Posted on 04/11/2017 8:05:39 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Dallas' emergency warning sirens, like many across the country, are radio-controlled and activated via encoded transmitters that act like pagers, sending tones to receivers attached to each siren. In Dallas' case, security experts say, it appears that someone took control of the frequency and transmitted the tones that turned on all 156 sirens across the city.
Broadnax said he was "leery about [sharing] how these systems work," citing security concerns. He would confirm only that "it's a tonal-type system."
In Moore, Okla. — a town in Tornado Alley that relies on sirens for weather emergencies — a base radio station is set up in a secure location. An employee activates the system, and the radio sends out an encoded message via the airwaves. The sirens then receive the message, decode it and start to wail, said Gayland Kitch, director of emergency management for Moore.
It's likely that whoever activated Dallas' 156 sirens did so by compromising the city's infrastructure and gaining access to the codes, said Jeff Schilling, who has a background in military communications and is now chief security officer of Armor, a cloud security company based in Richardson.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I was in the USAF at the time and don't recall any alert or event like the Arab Israeli war caused in 1973. That was memorable.
....Or, maybe this was all “just a war story.”
Yes, I admit that I overrode a questionable message from national command authorities. I wasnt the only one at broadcast media that did.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Think whatever you want to. But, the fact is that it was a correct decision. That is my opinion, and I acted on it with no regrets.
Obviously most broadcasters made the same decision.
This explains why Fedzilla installed an EAS off-switch at the transmitter. Push one button in Washington now and it’s “all you radio stations belong us”.
No doubt the event happened as you recalled it http://conelrad.blogspot.com.
I was in the USAF at the time (at Altus AFB OK) and don't recall any alert for that event. We would have been pushing the KC-135s out in a hurry, flash curtains in place.
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