When commercial operators can't get their act together I doubt that
LPFM operators would stand much chance of knowing what's required in
an emergency.

When I started in broadcast engineering back in the mid-80s, a
condition of gaining a broadcasting licence was that your station MUST
have back-up power in the form of a generator, both at the studios and
at the transmitter site.

It seems all that has gone by the board now.

In the recent storms of July this year, I was in the centre of the
action on the Coromandel, where there was a lot of destruction, trees
down all over the place, flooding, roofs torn off, power lines down
and general mayhem.

The local commercial FM station, it appears, does not even have a
standby generator.
With power cut to the town, their studios were silent. (TX was still
up as it is on the other side of the harbour where power was not
affected).

So much for Civil Defence saying to "Listen to your local radio
station for information in an emergency"!

I know of many commercial stations that don't have any form of back-up
power, not even the ability to wheel out a portable generator and plug
it into their distribution board.

When we do have a real major emergency in this country the wheels are
going to fall off, because few people are prepared.

I am going to be contacting CD about this very issue.





--- In LPFM_Radio@..., "Gavin Stephens" <gstephens@...>
wrote:
>
> I can understand the safety aspect of a building. However, some LPFM
operators operate from a residential address, making a cheap $200
petrol generator work quite well for an emergency broadcast.
>
> In the event there was a Civil Defense call out, this is what the
Civil Defense recommend from their own emergency checklist under non
food/water emergency items listed straight after a torch:
>
> "Radio and spare batteries". This has always been a highly listed
item for people to have on hand.
>
> I certainly wouldn't tune to a big network apart from National or
perhaps talkback like ZB. I wouldn't expect anyone to be there anytime
soon on any other networked station, especially if it's a regional
issue and not nation wide or Auckland problems.
>
> This is where LPFM would be extremely handy, and since it's a far
more localised broadcast, and probably doesn't have the man power to
deal with a Civil Defense event, it would make good sense to me if
there was a policy that said where reasonbly possible, that and LPFM
operator should be able to at least tune to the likes of National
Radio or play a recorded anouncement stating tune to another channel
for emergency information etc...
>
> In the instance of a Civil Defense activation what happens, does
Invercargill have their own FM broadcast facilities that have a fast
response to going on-air for any Civil Defense information for those
listening? If LPFM is required to broadcast contact information every
3 hours, then there should also be a Civil Defense plan in place where
possible as part of the GURL in my opinion. Even if it's a requirement
to switch off any transmitters if unable to provide any information as
to not cause confusion of who to tune to in an emergency.
>
> Gavin.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mike Bailey
> To: LPFM_Radio@...
> Sent: Friday, October 12, 2007 8:27 AM
> Subject: Re: [LPFM] Civil Defense & LPFM
>
>
>
> As a member of the Invercargill Civil Defence rescue and responce
team (and someone trying to set up a LPFM station down here!), I'll
chip in on this.
>
> In any event where Civil Defence is called out, I'd suggest taking
your stations offline. This means one less room/building that is being
powered in what could be an unstable building. Until your studio and
its building has been checked out by a structural engineer and an
electrician you have no idea what state the building or its power
system is in. In these situations too, power supplies are regularly
shut down too, rendering your station useless anyway.
>
> The last thing you want to do in an emergency is dash down to your
station (if noone is there) to change it across to National Radio
after an event like an earthquake.
>
> Anyway, thats my two cents. Good idea, but I don't think its
practical.
>
> Cheers
> Michael Bailey
>
> On 10/11/07, Gavin Stephens <gstephens@...> wrote:
>
> Just on the same thought and hence getting around to replacing
the subject;
>
> We had a good length but reasonbly tame quake down here aswell
with all these little shake ups lately.
>
> I wonder if the best practice would to make sure an LPFM
operator can take a feed of National Radio if they have reasonble
means to do if still broadcasting? This would be providing National
Radio provided the best response to both national and regional state
of emergencies?
>
> Has anyone approached other regional stations to find out who
would be the best station to simulcast appart from themselves
depending on their operation?
>
> With national being carried on the freeview transponder now
(although on Sky's service for a long time now), I wonder if taking a
satellite feed from national would be wise in such an event. I also
wonder whether it would be the first transmission medium affected. At
a first guess satellite might be more reliable than electricity going
out everywhere or optic cable being disrupted.
>
> Just a few thought provoking questions, hopefully. I'm sure it's
been discussed before but a topic that should pop up now and then.
>
> Cheers,
> Gavin.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Gavin Stephens
> To: LPFM_Radio@...
> Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:53 PM
> Subject: Re: [LPFM] Looking for half brother
>
>
> That's about right.
>
> Didn't someone mentioned at some stage that there was a
consideration of re-evaluating the upper guard band? As in thinking of
knocking back on some upper frequencies available for LPFM use?
>
> I must go have a swat up on the M.E.D. site, I haven't been
there for a while.
>
> Just a thought, we had an automated emergency evacuation
system go off at Rugby Park in Invercargill recently. I thought it was
a civil defense siren going off since I couldn't quite make out the
message from the other end of the city.
>
> At the same time emergency service vehicles were dispatched
and they were dwarfed by this other siren. Turns out the emergency
services were involed in a car chase that was unrelated.
>
> However it made me re-think about the civil defense response
system again in NZ compared with the likes of the EAS system in the
states. How have other stations liased with civil defense in the
possability that a state of emergency in an LPFM operators area should
occur?
>
> I wonder if the tri-opoly networks have policy in place for
this aswell.
>
> Gavin.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ross Levis
> To: LPFM_Radio@...
> Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 3:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [LPFM] Looking for half brother
>
>
>
> Perhaps we are still holding our breath for the 1 watt
increase and most have died!
>
>
>
> From: LPFM_Radio@...
[mailto:LPFM_Radio@...] On Behalf Of Gavin Stephens
> Sent: Thursday, 11 October 2007 9:56 a.m.
> To: LPFM_Radio@...
> Subject: Re: [LPFM] Looking for half brother
>
>
>
> Appologies LPFM'ers!!! I replied to the wrong email.
>
>
>
> I'll get it right next time.
>
>
>
> I've noticed the LPFM groups have been a little quiet appart
from the occasion message now and then.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Gavin.
>