Emergency and Severe Weather Alerting:
Morris Softronics EAS/SAME decoder hardware has been integrated to support both Emergency Alert System (EAS) and (SAME) decode capability on the repeater system. For now, it will be used to monitor NOAA weather radio broadcasts for both severe weather warnings when the NWS office issues a weather alert for Ocean, Monmouth, Burlington or Middlesex Counties. However, should NWS also carry National Emergency Alerts such as when a government agency like FEMA or the President issues an EAS that content will also be available, no specific EAS channel will be monitored for EAS alerts at present.
The EAS/SAME decoder is interfaced with a multi-channel Uniden/Bearcat NOAA receiver (to be replaced by a GE Master II in the future) and is integrated to the repeater controller for PTT for full user DTMF control to turn on/turn off the NWS feed manually as well as to interrupt the system should it be configured in SAME automated mode. In addition the unit has a 3 minute time out feature configured so that it will note continuously transmit if enabled. A control operator will be able to enabled automated alerts by DTMF access to permit real-time NWS audio feed rebroadcast of NWR transmissions during times of emergency.
The EAS/SAME decoder has an RS-232 interface which is tied into the IBM Server 325 co-control computer and will as software is developed, support custom .WAV file announcements of automated alerts and DTMF historical access.
In our area the newest and closest thus strongest station is 162.450 in Howell, located at the Coast Communications tower in Southard. This site provides SAME tests weekly on wednesday between 11:00am-12:00pm if no real weather situations are in progress.
In our central NJ area, the SAME 6 digitl FIPS geographic code numbers are:
Ocean: 034029 Monmouth: 034025 Middlesex: 034023 Burlington: 034005
At present I have all four counties above setup for decoding at the N2CKH/R hub. In the future Cape May county and others made be added as well for more warning when fronts are moving in our direction.
The receiver used for monitoring the weather transmissions is in a continuous auto sync mode, taking the strongest signal. Thus it will normally be tuned to 162.450 capturing the signals from Howell, however should that transmitter have problems it will take the next strongest signal.
Click here for coverage plots of the 162.450 NWS station in Howell.
Click here for coverage plots of the 162.400 NWS station in Atalantic City.
Click here for coverage plots of the 162.550 NWS station in New York.
Below is the current list of stations for the NJ, NY, PA area, stations are being added all the time.
ST. COUNTY SAME # NWR TRANSMITTER FREQ. CALL WATTS REMARKS NJ Atlantic 034001 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 NJ Bergen 034003 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Burlington 034005 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 East NJ Burlington 034005 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 West NJ Camden 034007 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 NJ Cape May 034009 Lewes DE 162.550 WXJ94 500 South NJ Cape May 034009 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 NJ Cumberland 034011 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 Central/E NJ Cumberland 034011 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 N NJ Essex 034013 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Gloucester 034015 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 SE NJ Gloucester 034015 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 NJ Hudson 034017 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Hunterdon 034019 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Hunterdon 034019 Allentown PA 162.400 WXL39 1000 NJ Mercer 034021 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 North NJ Mercer 034021 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 S/Central NJ Middlesex 034023 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 Central/E NJ Monmouth 034025 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 Except SW NJ Monmouth 034025 Howell NJ 162.450 WXM60 350 Central NJ Morris 034027 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 Central/E NJ Ocean 034029 Atlantic City NJ 162.400 KHB38 1000 Central/S NJ Ocean 034029 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 North NJ Passaic 034031 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 Except NW NJ Salem 034033 Philadelphia PA 162.475 KIH28 1000 NJ Somerset 034035 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Sussex 034037 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Sussex 034037 Allentown PA 162.400 WXL39 1000 Cent/South NJ Union 034039 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Warren 034041 New York City NY 162.550 KWO35 500 NJ Warren 034041 Allentown PA 162.400 WXL39 1000
I must recommend that all repeater owners that wish to implement EAS/SAME severe weather warning to check out the low cost Morris Softronics NWSAMD EAS/SAME decoder hardware. It is a low power microcontroller based decoder meant to decode EAS/SAME messages and re-transmit them over an amateur repeater as desired. It provides simple PC based configuration (via RS-232 serial communications) to control locations monitored, events monitored and limit transmission time via a precise user settable dog timer. It can be interfaced to an existing repeater controller to permit additional control of the decoder.
This board is the most veratile and inexpensive EAS/SAME solution on the market, for under $200 shipped, it allows you full control of your EAS/SAME decode and re-transmit in a compact, low power draw single board solution that be intergrated inside your existing repeater controller in many cases if so desired.
