The North/Central Jersey Chapter (#119) of the Society of Broadcast Engineers now has a web page!

Required Monthly Test

The chairman of the state EAS committee established the following schedule of EAS monthly tests:
Even months - third Tuesday at 12:50 a.m.
Odd months - third Tuesday at 10:50 a.m.
For the next few months, this schedule results in the tests falling on the following dates at the times shown:
10/17/00 12:50 a.m.
11/21/00 10:50 a.m.
12/19/00 12:50 a.m.
1/16/00 10:50 a.m.
2/20/00 12:50 a.m.
In the week that a station airs a monthly test, it is not required to perform a weekly test.

The test originates at WPST. Within 15 minutes, the stations that monitor WPST, including WKDN, should relay it. WFME monitors WKDN and should retransmit it within 15 minutes after WKDN. The test should unmute receivers at stations monitoring WFME (in Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union, Passaic, Morris) between 2 minutes and 30 minutes after it originates. They must send it within 15 minutes.

New Jersey EAS Plan

The state EAS plan arrived in the mail from the FCC on March 3, 1997. It has 66 pages (plus a cover letter from the FCC). There are monitoring assignments shown for each broadcast station and cable system in the state. Also, the officials who will activate EAS are identified.

The state is divided into seven local areas:

Operational AreaState Primary (SP) stationCounties
Northwest New Jersey WNNJ 103.7 Sussex, Warren
Northeast New Jersey WFME 94.7 Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Union, Passaic, Morris
In the text, Morris is in Northeast New Jersey. However, it is shown as part of Central New Jersey on the map in Annex C of the plan.
Central New Jersey WPST 97.5 Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer
North Coastal WRAT 95.9 Monmouth, Ocean (north of Rt. 72)
Delaware Valley WKDN 106.9 Burlington, Camden, Gloucester
South Coastal
Also called "Atlantic Coastal" in text
WFPG 96.9 Cape May, Atlantic, Ocean (south of Rt. 72)
Delaware Bay WBSS 97.3 Salem, Cumberland
Most stations are assigned to monitor the SP station for their county and the NWS. All stations have a third assignment, which for most stations is the SP station from an adjacent local area.

There are problems with the monitoring assignments in the plan. WKDN and WPST are assigned to monitor each other. WNNJ and WFME are assigned to monitor out-of-state stations and would not receive the statewide alerts. When the plan was written, the statewide alerts were to be distributed using the state-police microwave and a packet radio system. However, that system is not operating.

Many stations in North Jersey are assigned to monitor WPST (97.5 MHz). However, they get a much stronger signal from another station on the same frequency, WALK-FM, Patchogue, NY.

The plan contains four pages of the EAS protocol copied from section 11.31 of the FCC rules. It also lists the following additional event codes that are not in the rules:

Earthquake AlertEQA
Emergency Public InformationEPI
Hazardous Materials IncidentHMI
Ozone AlertOAA
Radiological AccidentRAD
River Flood WarningFLW
Coastal Flood Watch/WarningCFWsee memo from National Weather Service, below
Special Marine WarningSMW

Nine pages in the State Plan are devoted to re-statements of FCC rules sections:

Chapter titleTaken from
FCC Rule Section
EAS code and Attention Signal Transmission requirements. 11.51
EAS code and Attention Signal Monitoring requirements. 11.52
Dissemination of Emergency Action Notification. 11.53
National Level emergency. 11.54
State or Local Area emergency. 11.55
Tests of EAS 11.61

National Weather Service

Gary Conte, gary.conte@noaa.gov, of the National Weather Service in Upton (Brookhaven), NY, faxed a sheet to me with event codes for which the NWS recommends immediate activation. I re-typed the text below:
                                               January 17, 1997
     
          NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PRODUCTS
     
      RECOMMENDED FOR "IMMEDIATE" EAS ACTIVATION
     
PRODUCT                       EVENT CODE
     
FLASH FLOOD WARNING               FFW
     
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING       SVR
     
TORNADO WARNING                   TOR
     
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING            SMW
     
NOTE: BECAUSE THE EVENTS LISTED ABOVE ARE LIFE THREATENING, THEIR
      CORRESPONDING WARNINGS SHOULD BE SENT IMMEDIATELY.
     
     
      RECOMMENDED FOR A 5 MINUTE TRANSMISSION DELAY
     
PRODUCT                       EVENT CODE
     
BLIZZARD WARNING                  BZW
     
COASTAL FLOOD WARNING             CFW
     
FLOOD WARNING                     FLW
     
HURRICANE WARNING/                HUW 
TROPICAL STORM WARNING
     
WINTER STORM WARNING              WSW
     
NOTE:    THE FIRST LINE OF THE MASS MEDIA HEADER FOR THESE (AND
         OTHER) PRODUCTS WILL CONTAIN THE SLUG "BULLETIN - EAS 
         ACTIVATION REQUESTED."
     
                                                    NWSEAS.REC
The codes SMW and CFW are transmitted by the National Weather Service but they are not listed in the FCC rules and must not be used by broadcasters or cable systems [11.31(c)].

The 5 minute recommendation is the maximum delay, according to Conte.

State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC)

According to the SBE SECC CHAIRS LISTING, the State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC) is chaired by:
       Richard Archut
       WKDN-FM
       2906 Mt. Ephraim Ave.
       Camden, NJ 08104
       Phone: 609-854-5300

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Please send corrections or additions to John Neuhaus, WA2JXE <john@jneuhaus.com>.

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