The Emergency Alert System (EAS)

Which country?

I would guess, Tennessee, (TN), and Virginia, (VA), USA.

Bricktop below is correct. It's Tennessee and Virginia, USA.

So...I take it from the various responses (such as they are ) that in other areas of the country the EAS system isn't so bad? Here it sounds like someone (well, a computer) is shouting into a telephone mouthpiece from 1895 and then the signal is hugely overdriven to the point that everything sounds a bit like:

"The national blarrk service has blaar blaaaaaaaar for the blaaar area of blarrrk."

Again, I was wondering (grasping at straws) if there was a technical reason. Such as the EAS used some sort of low-bandwidth equipment on purpose.

I don't really know why, but it's the same here in The Peoples Republic Of Massachusetts. It sounds like a very old 8 track tape that someone dug up in the land fill. Somethings just not compatible, as it's always over modulated. There's no money in it so the radio stations do the very minimum to comply with the law.

It's the good 'ol USA gub'mint....gotta get new equipment, but we're trying to patch our roads first with this printed money we got..

BTW - this is one of my keepers that I throw out to my empoyees every once in awhile - I call it "Not My Job"

I'm thinking that Haliburton got a no-bid contract for the EAS. Cheney lives!

Have you seen the picture of a road with a recently painted double yellow line with a skunk? It got an extra couple of stripes!

Not yet Bill, but Google, here I come!

On a larger scale it happened in Russia. They wanted to build a road (or rail road) between Sankt Petersburg and Moscow and the daddy Tzar was asked about the location. The Tzar took a ruler, connected Petersburg and Moscow and drew the line. Well, his finger was a bit in the path of the pencil so, on the map, the road has that hump where his finger distorted the line. So what would you tell, in this situation, to your employees?

As I understand it, the concept required that the citizenry's attention be captured so volume is increased so that you can hear it.

Note the emphasis on "hear". Hearing does not necessarily mean "understand".

I remember my boss (an american) telling me about it. 'Seems it was instituted a long time ago but the technology has never been upgraded. It's similar to the situation with early air traffic radars where the controller needed to make quick estimates on altitude and heading. Newer radars provided that information directly so were easier to use. It took a lot of accidents before they upgraded the old systems to the new ones.

regards,

Vulcan

Down here in Texas ours in perfectly intelligible, if somewhat robotic.

I remember that problem in NY about 15 years ago. They upgraded to what I believe comes directly from NOAA, and now it is barely recognizable as a robot voice. It's also pitched so that people like me who are hard of hearing (muffled, with some pitches out of my range) can hear it plainly.

We pay so much in taxes in NY, that we won't put up with sub-standard emergency systems. Town meetings, The Grange, and volunteer firemen can get a petition going. Start at the bottom and bring it to the Governor if you have to.

In the City of St. Louis Missouri area. The Outside Speakers rotate. So depending on which direction they are facing you'll understand parts of the message. I just figure if they go off I need to find some place to get better info.
I now live in Fenton and don't even see any outside sirens or anything in the area that looks like a storm warning tower. Guess they figure we are smarter than the city dwellers and will get out of the rain when it comes.

What surprises me the most with the city system is when it goes off, there doesn't usually look like bad weather in the area but when there seems to be a major storm brewing the thing is quiet as a church mouse.

I've never had any problems with the radio or TV broadcast.

Simply put, 1960's recording technology still in use.