Neal McLain (nmclain@annsgarden.com) Wed, 12 Apr 2006 07:05:26 -0400

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Wes Leatherock <wesrock@aol.com> wrote: > I do not have any information on the subject, but I > wonder in what way Amber Alerts are disseminated so > quickly. > Surely there must be some form of authentication and then > rapid transmission to various police agencies, the media, > and the state DOTs. As the fact sheet quoted in Pat's "TELECOM Digest Editor's Note" indicated, it's called the Emergency Alert System (EAS). A "primary" AM radio station in each community sends out alert messages. Each message begins with that godawful "buzz buzz buzz" noise, followed by a voice message and an encoded three-letter event code indicating the nature of the alert. The "Child Abduction Emergency" code is CAE. A list of event codes is at http://www.weather.gov/os/eas_codes.shtml Equipment at reception points monitors the primary and responds to the codes accordingly. A radio or TV station issues an alert either immediately (automatically, interrupting programming) or within a few minutes (manually, at a logical break point). Automatic equipment at cable tv headends inserts a crawl on some/all channels immediately (satellite TV operators are exempt). Newspapers may do a story. Other agencies take whatever action is appropriate. Further information: FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/eb/eas/ NWS: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/NWS_EAS.shtml SBE: http://www.sbe.org/eas/eas.html SCTE: http://tinyurl.com/nrfwr WIRED: http://tinyurl.com/oqd4p Neal McLain

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