be held on May 27. There will be a HazCollect demonstration. Don Miller is planning on giving a demonstration of the new Sage Endecs that will be distributed by the state. It will start at 9:30 AM at the Spokane City Fire Training Center, located at 1620 East Rebecca Avenue, Building "E", Spokane 99217.
The FCC Part 11 revision is underway. There were several EAS sessions at NAB. Clay did not attend, so there is no report. The SBE is not as involved with EAS as when Clay headed the EAS Committee.
Clay is now working part-time for WSU and also doing contract work.
The EAS remailer is self-service. You do not have to go through Clay to make changes in your account. See http://sea.sbe16.org/mailman/listinfo/eas-wa.
The SECC still needs a representative from the cable industry. Mark Allen will call his counterpart with the cable association to see if they can appoint a representative.
The situation in West Clallam is still unclear. The ownership status for the local radio station is unclear. Clay has been working there for WSU. He will stop by the station when he Can.
The Green River/Howard Hanson Dam situation was discussed. There is a push for federal money to repair the dam. It looks like it has gone through. See http://www.king5.com/news/Feds-give-44M-to-fix-Howard-Hanson-Dam-93712629.html. The warning system is still being tested. There will probably not be any changes for this coming winter. The warning situation should be helped by the new EAS boxes.
Don Miller is still looking for electronic copies of the local EAS plans.
Phil Johnson has been working on the Central Puget Sound Local Relay Network. There may be an intermittent problem with the transmitter. He has found someone to work on it.
We still don't know when new EAS equipment will be required. The 180 day clock may start this fall. The 180 day requirement could be extended.
In new business, the City of Seattle will no longer originate EAS alerts. They will rely on others.
WSU's radio network, Northwest Public Radio, has a lack of local EAS messages. Their stations are fed by satellite from Pullman. When the new EAS boxes are deployed, all alerts can be fed to any location. The filters in the ENDECs will determine what goes over the air.
A new local area leader is needed in the Tri Cities. Clay knows some possibilities. Volunteers are always welcome.
Don Miller demonstrated the ENDECSET program for the new Sage EAS boxes. The boxes are PC programmable. The local area is programmed with every county in a station's coverage area. The RMT's can be programmed separately, which will eliminate the airing of multiple RMT's from different areas. The stations that receive the boxes can make changes from the standard configuration to fit local conditions. The Sage polls the My States web site every two minutes. The boxes will eventually also poll the NWS HazCollect. All tests will go to all the boxes. The filters in the boxes will determine which messages go to air. To download the software, go to http://www.sagealertingsystems.com/support-pc.htm. For more information on the new, digital ENDEC, go to http://www.sagealertingsystems.com/endec.pdf.
In the Central Puget Sound area, NORCOM will do the June RMT instead of Seattle.
Ted Buehner reported that the September RMT will not only be used for the statewide annual earthquake drill, but also be part of the west coast of the U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Communications Test. It will originate at 10:15 AM at the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska. (http://wcatwc.arh.noaa.gov/), and work its way through the communication's system to the coastal region. The NWS will activate EAS using the RMT event code on all NOAA Weather Radio stations. For the first time, the AHAB warning sirens also plan to be activated. (http://www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us/info/DEM/Docs/AHABs.pdf) A public awareness campaign is being created to help ensure coastal residents and businesses are aware of the tsunami test in advance.
Clay reported that the FCC recently fined a station in Virginia for having no working EAS equipment. See it here: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-10-784A1.doc.
Roland Robinson is working on next years testing schedule. If you have any suggestions or changes, contact him at rrobinson@bates.ctc.edu.
Jim Pace mentioned again that amateur radio operators are willing to help with technical problems.
The next meeting will be on July 14 at 9:30 AM at Camp Murray.
Terry Spring
Chief Engineer
KWPX TV/DT
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