Godlike Productions - Discussion Forum
Users Online Now: 1,112 (Who's On?)Visitors Today: 121,082
Pageviews Today: 205,295Threads Today: 93Posts Today: 1,747
03:49 AM


Rate this Thread

Absolute BS Crap Reasonable Nice Amazing
 

EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?

 
Döctör Whö
Offer Upgrade

User ID: 31864925
United States
04/10/2014 01:50 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
Just hanging out here reading away on the forums, tv playing in the background, BAM!

EAS starts going off, says its just testing ---

12:30 a.m in the morning -wtf

Did scare me a for a sec!

Crappy photo I managed to grab real quick..

warnight

Location .. Alabama, local NBC channel.
“All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter.” ~ Max Planck
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 31534984
United States
04/10/2014 02:20 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
All TV stations are required to do weekly EAS tests, its nothing new. They usually wait until late at night or early in the morning when there are fewer viewers to disrupt.
Mechatronics

User ID: 56538380
United States
04/10/2014 02:55 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
All TV stations are required to do weekly EAS tests, its nothing new. They usually wait until late at night or early in the morning when there are fewer viewers to disrupt.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


I wish you were correct. Here in MA, last 2 nights, early morning I have seen them and someone speaks a message. Whereas that seems ordinary, never in my life has an EAS broadcast ever included a vocal message.

note: I worked for the cable company for 6 years, so I have some background with these messages.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 31534984
United States
04/10/2014 03:03 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
All TV stations are required to do weekly EAS tests, its nothing new. They usually wait until late at night or early in the morning when there are fewer viewers to disrupt.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


I wish you were correct. Here in MA, last 2 nights, early morning I have seen them and someone speaks a message. Whereas that seems ordinary, never in my life has an EAS broadcast ever included a vocal message.

note: I worked for the cable company for 6 years, so I have some background with these messages.
 Quoting: Mechatronics


I've been in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Illinois over the years when I've seen these EAS messages. Each time they were accompanied by a voice that says something along the lines of "This is a required weekly test of the Emergency Alert System.....". This is nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary.
Schlomp
User ID: 56390347
United States
04/10/2014 03:21 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
I have also worked for several cable companies, specifically in their head-ends. Each cable TV operator is required to have EAS gear in their head-end that is capable of receiving feeds from federal authorities (via SAT) and local authorities via local AV insertion at head-end or hub. In Southeast Wisconsin for example, we built fiber into every municipality we have a franchise agreement with. This fiber is used to allow these municipalities to broadcast their village/town/city board meetings as well as broadcast local EAS info.

The commercial EAS gear in the head-end is made by several different manufacturers (Scientific Atlanta, Blonder Tongue, etc) and each manufacturer has a different way of scheduling and displaying mandatory weekly tests. This is why these messages always seem different from area to area across the country. Some equipment is older and some more modern. Some includes audio as part of their tests, while others do not.

All equipment has the ability to automatically and instantly override all channels of a cable lineup, whether using the IF loop of modulators (analog) or the mPEG streams of QAM encoders (digital) with the single broadcast feed from the EAS satellite receiver located in the head-end (messages from FEMA and other federal emergency government authorities.

Satellite TV providers (Dish, Direct TV) are even capable of offering this at a local level by taking advantage of "spot-beam" technology.

It's all pretty cool stuff.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 56572180
United Kingdom
04/10/2014 04:17 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
All TV stations are required to do weekly EAS tests, its nothing new. They usually wait until late at night or early in the morning when there are fewer viewers to disrupt.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


I wish you were correct. Here in MA, last 2 nights, early morning I have seen them and someone speaks a message. Whereas that seems ordinary, never in my life has an EAS broadcast ever included a vocal message.

note: I worked for the cable company for 6 years, so I have some background with these messages.
 Quoting: Mechatronics


I've been in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Illinois over the years when I've seen these EAS messages. Each time they were accompanied by a voice that says something along the lines of "This is a required weekly test of the Emergency Alert System.....". This is nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


we never get them here

why do you even NEED them?

normalcy bias at its finest
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 56604906
United Kingdom
04/10/2014 04:51 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
We've not really had any kind of system in Britain since the end of the 1990s when the British gov dismantled the last System.

interestingly or not, they have just started trials on a new emergency alert/broadcast system in the UK, the trials ran last year and recent news is that the system is moving forward.. handy for any potential WW3 situations.

Although given how the last system was known as the 4 min warning, it'll probably only be enough time to kiss your arse goodbye.
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 56604906
United Kingdom
04/10/2014 04:53 AM
Report Abusive Post
Report Copyright Violation
Re: EAS - Emergency Alert System - Just did a test local channel -- Wutt?
All TV stations are required to do weekly EAS tests, its nothing new. They usually wait until late at night or early in the morning when there are fewer viewers to disrupt.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


I wish you were correct. Here in MA, last 2 nights, early morning I have seen them and someone speaks a message. Whereas that seems ordinary, never in my life has an EAS broadcast ever included a vocal message.

note: I worked for the cable company for 6 years, so I have some background with these messages.
 Quoting: Mechatronics


I've been in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Illinois over the years when I've seen these EAS messages. Each time they were accompanied by a voice that says something along the lines of "This is a required weekly test of the Emergency Alert System.....". This is nothing new and nothing out of the ordinary.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 31534984


we never get them here

why do you even NEED them?

normalcy bias at its finest
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 56572180


I think because they had longer the 4 mins we had/have to kisses our arses goodbye... any longer and it is possible it might make a difference, 4 mins warning is not going to make any difference..





GLP