The Emergency Alert System

[michaelsteele3]

Here's the scenario:

You're up late, around 2 A.M. You are home alone watching horror movies or something. All of a sudden, the screen goes black, and a new screen comes on with that sanity-draining sound:

EEERRRRRT....EEEERRRRT......ERRRRRT.....

I'm pretty sure lots of people here have experienced that. And in most cases, well, your sanity goes. But why?

Discuss here why you think the EAS is sometimes terrifying, even if it's only a test.

[Rainbowtrout]

What is EAS?

[Ethanadams]

Umm I thinks it's an American thing

[vger]

Anyway, the sound was probably designed based on tons of psychological research to determine what would most likely grab people's attention. And the best sound for that is one that makes people want to jump out of their seats.

[michaelsteele3]

What is EAS?

Umm I thinks it's an American thing

Yeah, it's only in America. It interrupts broadcasting systems on all (Depending on the situation) TV stations in the case of say, a tornado warning, civil danger, or in a worse case scenario, a National Emergency.

But sometimes, they have tests, and it can get... Well... creepy. Look up the EAS experience on youtube and watch any of his videos, and trust me, the tones are creepy, but get your attention.

[Ethanadams]

Huh I've seen that in an American version of mw2

[Flymetothemun]

Yeah, it's only in America. It interrupts broadcasting systems on all (Depending on the situation) TV stations in the case of say, a tornado warning, civil danger, or in a worse case scenario, a National Emergency.

But sometimes, they have tests, and it can get... Well... creepy. Look up the EAS experience on youtube and watch any of his videos, and trust me, the tones are creepy, but get your attention.

They aren't creepy if you've been exposed to them, when I was little I was a little bit scared by them but now they just get my attention. Usually all they're used for is severe weather like huge thunderstorms, floods, or tornadoes. It'll play on the Radio usually and it'll say something like "There is a flood warning out for the following counties: Kerman, Bob, Bill, Jebediah, and Valentina. It is advised to get to high ground." It'll usually repeat a couple times and then regular programming comes back on.

[Starwhip]

The same thing goes for alarm tones on clocks and phones, they are designed to get your attention. In this case while you are asleep, which is impressive.

[Rainbowtrout]

Ooh. I could imagine that being quite terrifying if it happened without prior notice, even if it happened to be a test.

[Starwhip]

Anyway, the sound was probably designed based on tons of psychological research to determine what would most likely grab people's attention. And the best sound for that is one that makes people want to jump out of their seats.

Jesus, I just listened to that entire thing...

You know, suddenly the tornado seems the more desirable option...

[dryer_lint]

I've heard that it's actually not supposed to be an alert tone - it's some sort of system to route the message, similar to the noises on telephone keys.

Found this on the interwebs, although I'm not sure if I can trust the interwebs...

The EAS Alert tones are called the SAME Header. SAME stands for Specific Area Message Encoding, the purpose of these tones is to trigger the EAS equipment located at the local stations. The tones actually contain digital information about who issued the emergency alert, what kind of emergency it is, and for which locations. When the monitoring equipment located in each station "hears" the EAS Header, the encoding device decides whether or not to disregard the notice (because it is not in the affected area of emergency) or to trigger an EAS message alert for the local station to send out to the public.

I agree that it's creepy as heck though. Even better is when you're not watching TV, or you're in a separate room... house goes silent, then, BEEPPPPPP BEEEPEPEPPE BEEEEEEEEEEPEPPEPEPPPPPP

[sj176]

when nothings wrong like that and it's not 2 in the morning that's hilarious

[kenbobo]

So I always find it SUPER creepy... watched too much of the EAS experience... got a tornado warning on my phone and panicked... turns out it was for California and Verizon messed up... Also, AMBER alerts make me cry because of the fact a kid is missing!

[LordFerret]

Back in the late 50's and early 60's, as an elementary school kid, we used to have nuclear attack drills... the proverbial "Duck and Cover". All of us kids would be ushered, quickly, down into the basement of the school, and made to lie up against the cement/brick walls of the foundation, covering our heads with our arms until the 'all clear' was sounded. That's what I grew up with.

Found on the web... similar... only ours was conducted in the basement.....

Also, every Saturday afternoon at the stroke of noon, the air raid sirens would test for 60 seconds ... one long constant wail. We used to pretend we were under attack, as a game. The real deal would have had the siren switch from the long constant wail to a 'warbling', which was the "Strike Imminent" alarm. If you heard that, you had maybe 5 minutes to kiss your ass goodbye. We never got to hear that one (thankfully).

[Ethanadams]

What's with telling the kids to go to the basement and cover there heads would that actually make a difference?

also if your in a basement ground 0 incinerated, ground 50 incinerated, ground 500 fallout, possible building collapse, and most likely death, ground 5000 safeish because of the nuclear war going on

[ZedNova]

What's with telling the kids to go to the basement and cover there heads would that actually make a difference?

also if your in a basement ground 0 incinerated, ground 50 incinerated, ground 500 fallout, possible building collapse, and most likely death, ground 5000 safeish because of the nuclear war going on

It's basically all you would be able to do in a situation like that, and it would likely protect them from flying glass, being thrown across the room, and the initial flash of the nuclear explosion.

[vger]

I thought Duck & Cover was just a placebo of sorts. You're pretty much doomed in a nuclear attack without shielding. So give folks a procedure for survival and claim that it works, so you don't have a nation of people with anxiety issues?

[ZedNova]

I thought Duck & Cover was just a placebo of sorts. You're pretty much doomed in a nuclear attack without shielding. So give folks a procedure for survival and claim that it works, so you don't have a nation of people with anxiety issues?

Those within the immediate blast radius and fallout zones are likely doomed, duck and cover is a measure that can give you increased odds of survival in certain circumstances. Even soldiers are taught to "duck and cover" in the event of a sudden nuclear explosion, so it must be better than standing in place.

Hopefully we won't have to find out if duck and cover really works.

[Ethanadams]

Back on topic the noise sounds like this

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCsLiV4WJfkTEHH0b9PmRklw

[lajoswinkler]

Also, every Saturday afternoon at the stroke of noon, the air raid sirens would test for 60 seconds ... one long constant wail. We used to pretend we were under attack, as a game. The real deal would have had the siren switch from the long constant wail to a 'warbling', which was the "Strike Imminent" alarm. If you heard that, you had maybe 5 minutes to kiss your ass goodbye. We never got to hear that one (thankfully).

This siren... we have it, too at the same time. I HATE the damn thing. I grew up during a war and shelters, air raids and bombs raining over my town is part of my childhood. Every time I hear that god damn sound my heart goes to my throat and my legs freeze a bit. It left a permanent Pavlovnian scar in my brain.

What's with telling the kids to go to the basement and cover there heads would that actually make a difference?

also if your in a basement ground 0 incinerated, ground 50 incinerated, ground 500 fallout, possible building collapse, and most likely death, ground 5000 safeish because of the nuclear war going on

As ZedNova said, it would make one hell of a difference. Unless you're close to the area in the immediate vicinity of a hypocenter, which is a fragment of the total devastation area, you have a great chance of initial survival if you don't get hit by the blast wave carrying debris. Duck and cover is a lifesaving thing, especially if you're in a room. Duck and cover against a wall and if the building collapses you'll likely end up in a triangular void. It's all about increasing chance of survival, not making them 100%.

If you saw a flash and you knew what it was, would you stand there like a stupid turkey with your head high and neck exposed? Gobble-gobble? No, you'd duck and cover.

[LordFerret]

You're likely too young(maybe?) to recognize those sounds... they're acoustic data tones, same as you would hear if you listened in on an acoustic modem connection... which is essentially what it is. Nikola7007 is correct. The EAS uses this system for a number of reasons, including packet radio relay of emergency notification data (ham radio) - which is about the only thing which will be working if all else fails. Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example: no phones (landlines or cell service) were available, so police, fire, EMS, National Guard - all were without working communications. It was amateur radio operators who came to the rescue (as far as communications) with a relay network.

You can find out more about public use of the EAS here: http://www.arrl.org/ares

Living near the ocean, from time to time I'll get EAS weather alerts if rough weather is heading our way. The alerts pop up on the tv, as well as my scanner (when I have it turned on).

[Newt]

Seldom watching the television here (USA), I remember them from when I was younger. I am not sure they were creepy, or scary really, just, interesting. Of course, I never received any bad memories to associate with them--all the ones I ever saw were tests.

More recently, during the last few years, I have received them via radio, but I think I always understood them. They more prompted informed responses then alarm. Mostly they have been about serious weather conditions, quarter size hail, for example, comming in fifteen minutes (a correct prediction), or a really serious fire, when my house was kept under pre-evacuation notice for several days .We needed to be able to be gone in one quarter hour, but left voluntarily, as did most people nearby--the smoke was awful at my house, even when it cleared enough to return and it rained burned leaves and ash all over town. That was a fun birthday .

Once a tornado warning was issued. I live in Arizona, and that was pretty alarming, at least one house in a nearby town lost its roof as part of that storm, though I was not directly affected by other than my caution and that of others.

Overall, I have generally found them quite helpful. At worst they give information that I already have, but rather need anyway.

Regarding the alarm sounds, that is very interesting, they sounded like possibly that sort of transmission, but I had never looked into it very much.

And about duck and cover, of course there is the possibility that you will be vaporized, crushed, smashed by flying shrapnel, killed by poisoned water, or fall victim to any other of a quite diverse set of possible fates derived directly from a nuclear attack on a city, and perhaps, 'duck and cover' will reduce the chance of death/serious injury somewhat, versus staying at your desk (or wherever) by creating a small sheilded area. But from my understanding, a large amount of the 'saftey' it provided, was, in addition to the feeling that something can be done in such an event, is drill into people's minds an objective for such a blast that says nothing about looking at the explosion through a window. The fact that probably, so many people would rush to areas where they could see the cloud of the explosion and the missile tail if applicable would almost certainly increase the number of casualties by rather a large degree, as the shockwave would proceed to shower people with shards of glass and smash them to the ground with immense force. It seems that many peoples base inclination would be to place themselves, without thinking, in a place of serious danger.

Perhaps 'duck and cover' does not make you particularly safe, but it should protect you from your own actions.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Newt

[CelticCossack51]

Must be scary hearing that message on TV. I don't know what they have for Canada though.

EDIT: I found out that Canada has WeatherRadio Canada. So far it's only used for weather and tornadoes.

Edited May 12, 2015 by CelticCossack51

[The Destroyer]

I live in Canada, damn that would be scary. I mean, the sound....

[michaelsteele3]

Also, AMBER alerts make me cry because of the fact a kid is missing!

Oh god. The first time I heard one of those was when I was in bed, pitch dark, and then suddenly my iPhone, on full volume, BBBBBBEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEPP BBBBBBBEEEP.

I literally ran out of my room screaming.

Ever since, I've always remembered to mute my phone at night.