Talk:Emergency Alert System/Archive 1

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Archive 1

EAS Decoder Proggy

I Wanna Read What Those Tones Are Playing Back Because On KSPS Spokane They Dont Mute The Data And It Bothers My Modded TTY Program, Its In A Different Format So I Need To Find A Program That Can Read It. Offensiveandconfusing 18:25, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Edits by User:Calltech Reverted

Same as in Call centre, perfectly legitimate links were removed by User:Calltech. One was a non-profit organisation that had useful information on it and the other was a public sector article that was re-published by a private sector organisation, which also posts links to the Canadian government. His purported objection was that the links were filled with advertising. I invite anyone to visit these websites. Yes, these folks probably finance their web efforts with some ads that appear on the site. Big deal. The information was perfectly valid and useful for people interested in the subject matter. I don't see the big deal with ads on the side, especially if the contents are informative.--Achim 22:46, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

External Link Removal

  • Removed YouTube links. Don't need 3 different examples of the same EAS message. Links do not provide any unique information. One example starts with an ad and the second is a home made recording WP:RS#YouTube. Calltech 12:08, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Removed link to Cybertelecom.org - added by User:Rcannon100 who is a director of Cybertelecom. Please submit through Talk page before adding links to your own sites WP:EL. Calltech 14:04, 9 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Removed link to haas.ca website - added by unnamed editor User:70.24.131.46 whose only contribution appears to be adding links to Wikipedia to haas.ca (his own website). Please submit through Talk page before adding links to your own sites. WP:EL. Calltech 14:16, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Primary Entry Point

More material is needed on what an EAN is (Presidential Message, sort of) and how it gets distributed via PEP. EAN/PEP IS the reason EAS even exists. Newsandrumor 00:02, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Red Screen Tests?

Can somebody please explain to me those "red screen" tests of the EAS that I am seeing more frequently, especially between midnight and 3 AM? There are no tones or announcements that this is a test, but there is text on the screen, which is white text on a red screen (hence why I call it the "red screen test"). Sometimes it says, "This Station Is Participating In A Required Weekly test of the EAS", or it just says "IDEA/ONICS EAS." Whenever it goes on it startles me sh*tless nonetheless... I wish I had more information on it though.

IDEA/ONICS is an EAS ENDEC maker. Overnight RWT's aren't uncommon. You maybe saw an all channel interrupt on a cable system. Most broadcasters and cable just use a screen crawl. I don't remember if cable systems are required to send the rwt tone burst, because nobody monitors them. Broadcasters have to because their monitoring assignment won't get the daisy chain on their ENDEC. FWIW I wrote a fairly long article on EAS at E2. everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1002623 Last entry. When time permits I'll do a little here. Most people don't get the EAS, and the Feds don't help much. If you see EMERGENCY ACTION NOTIFICATION then worry. You'd then very well might see 15 mins. of red scroll with no audio, then if you're very lucky bad audio of the President of the US (no video most likely). The test you saw was designed to make sure (although no one really is) that audio of Pres. would make it from White House to FEMA to PEP Stations to maybe another radio station then to the cable system and then a long period of silence or an audio message repeated over and over until all downstream stations join the network then maybe Presidential audio, probably of a bad phone patch from Air Force One, telling you about what you saw on CNN. If Bush had felt he needed to on the way from FL to Barksdale on 9/11 he'd have used and EAS/EAN phone patch from AF1.

That week they sent the engineers at the PEP stations to go live at the transmitter sites, expecting they might have to do it. For a while I though they might to. If you look at the EAS Handbooks, the FCC loves creepy red/black lettering. http://www.wibble.co.uk/archives/nanog/2001/msg03117.html

Back in the day some cable companies like HBO participated in EBS voluntarily, but the cable interrupt is designed so you wouldn't miss an EAN if you were watching Pay Per View or some non-participating network. Newsandrumor 01:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)


Definately an all-channel interrupt I see, very interesting stuff though I bet the interruption of PPV/HBO paid programming pissed off many before on-demand existed. ^_^

EAN/EAT

Corrected the acronyms. Currently, the most succinct official source(s) will be the FCC Handbooks avail. via the external links. Newsandrumor 18:45, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

The full EAS test audio

I made that "Full EAS Transmission" sample audio, combined from the sounds found in the entire article, but it has come to my attention that the shorter "wavering" tones are only sounded after the announcement, and the longer "wavering" tones only before. I've gotten some input on my talk page on this, anyone have any verification?

I think the EAS system, in my opinion, since everyone else is throwing in theirs, is a governmental conspiracy that originated from the ancient CONELRAD system. The CONELRAD system was actually somewhat revolutionary, even though many people didn't believe it would do much. Since then, the government has remade the CONELRAD/Emergency Broadcast System/Emergency Alert System into a newly-revealed Digital Emergency Alert System. OK, this seems weird, but it's clear that even TESTS of the EAS are scaring the crap out of people nowadays. I remember the first time I saw one of those things I had nightmares for a week. (Hey, I was, like, 6...) Anyways, it seems that the fact that the TESTS THEMSELVES do not incorporate any nationwide standards - wouldn't it be more comforting if the tests were MANDATED because they were ACTUAL nationwide activations? People would get scared, yes, but it seems something like making monthly random nationwide "tests" would be more convenient, and notifying all radio/TV stations afterwards to check if the test succeeded. It would be more risky legally, but it would be a LOT more secure. How would we know if the President could send audio across the nation through the EAS? There is no way to thoroughly test that UNLESS you actually test the audio system!

Now, after all that complicated mumbo-jumbo, look back... is it really safe to allow the primary stations to run tests on their own that do not incorporate the equipment that would be needed in case the EAS was really activated? Sure, we know you can make the basics work, but if a city (or even a whole state) was left on a limb while the President talked about an upcoming nuclear war that doesn't get transferred due to faulty non-tested audio transfer software, that risks lives.

I'm only 15. I'm willing to admit that. I'm also willing to admit there are a few idiots in the government today. But that doesn't mean that I should be able to revolutionize the EAS before our friends in the White House do. Something is up here, the EAS isn't meant for what it looks like it is. To my knowledge, the EAS has never been activated nationally. Let's think this over: the EAS could be some sort of plan that, as someone else here said, could broadcast a sham emergency or subliminal message to the ENTIRE NATION, while leaving the benefit of small-area activations to seem like the EAS is useful. The EAS has been activated countless times in city and state emergencies, and it saved lives. But as this article says, the EAS was NEVER ACTIVATED during 9/11. WHY? Maybe the WTC was the home base, as (an uncited) part of the article says, and the EAS couldn't get through. But due to the design of the system, that's BS. HOWEVER... what if 9/11 really WAS a governmental conspiracy, too? It's the perfect plan, in that case. They couldn't notify the nation (not even NYC) of the emergency because the home base was in WTC. Unbreakable argument there? Not yet. There would OBVIOUSLY be a home base in the White House (or the Capitol) unless the person who designed the system was a complete dumbass. It really doesn't hold any water!

Wow, sorry for that rant. StonedChipmunk 00:21, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Sources Needed

This material: "Several state officials including New York Governor George Pataki, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and U.S. Congressmen and Senators have questioned members of the FCC on why the Emergency Alert System was not implemented nationwide on radio and television stations during the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks where official government information is/was supposed to be distributed in place of local/network programming or newscasts. The EAS was to have issued such messages that the United States was under attack, but no warning broadcast was issued, even in New York City. This was because of the main feed of the Emergency Alert System was on one of the towers in the World Trade Center.[citation needed]"

is somewhat misleading. For the sake of brevity, understand that except for engineers at the PEP stations, very few broadcasters even fully understand EAS. However, EAS IS NOT: An attack warning system (nuclear/any attack warning was discontinued after an accidental attack warning was issued in error in the 1970's). It isn't a broadcast system like EBS was. EBS was designed to go on air in the 72-24 hr. period before which an attack might be expected and remain on air. Now only the EAN/Presidential Message function does what EBS and Conelrad were designed for. EAS was built to issue quick warnings to fan out as far as possible and to advise protective action. The Governor could have issued a statewide broadcast on 9/11. A CEM or EVI (civil emergency or evacuation immediate message) could have been sent via EAS and multiple other means. The 9/11 EAS issue has been done to death in broadcast mags. Because the whole story was broadcast from the outset on national media, there was no need to warn people of what they already knew. As to protective action, the people in the towers who needed warned weren't busy tuning their radios. Back in the day, cities like DC had Bell and Lights systems in office buildings, ample outdoor warning sirens, a fairly robust NAWAS warning circuit, and MUZAK participated in national EBS. In the eighties this went away due to funding. Many have adovcated bringing all this back, which is frankly not a bad idea.

The only mandatory alerts are Presidential messages. This is only in a extreme emergency where the Pres. must speak to the nation quickly and can't wait for normal broadcast access. Had the W. House been struck, Bush could have done a phone patch from AF1 direct via WHCA to WABC's transmitter in Lodi, NJ. If WABC was on air (I assume so) Pataki could phone the control room and have them do an alert. Any stations monitoring can carry the WABC Pataki alert, but there's no law to make them. However, it should be noted that engineers at the PEP stations were sent to live at the transmitter sites for 48-72 hrs. nationwide, in case Bush wanted to do an EAN. Those wishing to edit the EAS content I'd respectfully suggest you READ THE HANDBOOKS FIRST.

This is the way the system used to work in DC and other big cities. http://coldwar-c4i.net/WAWAS/wawas-2.html .Based upon the wisdom of the federal government, funding was cut, assuming it would not be necessary to issue such warning warnings or get them to bldg. PA systems if people weren't tuned to radio. They were wrong. My one word answer to homeland security: put it back the way it was (about 40 yrs. ago). Newsandrumor 19:26, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Sources Needed, 2

Here is the source re. the issues involving why a national EAN wasn't issued on 9/11. http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/rw-eas2.shtml . one reason is a meteroite didn'rt strike the oif this country didn't crash on it. "This was because of the main feed of the Emergency Alert System was on one of the towers in the World Trade Center." There is no 'main feed' as such. WABC's (PEP) transmitter in Lodi is linked via the PEP conference circuits to Mount Weather EOC and from there to WHCA. "The EAS is activated by an order from the President to the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) duty officer or the President's Communications Officer (PCO) through the FOC/FAOC. The FOC and/or FAOC authenticate the request and establish the Primary Entry Point (PEP) conference. The national level EAS consists of a nationwide network of radio broadcast AM and FM stations; TV broadcast stations (audio only) and cable systems (audio only)." "The primary FEMA Operations Center is located at the FEMA Mount Weather Emergency Assistance Center (MWEAC) in Bluemont, Virginia. The FEMA Alternate Operations Center (FAOC) is located within the Mobile Emergency Response Support (MERS) Detachment’s Operations Center (MOC) in Thomasville Georgia." http://localweb.tnema.org/Library/Telecom/nawasman.pdf

One of the biggest limitations of national EAS as a last resort system is that you'd have been looking at a blank TV screen with a text crawl while the TV stations carry audio only from WABC or their PEP radio station feed. Newsandrumor 20:49, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

WorldSpace in EAS?

An interesting point was brought up on XMFan.com. Since WorldSpace is not broadcasting in the US, why do they participate in the EAS? TravKoolBreeze 20:13, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Re. Outdated information

According to EAS rules and the FCC EAS web page, SDARS (Sirius, XM) (among others) began participating in EAS last year. The article requires revision to reflect this. http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=75127c72007aa6a3f1ce8fda8cb814e2&rgn=div5&view=text&node=47:1.0.1.1.10&idno=47#47:1.0.1.1.10.1.237.1 . http://www.fcc.gov/eb/eas/ . Newsandrumor 19:02, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Broken link

I have a problem, the SAME sound link and the sound link for the EAS attention signal seem broken. I keep getting a messages that the files are corrupted. Is there another way I could get the audio files that would actually work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.236.154.131 (talk) 01:26, 28 May 2008 (UTC)


Online EAS feed

Is there any online EAS feed for national emergencies? What if all you have is an Internet connection? -Rolypolyman (talk) 05:51, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

There is an email service that does localized weather alerts and most national emergencies. I've been receiving emails even regarding the recent tomato scares from it. I think it's called EmergencyEmail.org but I could be wrong. --{ StonedChipmunk talk }-- 19:33, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

removed youtube links

i did removed youtube links.there are in soical networking website.the comments contain profanity.it is unencyclopedic.dont need 3 examples of eas tests.71.168.195.86 (talk) 19:57, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Just by merit of YouTube being a social networking site is not a valid reason to remove links. --ÆAUSSIEevilÆ 16:18, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

All-digital Cable TV tuners

The article mentions that for cable systems, all channels are directed to an analog channel. With more and more systems turning into digital only, especially for consumer tuners (Motorola DCT-700 or DCT-34xx series for example), there is no analog tuner. I assume the rules have changed, or maybe the article needs to be clarified if it means something else. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Andyross (talk • contribs) 17:09, 2 March 2008 (UTC)


In Sacramento, its redirected to a digital EAS Channel which is a analog to digital conversion of the original alert.

The delay between an Analog EAS warning and Digital Cable EAS Warning is 3 seconds. —Preceding unsigned comment added by JasonHockeyGuy (talk • contribs) 05:53, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Has it ever been used?

How often has it been used? Why was it not used during 9-11?Chrisrus (talk) 04:17, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

Of course it's been used, several times. And reason it wasn't used during 9/11 is in the article.68.149.121.27 (talk) 23:28, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Midnight Tests

I leave the radio on all night-I sleep to it- and I am very often awakened by the loud noises- they sound like nothing more than that. I sometimes get scared because before the announcement comes on, I never know what they will say.

I understand you perfectly but thats the purpose of this system. Imagine you hear the signal and think "Oh, its just a test!" and ignore it, but it is an real emergency alert. Fatal. --DocBrown 01:27, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

This is a great theory, but the fact remains that the system has never actually alerted anyone in advance of a disaster of any type. In fact, it is the least-used of any feature in radio or TV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.85.175.15 (talk) 22:53, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Every time I hear the signal I think "Oh S*&t, its another one of those fsking tests!" I've been startled and annoyed hundreds of times by that god awful noise, and its never alerted me to anything. All I can think about when I hear that noise is making it go away.
That's the problem with testing it so much, people just assume that its always a test. Anyway, its 2009. Isn't there a way to test it without the customers having to actually hear it?
The only good thing I can say about it is that it has given me insight into what my ancestors, sleeping out in the open surrounded by wild animals had to deal with. Think about it. You're sleeping peacefully in front of the TV when the screech of a wild EAS wakes you. Terrified, you scramble for the remote that you always keep near you, and shoot almost blindly at the appliance that is trying to kill you. After you successfully kill the device, you spend ten minutes trying to calm down enough to go back to sleep.The myoclonic jerk (talk) 11:50, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

The "test" is happening everynight here for the last few nights in Texas on the Verizon cable system. Always in the middle of the night when folks who leave the tv on are going to be startled.

Possible incident

I was watching the Euro 2008 Semi-final between Russia and Spain and suddenly a EAS "test" appeared and interrupted. Should we add this as a notable incident? BTW I had Comcast since Early 08' if that helps.--67.180.213.149 (talk) 05:03, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Event types?

Under "Additions and proposals" we're told that "At first, almost all but three of the events were weather-related". Could someone familiar with the history of the EBS/EAS please clarify "almost all but three"? Cactus Wren (talk) 20:40, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Done! Weatherstar4000 (talk) 23:18, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

June 26, 2007 False Alarm

Hey all, just wondering if the EAS false alarm that occurred this morning in Chicago was only here. None of the news outlets are reporting it, but the system went off twice at around 7:45am CDT, causing almost every FM and AM station to switch to simulcasting WGN-AM (our designated emergency station). Scared the hell out of me... was this a local Chicago incident? Gregly 14:42, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

Rockford, Illinois was affected as well. 209.174.64.130 15:03, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

All radio stations in St. Louis, MO experienced the same issue. It was not local to northern IL. BradC 17:46, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

From http://www.rwonline.com/pages/s.0100/t.6891.html

Several hundred stations in Illinois were affected by an EAS mistake this morning, sources told Radio World. The Illinois Emergency Management Agency was testing new EAS equipment; what was supposed to be a closed-circuit test of the 10-minute presidential alert message from FEMA actually was broadcast to some 500 stations.

Starting at 7:30 this morning up to about 8 a.m., depending on when each station in the chain got the message, their programming was taken over for 10 minutes. All listeners in the Chicago area, for example, heard the alert tones and then WGN’s regular programming (with no explanation), according to sources. In other parts of the state, listeners would have heard dead air after the alert tones.

A monthly test would have lasted for two minutes, as opposed to the 10-minute presidential alert.

Chicago, Rockford, Quincy, and Springfield were among the affected areas.

Radio World will post further updates in tomorrow’s Leslie Report.

Messages to FEMA were not immediately returned.

209.174.64.130 20:14, 26 June 2007 (UTC)

The alert went out from the Illinois state EOC in Springfield. The EOC acts as an alternate national EAS source for Illinois as not all radio stations in Illinois can receive the state PEP station - WLS Radio. Many stations, including the P1 for Chicago and most of northern Illinois (WGN-AM) also monitor the state's EAS delivery backbone. Stations in some border markets around Illinois (like KMOV in St. Louis) also monitor the Illinois system as they also have coverage in those states.

FEMA is installing a new satellite delivery backbone for the national level alerts. This is to give all PEP stations an alternative means of receiving an EAN in addition to the traditional landline system. This new "background" channel was being tested in Cleveland and Richmond, VA. The national test was intended to go to only the identified systems in Cleveland and Richmond. These systems were not connected to any local EAS transmitter. The day before the test, a government contractor installed the new satellite receiver in the EOC in Springfield. Contrary to instructions, he wired the receiver into the states's EAS transmitter and left the receiver turned on. The state's EAS Endec was also left in an "auto forward" configuration. When the test EAN went out, both receivers in Cleveland and Richmond picked up the codes. Likewise, so did the receiver in Springfield, only that the Springfield receiver was NOT supposed to be connected. No one knew it was connected and since the ENDEC was in "auto forward" it activated their state network as designed. Since the message was intended to be entirely on a closed circuit, no audio message was sent to signify the alert was a test. No one was supposed to hear the test.

One thing that compounded the problem was once stations began realizing the alert was a mistake and only a test, several began pulling their EAS systems offline thus not allowing any termination codes to be passed to stations downstream of the P1, thus leaving their transmitters locked up or rebroadcasting the P1 audio until they themselves disconnected their EAS systems. Not knowing it was a test or if the President would be delivering a message at any second, stations were very hesitant to "pull the plug" right away. Several publised reports state that the CONTRACTOR sent the wrong codes. Contractors do NOT operate the national EAS system. The EAN had to be used to test the new delivery path, because the EAN is a unique code. There is no test code to simulate an EAN. The only way to truly verify how the new delivery path would work in getting the code out was to send an actual EAN to identified locations in a closed loop to observe if the receivers and ENDECS at the test sites would receive, process and react as programmed. This is what was happening. Many PEP stations and other primary locations had begun receiving their new receivers with SPECIFIC instructions to NOT connect them as national level "background" testing was being performed. They were advised they would be informed when testing was complete and when to put their new receivers on-line. Needless to say, the contractor in Illinois didn't follow directions. --Vidphoto 07:19, 30 June 2007 (UTC)[1]


  • The bit of the article covering this incident appears to be largely copied and pasted from the ABC news report, so I added {{copypaste tag}}. Also, any idea why this was moved from the incident section to the section discussing viability of use during a national emergency? (Steelerdon (talk) 17:27, 4 January 2010 (UTC))

Undefined abbreviations

There are a number of undefined abbreviations in the article. For example, what is LM(R)? Jc3s5h (talk) 18:19, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

iPAWS & the EAS

OK, heres one thing. The Emergency Alert System is NOT going to be superseded by iPAWS (Integrated Public Alert & Warning System), yet it will be integrated, modernized, and adjusted to meet SAME CAP protocol. This iPAWS will allow a newer and better EAS than what it is now. So, in simple terms, the EAS is somewhat part of the iPAWS project. Mvineyard14 (talk) 12:52, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Test warning fallen into disuse?

In recent years, I've noticed that when they do tests, they don't announce that it's a test until after the SAME headers and EBS tone. Is this something put into effect by the FCC, or have my local broadcasters just decided not to do it? 68.151.17.131 (talk) 01:08, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Not really sure why. From what I've seen in my area, with the weekly tests, they always announce it's a test and then send the SAME tones. With the monthly tests, they always just interrupt with the SAME tones and alert tones. On TV, you can always tell because it says "Required Monthly Test", but on radio, you don't know until you hear the message. Weatherstar4000 (talk) 16:33, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

I get somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 "required weekly tests" in one week through my cable provider. Not sure why. Perhaps a week has been changed from 7 days to 1 or 2 days and nobody told me. Or maybe it should be changed to "required every 12 hours test". Sometimes we get 4 in 1 night in the period of 2 hours. Not sure why we need so many, really. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.79.246.63 (talk) 08:30, 9 January 2011 (UTC)

11/9/11 Test

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/08/us/emergency-alert-test/

Read the comments. Many are reporting the national test didn't work. I know, I know, "original research", but it's a start in the correct direction for the article.

In the Vegas area, nothing happened at all.

68.96.215.51 (talk) 19:38, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Another source? http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/its-only-a-test-but-what-a-test/ NY Times reports. Apple8800 (talk) 21:56, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/11/09/fema-conducting-national-emergency-activation-test-today/ Also from CBS. In the short few hours since the test, people are now parroting (via user comments) that the test was meant to fail, on purpose, so that the Democrats can argue for total control of all devices, etc., and "steal" more money. Not my words, just reporting the comments. By the way, comments are not citation sources for Wikipedia, just beware of that. Apple8800 (talk) 22:16, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
Two more sources - http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/wheres_the_beep_national_emerg.html & http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2626325 Apple8800 (talk) 22:24, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
So, after giving these few sources, I propose, but will not compose, a sub-section of the article that specifically deals with the test, and the pros and cons achieved with the test, and the conspiracy theories some people want to have happen, etc. It's worth noting for the sake of the article's sake. Apple8800 (talk) 22:30, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

potential resource

"Internet Culture" section removed

The "Internet Culture" section was becoming a directory of links that users were adding their own content to (see here: [2]). It's not notable, nor is it being written from a neutral point of view if the content it links to is being created by the editors adding the links. --DoctorBorous (talk) 00:03, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

Social Networks Integration

Is it true that there are plans to integrate social networks (ie. Twitter, Facebook, etc) into the EAS? Dtaylor05 (talk) 13:34, 18 June 2012 (UTC)

Acronyms/Links

I've noticed that several of the acronyms mentioned early on in the article point to disambiguation pages. I did fix two - changed LM to point to the article on Land-mobile Radio, and changed the DMX Music page to redirect to DMX (music) instead of DMX. However, I was unable to determine which articles to use for ICC, STD and EIA. Someone who is more familiar with radio and broadcasting should fix these links - either update them to point to the appropriate article or remove the links if no appropriate article exists on Wikipedia. (Previously unsigned by Oldiesmann 14:49, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I can not find the use of the aforementioned ICC/STD/EIA acronyms in the article. They may have been removed. Added by Mattholomew (talk) 04:43, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

10 minutes reaction

Article says: "The official EAS is designed to enable the President of the United States to speak to the United States within 10 minutes[citation needed]"

Is this paper: "State of Alaska Emergency Alert System Plan. APPENDIX F. National-level Emergency Alert System" (PDF). The President must be able to address the Nation on AM and FM radio, as well as television and cable television audio, within ten minutes of an activation notice. - good RS for 10 minutes or not? Or it is possible, that the plan uses information from wikipedia?

Another possible RS is: http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=5984 Emergency Alert System (EAS) Fact Sheet: `a5b (talk) 23:34, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

What is the Emergency Alert System?

The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public warning system that requires broadcasters, cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers to provide the President with communications capability to address the American people within 10 minutes during a national emergency.

Citations for Popular Culture

I noticed a lot of citations have been marked as "Missing" in the Popular Culture section, so I got one of them. 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXD7t16v8s as for the 5th one I don't know how that could work, but a quick YouTube search shows it exists. Any thoughts? 2601:7:19C0:18:BD6A:B956:4295:CD85 (talk) 02:54, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Font?

I am very curious about the typeface / font that is used for the various EAS screens - whether they be the unconfigured [either "THIS STATION IS CONDUCTING A REQUIRED MONTHLY TEST OF THE EAS SYSTEM" or "IDEA/ONICS CG-1000 EAS" in white text on a bright red BG], or properly running full screen interrupts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Travelsonic (talk • contribs) 22:14, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

No one knows what it is now, but a similar font would be Glass Gauge. It is very similar to the typeface on the EAS. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.102.223.67 (talk) 15:22, 18 May 2014 (UTC)

There are two very similar fonts, VCR OSD Mono (looks much like the font you'd see on the display overlay with most VCR's), and Sydnie (a very pixelated font that closely resembles the most common font used in the EAS black screen test/notifications). -Amyrakunejo, April 2, 2018

According to most answers on google, the font is called Modenine and is the the name of the font now.

Double EAS Test Alerts in the SAME DAY! -_-

The weirdest EAS city in the whole USA is probably Tampa Bay, because usually they will put weather alerts during hurricanes or tornados or whatever. But not only that, they do double EAS alerts on the same day on TV and Radio. No effect on weather radio or iPhones, Samsungs, or other mobile phone-EAS device. And no it is not made up and actually very, VERY, VERY REAL!!

Back in 2012, when 98.7 The Fan was Play 98.7 (loved it until it became sports), that station (pun intended, but real) "played" the EAS Alert twice in a non-weather situation. And my proof was, I listened to that station, and it played the EAS twice and it was a test, both of theme were tests. And to make sure it was a weather alert playing in it, when 5:00 PM struck, I put WTSP right away (their 5:00 newscast was dubbed "The Big Show") and when their weather came up, rain but their was no servere thunderstorms nor tornados in the distance of Tampa Bay and I think CBS Radio should have got sued.

And a few days ago in July, 2014 WVEA-DT was broadcasting the news in Spanish, of course. And after their local news at 11 was over, the national news "Noticero Univision" was on and then the EAS tone was up during the news which is not authorized and not only that they played it again separatly 1 minute later. I think Entravision should get sued. This is not the first time it happened during a news or informing broadcasting in this station. Months ago, during "Desperta America" they did a EAS alert when they were meant to do it during commercials, but accidentally did it during that informing program. I also decided not to do it on the actual EAS article as it would cause an edit war. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.9.114.198 (talk) 15:09, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

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Hack of the Democratic Debate on Oct 13, 2015.

A false alert appeared during the Democratic Debate on Oct. 13 at about 7:40 PM PST (10:40 EDT?). It was observed on Charter Cable in some Oregon markets; Charter personnel report that it was more widespread and also carried on other cable systems, too (but are not authorized to speak publicly). The alert message was apparently in-band, overlaying the CNN signal with alert tones, a video crawl, and risque dialog. It did not activate the local EAS network, which mainly monitors local FM stations for alerts. Any media confirmations available? Did it appear in other areas or on carriers? And why not others? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.55.91.184 (talk) 20:56, 28 October 2015 (UTC)

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Thoughts on the unused system

Recently, the lede was edited to remove a mention that the national system has never been used. I was confused when I first read it, because it sounded like it was talking about the tests, rather than the actual President contacting the people. One of the references is dead, but an archive from the end of 2014 is at https://web.archive.org/web/20141117190310/http://www.fcc.gov/rulemaking/04-296 and the other reference is still online at http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/21/nyregion/silence-alert-system-experts-urge-overhaul-plan-unused-even-sept-11.html?scp=1&sq=Emergency%20Alert%20System&st=cse&_r=0

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I am unaware of any usage of the national system since then, (and I hope I would know if that had happened.) I don't want to add the information back in the confusing place it was, and so far am unhappy with alternatives. I thought this was addressed elsewhere in the article, but didn't find it in a quick scan, just now. I think this is an aspect of the system that should be mentioned. Any ideas? —PC-XT+ 03:53, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

Oh, I just found it in the Limitations section. I still haven't found a really good way to return this to the lede, so I'm going to leave it for now... —PC-XT+ 04:02, 26 September 2016 (UTC)

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King of the Hill

In an episode of King of the Hill, Hank, Dale, Bill and Boomhauer were standing in the alley like always, expect this time it was raining then the radio they had over there with them was on and the Emergency Alert System went off on the station they were listening to to tell them that the Heimleck (i hope i spelled that right) county area was under a flash flood warning. so can you please add a mention of this EAS refrence on the Emergency Alert System page.

Did they actually use the tone, or otherwise indicate that it was the EAS? Because if they didn't, then it doesn't belong here. 68.149.121.27 (talk) 23:32, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

I found and uploaded the footage of the aforementioned occurrence here. Marseyloveshockey (talk) 01:40, 1 November 2018 (UTC)

Why the Fuzzy excessive Noise?

Why does the audio file of: "first national EAS test on November 9, 2011," sound so fuzzy and noisy? Our local warnings (from Hanford CA, weather warnings) are actually much worse, making understanding the voice very difficult. Is it data transmission? Neither my local broadcast nor your .OGG sound accidental, but like intentional noise it's so loud. (My local (online) amplitude "ducks" to normal OK (-25dB) after each word, rising to exactly word-signal amplitude (-13dB), indicating mystery processing. A WCAG 2.0 contrast Fail.) It's a good FM broadcast station.

It may be in your article, but I cant find it. Nor, who monitors sound quality...A Trump de-reg guy?
— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CFCE:1EE0:8536:7E6:67B9:772E (talk) 04:07, 30 May 2019 (UTC)

Removed popular culture.

Not needed for the article, adds nothing. If it had some other media from other films, TV shows, games. I would of kept it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.179.74.4 (talk) 21:22, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Re-added Popular Culture Section

Nice to know stuff shouldn't be removed. This section being there was how I originally learned what EAS was. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.68.132.37 (talk • contribs) 02:24, 24 July 2010 UTC

I just re-added them with more information. they should stay now. I hope.Clockworkv (talk) 14:17, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

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