Gorman-Redlich Manufacturing — an advocate for an economical “converter” approach to CAP/EAS compliance at radio stations — said its CAP-DEC1 CAP-to-EAS converter unit has passed the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Conformity Assessment.
Meanwhile, the company said it is also doing development work on an integrated CAP/EAS unit for customers who wish to replace their current EAS equipment and also meet CAP requirements.
Gorman-Redlich says the CAP-DEC1 is the first converter-type product listed in FEMA’s online database as having passed the IPAWS Conformity Assessment.
Alerting equipment manufacturers are eager to get their products onto that list, with broadcasters shopping this year for gear to meet the federal alerting deadline. Stations must be able to receive Common Alerting Protocol-formatted messages via the Internet by Sept. 30, assuming the current deadline holds.
The conformance series of tests are performed by a lab in Kentucky under a contract with FEMA. Passing the assessment means a product conforms to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards Common Alerting Protocol v1.2 USA IPAWS Profile v1.0 and other IPAWS requirements.
The Gorman-Redlich CAP-DEC1 retrieves alerts from Internet CAP alert servers and converts them to EAS headers and audio that may be used with existing EAS equipment. “The use of such a converter does not require stations to retire properly functioning equipment in favor of new equipment which replicates the functionality of existing EAS equipment but with the addition of CAP functionality,” the company said.
Nevertheless, apparently recognizing the interest in all-new gear, it said it is working on an integrated CAP/EAS unit too.
