NOUS41 KWBC 032122 PNSWSH SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE 04-10 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 425 PM EST WED MAR 3 2004 TO: FAMILY OF SERVICES /FOS/ SUBSCRIBERS...NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ SUBSCRIBERS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK /EMWIN/ SUBSCRIBERS... NOAAPORT SUBSCRIBERS...OTHER NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS...AND NWS EMPLOYEES FROM: ROBERT J. MCLEOD CHIEF...AWARENESS BRANCH OFFICE OF CLIMATE...WATER...AND WEATHER SERVICES SUBJECT: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM /EAS/ EVENT CODES AND SPECIFIC AREA MESSAGE ENCODING /SAME/ CODES ON NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM...EFFECTIVE JUNE 30 2004 ON WEDNESDAY JUNE 30 2004 AT 1800 COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME /UTC/...ALL NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ WEATHER FORECAST OFFICES WILL IMPLEMENT THE NEW EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM /EAS/ EVENT CODES IN MESSAGES BROADCAST ON NOAA WEATHER RADIO /NWR/. IN A FEW AREAS OF THE COUNTRY... NWS OFFICES HAVE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED AND IMPLEMENTED ONE OR MORE OF THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LOCAL OR STATE EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEES. NOAA WEATHER RADIO IS THE PRIMARY MEANS FOR NWS ALERTS TO ACTIVATE THE EAS. EAS EVENT CODES ARE EQUIVALENT TO SPECIFIC AREA MESSAGE ENCODING /SAME/ CODES USED BY SAME-CAPABLE NWR RECEIVERS TO ALLOW LISTENERS TO PROGRAM DESIRED ALERT MESSAGES. THIS CHANGE HAS NO IMPACT ON NWR LISTENERS WITH NWR RECEIVERS THAT DO NOT USE THE SAME TECHNOLOGY FOR ALERTS. NO COMMUNICATION IDENTIFIER CHANGES ARE REQUIRED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS CHANGE ON NOAA WEATHER RADIO. A FUTURE SERVICE CHANGE NOTICE WILL BE ISSUED REGARDING NEW COMMUNICATION IDENTIFIERS FOR RELATED TEXT PRODUCTS TRANSMITTED ON NOAAPORT...NWWS...EMWIN... AND FAMILY OF SERVICES...WHICH WILL ALSO BE IMPLEMENTED JUNE 30 2004. THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION /FCC/...WHO MAKE THE RULES CONCERNING EAS...ISSUED A REPORT AND ORDER AMENDING THE EAS RULES ON FEBRUARY 26 2002...AND THE REPORT AND ORDER BECAME EFFECTIVE MAY 16 2002. THE REPORT AND ORDER INCLUDES NUMEROUS NEW WEATHER AND NON-WEATHER RELATED EAS EVENT CODES AND NWS/S NEW MARINE AREA LOCATION CODES. NWS WAITED TO IMPLEMENT THE NEW EAS EVENT/SAME CODES AND MARINE LOCATION CODES TO ALLOW NWR RECEIVER AND EAS EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS TIME TO UPGRADE THEIR PRODUCTS TO ACCOMMODATE THE NEW CODES...AND BROADCASTERS TIME TO UPGRADE THEIR EAS EQUIPMENT. THE DIGITAL SAME CODES ARE PREFIXED TO SPECIFIC MESSAGES BROADCAST ON NWR. THE EAS/SAME CODES CAN BE USED TO SELECT SPECIFIC MESSAGES FOR WHICH YOU WANT TO BE ALERTED USING YOUR SAME-CAPABLE NWR RECEIVER OR EAS DECODER EQUIPMENT. ALL NWR LISTENERS WITH SAME-CAPABLE RADIOS...BROADCASTERS...AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS WHO USE THE EAS EVENT CODES SHOULD REVIEW THEIR USE OF THE EAS/SAME CODES...AND MAY WANT TO REPROGRAM THEIR EQUIPMENT TO RECOGNIZE ONE OR MORE OF THE NEW CODES...NO LATER THAN JUNE 30 2004. WE RECOMMEND CUSTOMERS PROGRAM THEIR DESIRED NEW SAME/EAS EVENT AT THEIR CONVENIENCE BEFORE JUNE 30 2004 SO THE CHANGE WILL BE TRANSPARENT ON THE EFFECTIVE DATE. A FEW NEW WEATHER-RELATED EAS/SAME CODES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED ON JUNE 30 2004. THESE ARE: NEW WEATHER-RELATED EVENT EAS/SAME CODE COASTAL FLOOD WATCH CFA COASTAL FLOOD WARNING CFW DUST STORM WARNING DSW SPECIAL MARINE WARNING SMW TROPICAL STORM WATCH TRA TROPICAL STORM WARNING TRW ALL BUT ONE OF THE REST OF THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES ARE FOR NON- WEATHER RELATED EVENTS...WHICH USED TO BE BROADCAST AND ALERTED USING THE CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE /CEM/ EVENT CODE. CEM WILL CONTINUE TO BE A VALID EAS/SAME CODE. THE NEW NON-WEATHER RELATED EAS/SAME CODES ARE: NEW NON-WEATHER RELATED EVENT EAS/SAME CODE AVALANCHE WATCH AVA AVALANCHE WARNING AVW CHILD ABDUCTION EMERGENCY CAE CIVIL DANGER WARNING CDW EARTHQUAKE WARNING EQW FIRE WARNING FRW HAZARDOUS MATERIAL WARNING HMW LAW ENFORCEMENT WARNING LEW LOCAL AREA EMERGENCY LAE 911 TELEPHONE OUTAGE EMERGENCY TOE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT WARNING NUW RADIOLOGICAL HAZARD WARNING RHW SHELTER IN PLACE WARNING SPW VOLCANO WARNING VOW NON-WEATHER RELATED EAS MESSAGES ARE PREPARED BY LOCAL OR STATE CIVIL AUTHORITIES AND MAY BE RELAYED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OVER NOAA WEATHER RADIO AND THE EAS AT THEIR REQUEST. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOES NOT INITIATE NON-WEATHER RELATED EAS MESSAGES. THE REMAINING NEW EAS/SAME CODE IS AN ADMINISTRATIVE EVENT CODE... NEW ADMINISTRATIVE EVENT EAS/SAME CODE NETWORK MESSAGE NOTIFICATION NMN FOR NOAA WEATHER RADIO LISTENERS... TO PROPERLY RECEIVE AND PROCESS THE SAME CODES AND PROGRAM DESIRED ALERTS...LISTENERS MAY WANT TO REPROGRAM THEIR SAME- CAPABLE NOAA WEATHER RADIO RECEIVER. INSTRUCTIONS ON REPROGRAMMING YOUR SAME-CAPABLE RECEIVER ARE IN YOUR OWNERS MANUAL OR AVAILABLE FROM THE MANUFACTURER OF YOUR RADIO. FOR YOUR INFORMATION...A LIST OF MANY WEATHER RADIO RECEIVER MANUFACTURERS IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/nwrrcvr.htm FOR BROADCASTERS... TO PROPERLY RECEIVE AND PROCESS THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES... BROADCASTER/S EAS ENCODER/DECODER EQUIPMENT MUST BE UPGRADED TO IMPLEMENT MANY OF THE CHANGES IN THE FCC/S REPORT AND ORDER... INCLUDING THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES. IF EAS EQUIPMENT IS NOT UPGRADED...THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES WILL CAUSE UNKNOWN EVENT CODE OPERATOR ALARMS. RADIO AND TELEVISION STATION ENGINEERS SHOULD VERIFY THEIR EAS EQUIPMENT HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO ACCOMMODATE THE NEW EAS EVENT CODES. CHECK WITH YOUR EAS EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER FOR MORE INFORMATION IF YOU HAVE NOT UPGRADED YOUR EQUIPMENT. MARINE AREA LOCATION CODES... MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE NEW MARINE AREA LOCATION CODES IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/marinenwreas.htm A COMPLETE LIST OF THE CURRENT AND NEW EAS/SAME CODES TO BE IMPLEMENTED ON JUNE 30 2004 IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/eas_codes.htm ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/nws_eas.htm FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE NWS IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NEW EAS/SAME CODES...CONTACT: HERB WHITE MARK TEW DISSEMINATION SERVICES OR PUBLIC WEATHER WARNING MANAGER PROGRAM MANAGER SILVER SPRING MARYLAND SILVER SPRING MARYLAND PHONE: 301-713-0090 X 146 301-713-1867 X 103 E-MAIL: HERBERT.WHITE@NOAA.GOV MARK.TEW@NOAA.GOV THIS AND OTHER NWS SERVICE CHANGE NOTICES ARE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT /USE LOWER CASE LETTERS/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notif.htm $$ NNNN