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Posted on 10/22/2011 11:57:55 AM PDT by eak3
If you have ever wondered about the government’s ability to control the civilian airwaves, you will have your answer on November 9th.
On that day, federal authorities are going to shut off all television and radio communications simultaneously at 2:00PM EST to complete the first ever test of the national Emergency Alert System (EAS).
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
The only viable worthwhile reason for a test of this sort would be in event of alien invasion. And I dont see too many aliens around.
Oh, wait...you mean?
Correct; you can't jam the entire continent. It won't be easy to even jam one city. To be effective, every receiver in the city must hear the jammer many tens of dB above the signal of interest - on all frequencies, from HF to microwaves.
I don't see how the government could prevent ham radio operators from making contacts. Many RF links are local (especially on V/UHF) which means the government will not even know about those transmissions unless they are listening nearby. That's a lot of territory to cover - and don't forget that they must listen on all frequencies at the same time!
Just like it is with firearms, there are millions of HTs and base stations and repeaters in hands of ARRL members. Many hams have several rigs - one in the pocket, one in the car, one at home, one to take on a trip... All of them can be used to communicate. Unlike firearms, they operate quietly and don't require ammo.
The rules require every station to transmit its call sign every 10 minutes, or at the beginning and the end of each transmission. It's a gentleman's agreement. If the government decides to neglect its end of the deal - and especially if TSHTF - operators will be still using call signs, but they won't be issued by the government :-) And unlike firearms, there are no bullets or cartridges to inspect under the microscope to match the gun. On top of that, new radio equipment can be always manufactured; it won't be an FT-2000, but it will get the job done.
If the government hopes to detect unauthorized transmissions and triangulate the source, it is nearly impossible in cities and very hard to do in general. You'd need a very special setup, probably involving helicopters - and that depends on the theory that the transmitter is operating constantly. A guy working his mobile radio from a moving car can't be easily triangulated. Thousands of radio operators were active in World War II. They needed tens of minutes to transmit long messages in Morse code, and the opposite side was very willing to find them - and most commonly they failed to find them fast enough. Today the message can be much shorter due to computer-based modulation schemes. PSK31 and RTTY are faster than the best CW operator in the world, and they don't require much of a training to use.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Just make sure to tell everybody about it the
day before......
I should be on a flight that day, at that time, going from LAX to SEA. I hope they don’t accidently turn off air traffic control communications.
The sooner the better!
While most messages, such as tsunami or hurricane warnings, are limited to 2 minutes by the EAS system, the Presidential message capability does not have a time limit.
We already know this.
I remember back in the early 50s they had a test and all stations were off the air for the test as a SWL back then I remember tuning up and down the AM frequency's and only hearing some Mexican stations and weak Canadian stations before the regular broadcast came back on.
Or go online and listen to Hawaiian stations that carry rush. They play him much later.
bump.
There have been several EAS interuptions in the past few months.
Thanks for the links and confirmation. Even if we could not stop Chairman Obama and his commissars, we at least could probably makes lots of money on the new black market just helping folks to keep him out of their ears and off of their screens....lol. We are getting Obama burn in on our flat screens already.....(Rush’s joke).
It’s to check the National Emergency Broadcast System.,,IIRC
Thanks. I had a feeling people were going off half-cocked.
After all, aren’t we all well aware of the “old” EBS system disrupting our cartoons every week sometime?
Awww, that is so sadly cute. You poor widdle fing. Let me give you a hug!
Were you still 5 then, or a bit older?
Yeah, and when I read about stakeholders, the image of a bunch of people standing above Dracula's coffin ready to plunge them in comes to mind. That's probably not what the author was thinking about.
I’m okay with the idea that there could be a legitimate purpose for the ability to activate a nationwide emergency broadcast system. I’m not okay with the idea that the Imam Obamadinejad, has access to it.
OK, so FR is a safe site...not internet? YET.
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