Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. ...

Federal Communications Commission FCC 02-6479. Several commenters request that we redefine four of the county subdivision codesidentified by the “P” portion of the six-digit “PSSCCC” location code. 187 The “P” portion of the locationcode is optional and allows the message originator to divide a county into nine sections to furtherpinpoint the affected portion of the county. Currently, the county subdivisions are defined as follows: 0= all or an unspecified portion of a county; 1 = Northwest; 2 = North Central; 3 = Northeast; 4 = WestCentral; 5 = Central; 6 = East Central; 7 = Southwest; 8 = South Central; and 9 = Southeast. 188According to the commenters, this subdivision scheme does not work well within irregularly shapedcounties. The commenters therefore recommend that we drop the “central” from the North Central, WestCentral, East Central and South Central codes so that each of these codes simply states its root compassdirection. We agree that this minor change will permit a more orderly and logical use of the countysubdivision scheme and we will revise the rules accordingly. Because we are simply revising thedefinitions of the codes, not the actual codes, this revision will not require any modification to existingequipment.80. Thunder Eagle complains that, as a matter of policy, NWS will not encode an alertmessage for more than six hours or reissue an alert message after the initial six-hour period, even thoughthe message may actually have a valid time period of greater than six hours. 189 Thunder Eagle requeststhat we amend the Part 11 rules to specifically require either (a) that the valid time period indicate theactual duration of the alert, or (b) that the issuing agency reissue the alert message at the end of every sixhourperiod for which a previously issued alert is still in effect. We will not amend the rules as requestedby Thunder Eagle. We think that this is a matter best left to the discretion of NWS and other agenciesthat issue EAS alerts.81. SBE requests that we specifically apply the EAS protocol and standards specified in thePart 11 rules to other radio services, such as amateur radio services (Part 97) and land mobile radioservices (Part 90), which have recently begun to transmit EAS and NWR-SAME messages. 190 Thisproposal is beyond the scope of the instant proceeding and will not be considered here.82. Finally, we are revising the Part 11 rules to make a few non-substantive and editorialamendments.IV. CONCLUSION83. In this Report and Order, we revise the technical and operational requirements for theEAS. In particular, we adopt new event codes and location codes to be used in transmitting EAS alerts tothe public during state and local emergencies. Broadcast stations and cable systems will be permitted toupgrade their existing EAS equipment to include the new event and location codes on a voluntary basisuntil the equipment is replaced. Thus, the rules we are adopting in this proceeding will promote publicsafety by enhancing the performance and capabilities of EAS without imposing additional costs or187188WSAB/WA SECC Comments at 16-17; SBE Comments at 13-14; NWS Reply Comments at 2.See 47 C.F.R. § 11.31(c).189Thunder Eagle Comments at 2-3. For example, Thunder Eagle states that although Hurricane Watches andWarnings regularly last for 24 to 48 hour periods, NWS will not encode a Hurricane Watch or Warning alertmessage for more than six hours or reissue the alert after the initial six-hour period.190SBE Reply Comments at 12-13.32