Two Information Items from the FCC

FCC AND FEMA ANNOUNCE WORKSHOP ON 21st CENTURY EMERGENCY ALERTING: LEVERAGING MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGIES TO BRING ALERTS AND WARNINGS TO THE PUBLIC

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) National Continuity Programs (NCP) today announced they will hold a workshop on 21st Century Emergency Alerting: Leveraging Multiple Technologies to Bring Alerts and Warnings to the Public. The workshop will be held on Thursday, June 10, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Commission Meeting Room (TW-C305).

The workshop will highlight the status of and relevant details related to the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, including the Next Generation Emergency Alert System (EAS) and the Commercial Mobile Alert System. This public meeting will also provide FEMA, the FCC and other Federal partners an opportunity to gather feedback on outstanding issues related to these systems, the upcoming National EAS test, and the FCC’s upcoming inquiry proceeding on next generation alerting. (See detailed agenda below.)

The workshop will be open to the public; however, registration will be limited to the seating available. Those individuals who are interested in attending the forum may pre-register on-line at http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/event-registration.html. Those who pre-register will be asked to provide their name, title, organization affiliation, and contact information. Individuals may also contact Deandrea Wilson at Deandrea.Wilson@fcc.gov or 202-418-0703 regarding pre-registration. The deadline for pre-registration is Tuesday, June 8, 2010.

Audio/Video coverage of the meeting will be broadcast live with open captioning over the Internet from the FCC's web page at www.fcc.gov/live. The FCC’s web cast is free to the public and does not require pre-registration. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities are available upon request. Please include a description of the accommodation you will need. Individuals making such requests must include their contact information should FCC staff need to contact them for more information. Requests should be made as early as possible. Please send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau: 202-418-0530 (voice), 202-418-0432 (TTY).

For additional information about the meeting, please contact Susan McLean by email: Susan.McLean@fcc.gov or by phone: 202-418-7868.

WORKSHOP ON 21st CENTURY EMERGENCY ALERTING: LEVERAGING MULTIPLE TECHNOLOGIES TO BRING ALERTS AND WARNINGS TO THE PUBLIC
-AGENDA-
9:00 am—Welcome

• James Arden Barnett, Jr., Rear Admiral (Ret.), Chief, Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB), FCC
• Damon Penn, Assistant Administrator for NCP, FEMA, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

9:15 am—Panel One: The Path to Next Generation Alerting

This panel will focus on the current state of public alerts and warnings, discussing the EAS and Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) and integration into the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). Specific areas of discussion will include the National EAS Test and its relevance both to the legacy EAS and to next-generation systems, the CMAS, and the parallel efforts of FEMA and commercial wireless carriers, as well as the development of IPAWS from a Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local perspective. Discussion will include the changes the FCC should consider in light of adoption of the Common Alert Protocol (CAP), including how to ensure that all members of the public can receive and understand emergency alerts. The panel will discuss the roles of the FCC, FEMA and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including the role of NOAA’s weather alert system in IPAWS.
Moderator: Antwane V. Johnson, Division Director/PM, DHS/FEMA, IPAWS

Panelists:

• Henry D Black, Manager, Communications Branch, Maryland Emergency Management Agency
• Gregory Cooke, Associate Chief, Policy Division, PSHSB, FCC
• Brian Josef, Director, Regulatory Affairs at CTIA - The Wireless Association®
• Mark S. Paese, Director, Office of Operational Systems, NOAA, National Weather Service
• Kelly T. Williams, Senior Director, Engineering and Technology Policy, National Association of Broadcasters
• Wade Witmer, Deputy Division Director, DHS,/FEMA, IPAWS

Invited: National Cable and Telecommunications Association

10:45 am—Break

11:00 am-12:30 pm—Panel Two: The Promise of Next Generation Emergency Alerting Fulfilled: How Leveraging Broadband Technologies Can Create a Truly Effective Public Alert and Warning System

This panel will focus on how broadband technologies can be used by the IPAWS to redefine alert distribution technologies like EAS and CMAS, and how using the full potential of CAP will help in developing a broadband-based, multi-platform alerting system. The panel will also examine the role of the Internet in distributing emergency alerts, via email, websites and social networking and ways to ensure that all members of the public can receive alerts and warnings over this broadband-based system.

Moderator: Jeffery Goldthorp, Chief, Communications Systems Analysis Division, PSHSB, FCC

Panelists:

• Art Botterell, Public Warning Consultant, Practitioner & Standards Architect
• Brian K. Daly, Director, Core & Government/Regulatory Standards, AT&T Mobility Services
• Darryl Ernst, Owner & Chief Technologist, ErnsTek LLC
• Denis A. Gusty, PMP, Deputy Branch Chief, Office for Interoperability & Compatibility (OIC); DHS, Science and Technology Directorate
• Mike Nawrocki, Executive Director - Wireline Standards, Verizon Network and Technology
• Claude Stout, Executive Director, Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc.(TDI)
• Fran Trentley, Senior Director, Akamai Technologies

12:30 pm—Questions

12:45 pm—Closing Remarks

700 MHz Wireless Microphones

Under a new FCC rule, anyone who uses a wireless microphone. or similar device, that operates in the 700 MHz Band will have to stop operating their wireless microphone, or similar device, no later than June 12, 2010. To see if this law affects your wireless microphone, check our Manufacturers Equipment list at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/manufacturers.html.

All users of 700 MHz Band wireless microphones and similar devices - including theaters, churches, schools, conference centers, theme parks, sports leagues, and musicians - will need to retune or replace, if necessary, their equipment no later than June 12, 2010. Wireless microphones that operate outside of the 700 MHz Band are not affected.

Certain wireless microphones have operated in frequencies that are needed for public safety. When these microphones were first designed, the frequencies they used were in between the frequencies that television stations used to broadcast television programs. With the completion of the digital television (DTV) transition on June 12, 2009, television stations no longer use the frequencies between 698 and 806 MHz (the 700 MHz Band) for broadcast. These frequencies are now being used by public safety entities, such as police, fire and emergency services, and by commercial providers of wireless services, such as wireless broadband services.

The wireless microphones that had been operating in the old TV broadcast channels can cause harmful interference to these public safety and wireless consumer services. Therefore, all users of wireless microphones -- or certain low power auxiliary stations -- that operate on any of the frequencies in the 700 MHz band - including both licensed users and unlicensed users - now have to stop operating in this band. Because of the danger of interference with important radio communications services, continued use of wireless microphones in the 700 MHz band after June 12, 2010 may subject operators to severe penalties, including fines and imprisonment.

The FCC is only prohibiting the use of wireless microphones and similar devices that operate in the 700 MHz Band. You may continue to use wireless microphones and similar devices that operate on other broadcast frequencies. Microphones and other similar devices with cords are not affected by the FCC's decision.

Similar devices to wireless microphones are also known as equipment for "low power auxiliary stations". Typically these devices can transmit over distances of 100 meters. Examples of similar devices include wireless intercoms, wireless in-ear monitors (IEM"), wireless audio instrument links, and wireless cueing equipment. (also known as IFB).

For more information check out our Wireless Microphone Publications at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/Pubs.html and Frequently Asked Questions at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/wirelessmicrophones/FAQs.html.