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Emergency Alert System test today (11/9) at 2pm Eastern

On Wednesday, November 9 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).

All digital, cable and satellite television and broadcast radio services across the country will be simultaneously interrupted for approximately 30 seconds, after which regular programming will resume.

Stay informed…

This is the first national-level test of the EAS that’s ever been conducted and will be similar to the local emergency tests, issued by the National Weather Service and state/local officials, used to send alerts and warnings.

So remember, if you find yourself within earshot of a radio or TV on November 9 –and hear an emergency message broadcast on every TV and radio channel, don’t worry – it’s just a test.

Comments

prisaz

Cool I think I will set my DVR to try and record it. Smiley Surprised

Slipped and busted my rump at work yesterday and just didn't feel like going in. Ache all over.

Sure is boring without FiOS. Smiley Very Happy

rozziland

I was able to catch the test alert today, but I noticed that there was no audio at all. I saw that VHO1 was mentioned, so I don't know if it was just specifically that VHO that didn't have audio turned on. The reason I find this to be a problem is because visually impaired people or people not looking at the television might not notice or be aware of what's going on. Thanks.

gwozdz3

It's 2:51 and my cable is still broadcasting the alert. When will my fios tv come back?

ep0260

What's up with this EAS test???? It was supposed to be 30 seconds, it's now 1 hour and 35 minutes long!!!

prisaz

DAC3 VHO4 all ran as expected. I guess Montgomery County Maryland, close to D.C. has advantages and disadvantages.

Fgh2

I turned the tv off after a half hour of EAS.

firebolt

This EAS test is still going on blocking my TV service -- I'm in Washington state. The message says it is targeting the county 'District of Columbia, DC'. I'm in Washington State, not DC.

Why is this still going on and not just blocking broadcast cable, but my DVR?

firebolt

Power cycling (unplug; wait ~2 minutes; re-plug) on the DVR fixed it. Super annoying, but better than it being completely broken

oldfashioned

What on earth is the big deal? I was at work when this happened, nor did I really care. I remember when I was a child, the test of the emergency broacast system would come on for about 30 seconds at certain times and there was no nationwide annoucement about it. And guess what? We lived. lol...Give me a break. If there were some kind of dire emergency, we would know it and it wouldn't necessarily be through a TV announcement because many of us are working.

I'm sorry but this is too funny seeing people getting that upset over something like this. My goodness...somebody had a little inconvenience by not being able to watch TV temporarily because of this. I'm not trying to be sarcastic but aren't we all adults and aren't there worse things in life to worry about?

tns

The old alerts (conelrad and ebs) were totally diffferent. Essentially the alert was mostly done manually by each local station on receipt of the alert. In a real emergency they would rebroadcast the alert they received, and might instruct you to tune to some specific station for additional info. The only non-test EAN (emergency Alert Notice) that was ever sent at was actually a mistake, but showed the system to have serious flaws. Many stations failed to send at the alert as required, and others didn't know what to do next, especially after they took almost half an hour to try and send a cancel alert message. They mistakely used the activation code word and took an additional 15 minutes to send the correct cancellation message.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_System

Now the various authorities at the various level also have EAS plans and all can trigger a alert and it is more automated. The EAS SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) includes digital header and trailer. And many more services are required to carry it include cable and Satellite providers, AM/FM, and Sirius XM. The recent test, the first national, however had enough errors that it shows they still have some problems to solve. No they didn't Broadcast Lady Gaga Nationally, but that's what some DirecTv subscribers heard. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/its-only-a-test-but-what-a-test/?smid=tw-nytimestv&seid=auto

oldfashioned

Whether this emergency test alert was national this time, it made no difference to me because I was at work where I don't get to watch TV. I wasn't aware that you must be glued to your TV just to be notified of emergencies. I'm failing to see the significance of this whole thing. How did we manage before? It's petty stuff. Or was this one of the reasons why it was so imperitive for the country to go digital, that it had to be signed into law so this whole "digital revolution" and increase in business for the cable companies could be forced on everyone?

And what on earth happens then if an emergency occurs between now and the next time this test is run, before all the kinks are cleared up?

There is definitely an agenda behind the whole thing which nobody talks about: more profits for the electronics manufacturers, electronics stores, and the cable companies, all now due to the fact that it's not just the technology, but now that you must pay to get decent TV reception and throw away the analog TV (even if it's otherwise working well), all for the sake of progress. The big corporate giants have gotten even bigger now. And now-a-days if you don't want any of that, then that means no TV at all unless you're lucky to have a good rooftop antenna. It makes no sense.

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