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Director Jim Zoss of
Emergency Services (above) records a message at Fort
Custer Airfield, while waiting with other public-safety
officials (below) for arrival of the next plane load of
Hurricane Katrina evacuees. An antenna system, located
in Downtown Battle Creek, ensures coverage throughout
the area. |
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Battle Creek Michigan
Emergency Management |
January 2006 |
Acquires Wireless Audio Linked ALERT AM Radio Stations |
Wireless Audio Links (WAL) are now available for the
ALERT AM Emergency Advisory Radio system. Battle
Creek, Michigan, was the test site and the first US
community to have the capability.
WAL distributes audio to multiple ALERT AM satellite
locations. The advantage: they do not need expensive
telephone/cellphone links (subject to overload and
severing during emergencies) to distribute audio.
Moreover, the WAL system is totally owned and operated
by emergency agencies themselves, such that during
emergencies no issues with a third-party providers
arise. The linking system is also fully supported by
backup power.
The City of Battle Creek located their antennas at their
EOC building downtown, at Firestation 6 (near Interstate
Highway 94) and at the US Customs Building (5 miles
northwest of the downtown area). This arrangement allows
them good signal coverage over the river valley in which
the city is situated as well as over the higher ground
the freeway covers. The three locations enable listening
to 1610-kHz-broadcasts over much of Interstate 94,
making WAL an ideal communication tool should an
incident close the freeway arise. |
EventCAST Alleviates Hurricane Katrina Recovery
Communication Needs |
Before obtaining its ALERT AM stations, Battle Creek
Emergency Services took advantage of the availability of
a
temporary EventCAST station from Information Station
Specialists to help with Hurricane Katrina recovery
efforts.
"We set the system up in a hurry, so it would be
operational the weekend evacuees began to arrive," said
Bill Baker of Information Station Specialists, who
supplied the interim station. The EventCAST antenna was
installed atop the city's Emergency Operations Center,
downtown, to ensure adequate coverage.
Dictated from the field by Emergency Services director
Jim Zoss, the initial Hurricane Katrina recovery
broadcast began airing September 9, 2006. It was
structured to help evacuees coming into the area in
their own vehicles and to help local residents who need
to know the location of and where they can support
recovery efforts. With the touch of a button, director
Zoss can easily update the 6-minute EventCAST
hurricane-recovery message.
As it happens, the City already had the necessary FCC
operating license, because they were in the process of
purchasing a series of Information Station Specialists
Emergency Advisory Radio stations. "Even so," said
Baker, "special temporary licenses are usually pretty
quickly obtained from the FCC. We often use them until
permanent licenses come through, if stations need to get
up and running right away." |
The
Battle Creek Emergency Advisory Radio System Today and
in the Future |
The
FEMA-supported hurricane-recovery activity utilizing
EventCAST was a prelude to Battle Creek's more-permanent
solution of three ALERT AM stations for ongoing
community service and emergency announcements. "We are
even doing live storm-spotter announcements with our new
system," explains emergency director Jim Zoss. "Funding
came from a Homeland Security grant. We kicked off the
new program with a press conference. And signs are
strategically located throughout the city to alert
motorists to tune in on a continuing basis," Zoss
promises.
Battle Creek soon plans to install Information Station
Specialists'
Workstation Audio Control to allow
drag-and-drop-message control of their three-station
system. |
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© 1983-2021 • Information Station Specialists,
Inc. • All Rights Reserved
PO Box 51, Zeeland, Michigan, USA, 49464-0051, Phone
616.772.2300, Fax 616.772.2966,
Email the Editor
• • •
|
Information Radio Stations is a generic term
synonymous with Travelers Information Stations (TIS), Highway
Advisory Radio Stations (HAR) / Highway Information Systems &
Low Power Radio Stations (LPR). Operation of the stations is
governed by FCC Part 90.242 Rules. A FCC license is required.
Information Radio Stations may be fixed or portable.
Subcomponents may include transmitter, antenna and ground
system, digital voice player, wattmeter, cabinet with
conventional or Corbin locks, lightning arrestors for RF, power
and telephone lines, coaxial cable. Most stations employ black
maximized antennas to discourage ice accumulation and security
measures to prevent unauthorized program access. Options include
synchronization, battery backup, solar power, remote programming
by local, network or telco, multi-station audio distribution via
RF or LAN / WAN or wireless network. |