The Mysterious World of Emergency Alerts: A Look into the EAS System

This is not a test, this is an actual Tech quickie episode, and for your own safety, I recommend you do not leave your computer for the next 5 minutes. Real emergency alerts are designed to warn you of things that are somehow even more important than new YouTube videos. However, they've always been kind of mystifying with their weird combination of robotic voices and disconcerting sounds. Wouldn't it just be easier for a human announcer to get on the air and warn us of an impending pandemic hurricane or Godzilla attack? Well, no, the emergency alert system or EAS used in the United States is designed to get messages out as quickly as possible, and this is difficult to do without automation.

In certain kinds of emergencies, like an approaching tornado, you might only have a couple of minutes to prepare. There isn't necessarily time for a human being to scoot off to the recording studio, do a few takes, apply some autotune, and then sort out where the message should go. By that point, you'll probably be a couple miles off the ground, chatting it up with the Wicked Witch of the West. Speaking of where the message should go, those three extremely harsh sounding tones you hear at the beginning of a warning work kind of like those annoying sounds you'd hear from a dialup modem. They sound like random screeches, but they actually contain critical information about where the warning needs to go.

They are called same headers, and when they reach a TV or radio station from whichever government authority issued the warning, special EAS equipment at the station can decode them and automatically forward information to listeners about what the emergency is, which area it's affecting, and what time the warning expires. Since same code specifies specific geographic regions, you won't have to worry about getting that super important show you're watching interrupted by an e warning for Los Angeles if you're living in New York. The next thing you'll hear is an attention tone, which as you can probably guess, is there to annoy you to get your attention. Hopefully, you'll look up from your 3DS for long enough to learn there's a serial killer on the loose.

Although many have complained about how harsh the tone sounds, I doubt they're going to be changing that anytime soon. Finally comes the voice that sounds like something out of your nightmares, matter-of-factly delivering all the gory details of your impending doom or maybe just a minor flood 20 miles away. It can be kind of hard to understand for some people, but again, the automated EAS voices were designed to make message dissemination quicker, even if that comes at a creepy cost.

With that in mind, the US's National Weather Service has tried to improve the voice over the years, going from something that sounded suspiciously like old school Microsoft Sam, a slow-moving storm system will move across the Northern Great Lakes Region today and tonight, to a voice that actually isn't that terrible anymore. Zone forecast for Central and Southeast Montgomery County for the rest of the overnight mostly clear well, that's cool in all lus but TV radio please I stream everything.

Why is the EAS relying on such ancient technology? Well, there are advantages to using radio to warn people; it's a simpler technology than the internet and is likely to be more reliable if a major emergency knocks out power and internet service. With it, you're going to be pretty happy you've still got that battery-powered radio in fact you can buy same compatible radios that pick up special frequencies that will automatically broadcast EAS alerts but stay quietly in the corner otherwise.

But if you don't want to do that many cellular carriers are now broadcasting EAS messages directly to smartphones anyway, so you won't be left in the dark if you're just not a TV or radio person and good thing too because nothing ruins selfie time with your squad quite like hailstones the size of grapefruits. Tunnel Bear VPN lets you tunnel to 20 different countries allowing you to browse the internet and use online services as though you are in a different country it's easy to use your connection gets encrypted and they have an industry-leading privacy policy.

They've got apps for iOS Android PC Mac and also a Chrome extension, and it is as simple as downloading the app getting 500 megabytes of free data with no credit card required which is pretty freaking cool clicking the little button and boom all of the poking around and nonsense that goes along with the PN use for personal use is eliminated by tunnel bear. If you decide you like it you can head to Tunnel Bear.com, Linus, and save 10% on an unlimited data subscription thanks for watching guys like dislike subscribe leave a comment if you have suggestions for future videos and don't forget to check out our other channels woo

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis is not a test this is an actual Tech quickie episode and for your own safety I recommend you do not leave your computer for the next 5 minutes of course real emergency alerts are designed to warn you of things that are somehow even more important than new YouTube videos but they've always been kind of mystifying with their weird combination of robotic voices and disconcerting sounds wouldn't it just be easier for a human announcer to get on the air and warn us of an impending pandemic hurricane or Godzilla attack well no the emergency alert system or EAS used in the United States is designed to get messages out as quickly as possible and this is difficult to do without automation I mean in certain kinds of emergencies like an approaching tornado you might only have a couple of minutes to prepare so there isn't necessarily time for a human being to scoot off to the recording studio do a few takes apply some autotune then sort out where the message should go by then you'll probably be a couple miles off the ground chatting it up with the Wicked Witch of the West and speaking of where the message should go those three extremely harsh sounding tones you hear at the beginning of a warning work kind of like those annoying sounds that you'd hear from a dialup modem they sound like random screeches but they actually contain critical information about where the warning needs to go they are called same headers and when they reach a TV or radio station from whichever government Authority issued the warning special EAS equipment at the station can decode them and automatically forward information to listeners about what the emergency is which area it's affecting and what time the warning expires and since same code specifies specific geographic regions you won't have to worry about getting that super important show you're watching interrupted by an e warning for Los Angeles if you're living in New York the next thing you'll hear is an attention tone which as you can probably guess is there to annoy you to get your attention so hopefully you'll look up from your 3DS for long enough to learn there's a serial killer on the loose so although many have complained about how harsh the tone sounds I doubt they're going to be changing that anytime soon finally comes the voice that sounds like something out of your nightmares matter of factly delivering all the Gory details of your impending doom or maybe it's just a minor flood 20 mil away it can be kind of hard to understand for some people again the automated EAS voices were designed to make message dissemination quicker even if that comes at a creepy cost with that in mind the US's National Weather Service has tried to improve proed the voice over the years going from something that sounded suspiciously like old school Microsoft Sam a slow moving storm system will move across the Northern Great Lakes Region today and tonight to a voice that actually isn't that terrible anymore Zone forecast for Central and Southeast Montgomery County for the rest of the overnight mostly clear well that's cool in all lus but TV radio please I stream everything why is the EAS relying on such ancient technology well there are advantages to using radio to warn people it's a simpler technology than the internet and is likely to be more reliable if a major emergency knocks out power and internet service with it you're going to be pretty happy you've still got that battery powered radio in fact you can buy same compatible radios that pick up special frequencies that will automatically broadcast EAS alerts but stay quietly in the corner otherwise but if you don't want to do that many cellular carriers are now broadcasting EAS messages directly to smartphones anyway so you won't be left in the dark if you're just not a TV or radio person and good thing too because nothing ruins selfie time with your squad quite like hailstones the size of grapefruits tunnel bear VPN lets you tunnel to 20 different countries allowing you to browse the internet and use online services as though you are in a different country it's easy to use your connection gets encrypted and they have an industry-leading privacy policy they've got apps for iOS Android PC Mac and also a Chrome extension and it is as simple as downloading the app getting 500 megabytes of free data with no credit card required which is pretty freaking cool clicking the little button and boom all of the poking around and nonsense that goes along with the PN use for personal use is eliminated by tunnel bear and if you decide you like it you can head to Tunnel bear.com Linus and save 10% on an unlimited data subscription thanks for watching guys like dislike subscribe leave a comment if you have suggestions for future videos and don't forget to check out our other channels woothis is not a test this is an actual Tech quickie episode and for your own safety I recommend you do not leave your computer for the next 5 minutes of course real emergency alerts are designed to warn you of things that are somehow even more important than new YouTube videos but they've always been kind of mystifying with their weird combination of robotic voices and disconcerting sounds wouldn't it just be easier for a human announcer to get on the air and warn us of an impending pandemic hurricane or Godzilla attack well no the emergency alert system or EAS used in the United States is designed to get messages out as quickly as possible and this is difficult to do without automation I mean in certain kinds of emergencies like an approaching tornado you might only have a couple of minutes to prepare so there isn't necessarily time for a human being to scoot off to the recording studio do a few takes apply some autotune then sort out where the message should go by then you'll probably be a couple miles off the ground chatting it up with the Wicked Witch of the West and speaking of where the message should go those three extremely harsh sounding tones you hear at the beginning of a warning work kind of like those annoying sounds that you'd hear from a dialup modem they sound like random screeches but they actually contain critical information about where the warning needs to go they are called same headers and when they reach a TV or radio station from whichever government Authority issued the warning special EAS equipment at the station can decode them and automatically forward information to listeners about what the emergency is which area it's affecting and what time the warning expires and since same code specifies specific geographic regions you won't have to worry about getting that super important show you're watching interrupted by an e warning for Los Angeles if you're living in New York the next thing you'll hear is an attention tone which as you can probably guess is there to annoy you to get your attention so hopefully you'll look up from your 3DS for long enough to learn there's a serial killer on the loose so although many have complained about how harsh the tone sounds I doubt they're going to be changing that anytime soon finally comes the voice that sounds like something out of your nightmares matter of factly delivering all the Gory details of your impending doom or maybe it's just a minor flood 20 mil away it can be kind of hard to understand for some people again the automated EAS voices were designed to make message dissemination quicker even if that comes at a creepy cost with that in mind the US's National Weather Service has tried to improve proed the voice over the years going from something that sounded suspiciously like old school Microsoft Sam a slow moving storm system will move across the Northern Great Lakes Region today and tonight to a voice that actually isn't that terrible anymore Zone forecast for Central and Southeast Montgomery County for the rest of the overnight mostly clear well that's cool in all lus but TV radio please I stream everything why is the EAS relying on such ancient technology well there are advantages to using radio to warn people it's a simpler technology than the internet and is likely to be more reliable if a major emergency knocks out power and internet service with it you're going to be pretty happy you've still got that battery powered radio in fact you can buy same compatible radios that pick up special frequencies that will automatically broadcast EAS alerts but stay quietly in the corner otherwise but if you don't want to do that many cellular carriers are now broadcasting EAS messages directly to smartphones anyway so you won't be left in the dark if you're just not a TV or radio person and good thing too because nothing ruins selfie time with your squad quite like hailstones the size of grapefruits tunnel bear VPN lets you tunnel to 20 different countries allowing you to browse the internet and use online services as though you are in a different country it's easy to use your connection gets encrypted and they have an industry-leading privacy policy they've got apps for iOS Android PC Mac and also a Chrome extension and it is as simple as downloading the app getting 500 megabytes of free data with no credit card required which is pretty freaking cool clicking the little button and boom all of the poking around and nonsense that goes along with the PN use for personal use is eliminated by tunnel bear and if you decide you like it you can head to Tunnel bear.com Linus and save 10% on an unlimited data subscription thanks for watching guys like dislike subscribe leave a comment if you have suggestions for future videos and don't forget to check out our other channels woo\n"