Monroe Electronics R189se - Manual (Page 113)

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The Emergency Alert System
Purpose
According to the FCC, "The EAS is designed to provide the President with a means to
address the American people in the event of a national emergency. Through the EAS, the
President would have access to thousands of broadcast stations, cable systems and
participating satellite programmers to transmit a message to the public. The EAS and its
predecessors, CONELRAD and the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), have never been
activated for this purpose. But beginning in 1963, the President permitted state and local
level emergency information to be transmitted using the EBS."
However, the EAS system is used for much more than to support a method of communication
that has never been (and hopefully never will be) used. The EAS system provides state and
local officials with a method to quickly send out important local emergency information
targeted to a specific area. This includes weather alerts as well as local emergency alerts such
as child abductions and disasters. The EAS system also runs test alerts on a weekly and
monthly basis in order to insure operability.
Operation
The EAS system digitally encodes data into audible audio in order to distribute messages.
This information can be sent out through a broadcast station and cable system. The EAS
digital signal uses the same encoding employed by the National Weather Service (NWS) for
weather alerts broadcast over NOAA Weather Radio (NWR). Broadcasters and cable
operators can decode NWR alerts and then retransmit NWS weather warning messages
almost immediately to their audiences. With the proper equipment and setup, EAS alerts can
be handled automatically, making EAS information useful for unattended stations. Other
specially equipped consumer products, built into some televisions, radios, pagers and other
devices, can decode user selectable EAS messages.
The One-Net
SE
is designed to facilitate the management side of encoding and decoding EAS
alerts within cable and broadcast facilities. It is especially easy to use since it is IP
addressable and accessible over a LAN.
Management
The FCC designed the EAS system, working in cooperation with the broadcast, cable,
emergency management, alerting equipment industry, the National Weather Service (NWS)
and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA).
The FCC provides information to broadcasters, cable system operators, and other participants
in the EAS regarding the requirements of this emergency system. Additionally, the FCC
ensures that EAS state and local plans developed by industry conform to the FCC EAS rules
and regulations and enhance the national level EAS structure.
NWS provides emergency weather information used to alert the public of dangerous
conditions. Over seventy percent of all EAS and EBS activations were a result of natural