[OkHam] Re: Re: [OK Ham] [Fwd: [EM] New NOAA Weather Radio Warning Event Codes]

Thu, 11 Mar 2004 19:16:01 -0500

Thanks to Greg Banner for pointing these new codes for Weather
Radios.

--

Lloyd Colston Mayes County CEM
Pryor, OK USA http://www.geocities.com/mccem
Homeland Security begins at Home.

From:  "Gregory Banner" <[email protected]> 
Date:  Thu Mar 11, 2004  7:14 am
Subject:  [EM] New NOAA Weather Radio Warning Event Codes
To:  <[email protected]>,
<[email protected]>,
<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>

>From The National Weather Service:

NWS Implementing New NOAA Weather Radio Warning Event Codes on
June 30,
2004
Beginning June 30, 2004, NOAA Weather Radio (NWR) Specific Area
Message
Encoding/Emergency Alert System (SAME/EAS) event warning codes
will be
available nationally for a variety of non-weather events.

The new codes will allow NWR users to program desired alert
messages on
subjects ranging from child abduction emergencies, local area
emergencies, fire warnings, and hazardous material warnings, to
radiological or nuclear power plant warnings, shelter-in-place
warnings,
or volcano warnings.

The NWS is currently upgrading existing warning-generation
software and
weather radio formatters to handle the new codes. The NWS Office
of
Climate, Water, and Weather Services (OCWWS) issued a Service
Change
Notice regarding the topic on March 5, 2004.

NWR is the primary means for NWS alerts to Activate the
Emergency Alert
System. EAS event codes are equivalent to SAME codes used by
SAME-capable NWR receivers to allow listeners to program desired
alert
messages. Local or state civil authorities prepare the
non-weather
related EAS messages, which may be relayed by the NWS over NOAA
Weather
Radio and the EAS at the request of the message issuer. The NWS
does not
initiate non-weather related EAS messages.

The event code changes were dictated by the Federal
Communications
Commission (FCC), which makes the rules concerning EAS, in a
Report and
Order amending the EAS rules on February 26, 2002. The NWS
waited to
implement the new EAS event and SAME codes and marine location
codes
primarily to allow EAS equipment manufacturers time to upgrade
their
products to accommodate the new codes, and to allow broadcasters
time to
upgrade their EAS equipment, according to Herb White, NWS
Headquarters
Dissemination Services Manager, OCWWS.

If new event codes cannot be added to existing NWR receivers,
the codes
may be displayed as unknown warning or similar message when they
are
transmitted over NOAA Weather Radio. White said owners of such
non-upgradable radios who wish to receive the new codes would
have to
purchase a newer model radio receiver.

Owners should check the documentation that came with their
receiver, or
contact the manufacturer (via telephone or Internet) to see if
the new
event codes are already programmed into the receiver, or if they
can be
added in manually.

The Consumer Electronics Association, an industry group
representing
designers, developers, and manufacturers of consumer electronics
equipment, recently developed a new voluntary standard, which
defines
minimum performance criteria for consumer electronics products
designed
to receive digital alert signals broadcast by NOAA Weather Radio
and
Environment Canada's Weatheradio� Network. The performance
criteria
include the ability to receive and properly decode all the new
EAS event
codes.

A range of compliant products will soon be available to the
American
public. Consumers looking to either upgrade their current NOAA
Weather
Radio receiver or to purchase a new one should look for them
later this
spring. Look for the Consumer Electronics Association's new
Public Alert
designation that will appear on devices carrying public safety
alerts
broadcast over the all-hazard NOAA Weather Radio system and the
Environment Canada Weatheradio� Network.

We recommend customers program their desired new SAME/EAS event
codes
before June 30, 2004, so the change will be transparent on the
effective
date, White said.

A complete list of the current and new EAS/SAME codes to be
implemented
on June 30, 2004, is available online at
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/eas_codes.htm.

Additional information on the emergency alert system is
available
online at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/nws_eas.htm and
http://www.fcc.gov/eb/eas/.

Lloyd Colston    Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK  USA    http://www.geocities.com/mccem
   Homeland Security Begins at Home

---- On Thu, 11 Mar 2004, [email protected] ([email protected]) wrote:

> What weather codes? KC5DSW Tim
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
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