How did the emergency alert system test go?

[Pixiedust34]

I forgot all about it! We had TV and radios off, so no alert for us.

 

[golfgal]

I was in the car, heard the alert signal on the station that I was listening too, waited for an announcement, nothing, Flipped to other stations, just static on about 3 stations, turned to the AM talk radio, no alert at all there.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

If there's an emergency I only need tune to the DIS to find out what's going on. I swear everything shows up on the DIS first. Obviously the EBS doesn't work.

 

[Disney845]

Was this a nation wide broadcast? And what was it for?

Yes it was supposed to be testing out a nationwide emergency broadcast.

 

[sam_gordon]

Was this a nation wide broadcast? And what was it for?

This was a nationwide broadcast to test the ability of the federal government to communicate to the majority of people. This has never been tested before. The tests that HAVE been done have been on a state or local level, never nationwide.

 

[hereyago]

It was fuzzy, couldn't make out clearly what the voices were saying.

 

[ToTLaugher]

Well, I missed it completely. Had no idea it was going to happen. This thread is the first I have heard of it! I was watching a movie I had on DVR at the time but was in and out of the room. I never noticed anything! Guess I will just always have to stay tuned in to the Disboards!

 

[DL55]

We don't have cable, or listen to the radio, so unless someone hadn't mentioned it on facebook I wouldn't have even known about it. I know a lot of people that are unplugged from the media too, I guess we're screwed in an actual emergency.

Probably all for the best.

This was a nationwide broadcast to test the ability of the federal government to communicate to the majority of people. This has never been tested before. The tests that HAVE been done have been on a state or local level, never nationwide.

I don't think they communicated very well.

Only one TV station had the words, no sound. Didn't see/ hear anything on other channels.

 

[sam_gordon]

I don't think they communicated very well.

I think there's a couple different ways you can look at this...
1) The test was, if not a total failure, at least a C-. This means things need to be worked on/fixed if this needs to be a viable option (remember, the EAS system has NEVER been used Nationwide... even on 9/11). Another test should be done in 3-6 months to see if things have been corrected.
2) Is this a nail in the coffin for the EAS system itself? Has anyone relied on the EAS system (a local one) to alert them for "pending doom" (storm, whatever)?

 

[scrapquitler]

I think there's a couple different ways you can look at this...
1) The test was, if not a total failure, at least a C-. This means things need to be worked on/fixed if this needs to be a viable option (remember, the EAS system has NEVER been used Nationwide... even on 9/11). Another test should be done in 3-6 months to see if things have been corrected.

It worked on my local station, but they are a 50,000 watt station that is some sort of priority thing that will broadcast no matter what (supposedly)

2) Is this a nail in the coffin for the EAS system itself? Has anyone relied on the EAS system (a local one) to alert them for "pending doom" (storm, whatever)?

I was in Vermont during Hurricaine Irene, and the local radio stations there all used the EAS during the major flooding to alert us about what was happening. So I do think that it can be effective, and yes, I felt like I was alerted about the impending doom. The reverse 911 system also worked at that time. I was actually quite impressed with the reverse 911, I had never seen it work (even for a test) in the past.

 

[golfgal]

I am surprised that there wasn't something over the world wide web, aka, internet. Wasn't that was it was "invented" for in the first place, a place for communications in the event of an nuclear attack?

Sam, yes, we do pay attention to the EBS for storms--not so much quick run to the basement but more pay attention something might be happening here....

 

[sam_gordon]

I am surprised that there wasn't something over the world wide web, aka, internet. Wasn't that was it was "invented" for in the first place, a place for communications in the event of an nuclear attack?

Sam, yes, we do pay attention to the EBS for storms--not so much quick run to the basement but more pay attention something might be happening here....

I thought the 'net was actually so researchers at different colleges could communicate with each other.

Around here, the local broadcasters (at least TV) do their own announcements... they don't run the EAS. But since every broadcaster runs EAS tests weekly & monthly, it does seem strange that this was so problematic.

 

[golfgal]

I thought the 'net was actually so researchers at different colleges could communicate with each other.

Around here, the local broadcasters (at least TV) do their own announcements... they don't run the EAS. But since every broadcaster runs EAS tests weekly & monthly, it does seem strange that this was so problematic.

Broadcasters will break into shows if there is a really bad storm but if there is a tornado watch, for example, they scroll those on the bottom of the tv.

 

[Lassie Lynne]

My DVR box went to "EBS" and then suddenly switched to a local-acess station that was talking about eating healthy food for over 6 mins...and then the channel went back to what I orginally had on.

As for local EBS, once when tornados were coming down the Mississippi, the alarms went off and we rushed to the window on the 7th floor to see the tornado heading off towards the LSU campus....so in that case, the local one worked.

 

[tchrrx]

We had one come across our t.v. around 4 this afternoon. I don't know if it was local or national, but it was about three hours after I expected it.

 

[Tink9721]

I tried to record it after it started, and it wouldn't work. I wanted to do it to play it back for my DH, because it was sort of funny...there was a lot of static (like some foreign radio broadcast during WWI or something), and I could hear people talking. I can't even remember what they were saying, but it sounded like arguing, like on a political news show, if that makes sense. I did hear Obama's name. This was on TruTV.

That's what I heard too. I forget what channel it was on. Maybe ABC Family but I'm not positive. I couldn't understand a word they were saying

 

[CourtasanSatine]

Something must have happened because I got static about halfway through the epsiode of Paranormal State I had on TiVo, for the curious this was on the Bio Channel.

 

[Diznygrl]

I didn't even know this was supposed to be a "thing"...I happened to turn on my tv and was watching Family Feud on FOX when the sound cuts out and the emergency stuff starts scrolling on the bottom of the screen. It actually freaked me out a little because it said something about an emergency alert from Washington D.C....I thought something really bad had happened. Then the announcement came on that it was only a test and I was like, but relieved.

So other than that, I guess it was a successful test, at least for my local FOX affiliate. It didn't do anything wonky to my tv or receiver and the message was clear.

 

[tvguy]

I am surprised that there wasn't something over the world wide web, aka, internet. Wasn't that was it was "invented" for in the first place, a place for communications in the event of an nuclear attack?

Sam, yes, we do pay attention to the EBS for storms--not so much quick run to the basement but more pay attention something might be happening here....

They are planning to move the system to the internet, but that's a few years agay. They wanted to find out first how long it would take to get across the country, and wanted to see what if any issues might crop up.
It triggered out equipment at the station I work at 29 seconds after it was sent. My wife's stations (they have 2 stations in one building), the equipment for both stations failed, so it never went out.
The local Fox station triggered about the same time my station did, but the equipment locked up and it took them 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it off.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I was in Vermont during Hurricaine Irene, and the local radio stations there all used the EAS during the major flooding to alert us about what was happening. So I do think that it can be effective, and yes, I felt like I was alerted about the impending doom. The reverse 911 system also worked at that time. I was actually quite impressed with the reverse 911, I had never seen it work (even for a test) in the past.

I think they need to keep the EAS, because when trees are down, power and phones are often out-during Irene and last week we were using radio. It reminded me so much of listening to Yankee games on the radio with my dad, as a little girl except in 1976 we had power LOL!

My city did a reverse 911 to keep kids from going out trick or treating but I never got that because my home phone was out (I wasn't taking them out in the situation anyhow). But it's worked here otherwise-it was used a few times before.