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Local News, National

Time to Update Your EAS IPAWS Certificates

By Larry Paulausky, Vice-Chair Arizona SECC

A reminder for those who may have missed this info:  a digital signing certificate used by FEMA for its IPAWS service will be expiring in the next few days.  Certificates like this are designed to help recipients automatically authenticate IPAWS messages, and by design these certificates regularly expire to be replaced by updated versions.

To continue to receive IPAWS messages on your EAS devices, most end users like broadcasters and cable systems will need to update the certificate settings in their device.  Please check with your device’s manufacturer for instructions on how to do this.

For Sage’s ENDEC systems, have a look at their home page at https://www.sagealertingsystems.com.


For Digital Alert System’s DASDEC devices, see their field service bulletin accessible at http://www.digitalalertsystems.com/DAS_pages/resources_fsb.html .

For most users whose devices are otherwise at current software levels and already receiving IPAWS messages, these updates are free to download and install.  Please do so by the expiration date to keep receiving EAS messages (for example, AMBER alerts and Required Monthly Tests) via IPAWS.

By the way, the next certificate will be valid until August 21, 2021, so you may want to mark your calendars for July of next year to check again with your device’s manufacturer at that time for the next needed update.

Meetings

6 GHz Microwave Talk Planned

SBE Chapter 36 will join Chapter 9 in a presentation by Karl Voss of KAET-TV Phoenix on the changing spectrum landscape in the 6 GHz region. Between 5.8 GHz and 7.2 GHz, the FCC has rearranged allocations to allow more unlicensed use and a mix of broadcast auxiliary and commercial point-to-point applications. This is an important subject for all broadcast engineers. The talk is derived from one given in San Francisco recently.

Save the date! Join us October 28 at noon local time for the online talk.

Meetings, National

SBE National Meeting Online

 The SBE will present the SBE Annual Membership Meeting and National Awards Presentation via the internet at 4:00 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, Sept. 23.  Details on how to watch the webcast will be shared via the SBE website, SBE-news email newsletter and social media in the next week.

Meetings

SBE 47 Online Presentation: Streamline Your Remotes

With the rapid global growth of podcasting and radio on-demand, the need has never been higher for professional, easy-to-use solutions that handle technical problems intuitively, without sacrificing feature set.

RØDE Microphones, and Australian-based manufacturer of professional microphones and audio equipment, released the RØDECaster Pro, the world’s first fully integrated podcast production studio, in December 2018, initially for the podcast production audience. Since that time RØDE has listened to the broadcast community, and has developed dozens of additional features that make the Rodecaster Pro perfect for remote broadcasting in almost any situation, both private and professional. Ryan Burke and Tristan Salter from RØDE Microphones HQ, will present the Rodecaster Pro, along with a range of other RØDE solutions on offer, followed by a discussion on the continuing evolution of remote production gear at RØDE.

Join SBE Los Angeles Chapter 47 Tuesday, September 8, 2020 at 6:30 PM PDT. Sign up here.

National

Cyber Hackers Strike Salem Group

Salem Media, owners of KCBQ 1170 AM San Diego and K241CT Oceanside, apparently got hit by hackers with damaging ransomware. Salem announced it has been able to recover “many of its critical Operational data and business systems,” and that the company does not expect the incident to have a material impact on its business, operations or financial condition. No word on the impact on their San Diego operations.

Attacks in the last year caused damage to the Bicoastal Media, Urban One and Entercom groups.