NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: First national Emergency Alert System (EAS) test: FAIL in many areas
----- Forwarded message from John Fricker <john.fricker@gmail.com> ----- I was in charge of the test for a local FM station and we didn't receive the test from our upstream. Apparently most of Oregon didn't receive it because of a single point of failure in Portland. Nonetheless, a failed test is still a valid test. The current design of the EAS is hierarchical. It's time for broadcast and cable communications to learn some modern ideas. At the very least the design needs to add redundancy at the region level. Both of our upstreams were fed from the same regional provider. This is the EAS plan for Oregon for those with interest. John On Nov 9, 2011, at 12:06 PM, dfarber wrote: > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com> >> Date: November 09, 2011 2:17:00 PM >> To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org >> Subject: [ NNSquad ] First national Emergency Alert System (EAS) test: FAIL in many areas >> >> >> First national Emergency Alert System (EAS) test: FAIL in many areas >> >> Apparently the first ever national test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) >> can be declared a failure in many areas. >> >> Reports are coming in of broadcast stations that did not show the test, even >> while local cable systems did, and places where broadcast stations did >> alert and cable systems failed to activate their warning systems. >> >> Here in L.A., I monitored and recorded two outlets: KCBS-DT (2) via an >> antenna, and CNN HD on Time Warner Cable. >> >> KCBS broadcast *did* run the test as planned. Time Warner Cable (at least >> here in the West Valley) did not. Normally for EAS activations (tests, >> weather alerts, etc.) TW triggers a red banner warning that overrides >> programming on all cable channels. This did *not* occur for the national >> test at 11am PST today. FAIL. >> >> --Lauren-- >> Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren >> Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org >> Founder: >> - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org >> - Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org >> - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com >> Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy >> Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com >> Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren >> Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein >> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com > ----- End forwarded message -----