3 ms·

You still need linear radio for things like emergencies.

by hga 12y ago

tomjen3 12y ago
I used to think so too, but what you really need (or want) are personalized emergency messages. Already they do this with e.g deaf people who can receive the info on SMS. Imagine that instead of some message on the radio (which you may or may not hear) or a single alarm noise which tells you nothing beyond the existence of an emergency you received a push notification telling you exactly what the issue was, how it would effect you (e.g you don't have a car so here is where the bus stops for the evacuation busses are), and anything special you needed to know. You could make this infinitely personalised. Nothing like this is possible with linear radio, which can only give you general information, or specific information that is unlikely to be relevant for you.
- hga 12y ago
  I think your personalization scheme would never work in the real world of inefficient at best government bureaucracies (e.g. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=991&bih=621&q=katrina+flooded+school+busses https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sour...). Besides the raw fact of an alert, it would have to e.g. note in real time where I am to send an appropriately tailored message.
cbd1984 12y ago
> You still need linear radio for things like emergencies. If radio is going to be for emergencies, make sure it's guaranteed to work in emergencies: - Mandate local control. No more networks piping music in over a network line. Network lines go dead, and then where is your radio station? More to the point, if there's no one in the booth, there's no way to get someone to tell everyone else there's an emergency. This has already happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment - Mandate that people be in the radio booth 24/7. No more late-night autopilot, and certainly no sign-off. Have cots or similar if the weather starts to get bad, so multiple shifts can stay at the station. (Hospitals already do this.) - Mandate that radio stations have their own generators. Multiple redundancy. No excuses. - Create a way to get information to radio stations even if all other information transmission infrastructure is down. Because that is what we're talking about, right? Radio as an emergency last-ditch information transmission medium? Satellite communications can get jammed by bad winds blowing Earth stations around, point-to-point microwave is killed by serious snowfall, and this isn't even considering man-made emergencies. So, unless you do that, you're just playing at being an emergency service. That represents the bare minimum to be taken seriously.
- hga 12y ago
  Ah, I can see I sort of assumed that, given that I was born, raised in and have retired to an area a hair's breath from the US Tornado Alley, as we were recently reminded: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado. We're deadly serious about Civil Defense, and at least the main news/talk station has what's needed, is for example always on the air live with useful info when there's a Tornado Warning. On the other hand, even if all the things you list aren't in place, if you have the basic infrastructure including massive penetration of receivers you can jury rig the rest given a little time and luck.

You still need linear radio for things like emergencies.

by hga 12y ago

You still need linear radio for things like emergencies.

I used to think so too, but what you really need (or want) are personalized emergency messages. Already they do this with e.g deaf people who can receive the info on SMS. Imagine that instead of some message on the radio (which you may or may not hear) or a single alarm noise which tells you nothing beyond the existence of an emergency you received a push notification telling you exactly what the issue was, how it would effect you (e.g you don't have a car so here is where the bus stops for the evacuation busses are), and anything special you needed to know. You could make this infinitely personalised. Nothing like this is possible with linear radio, which can only give you general information, or specific information that is unlikely to be relevant for you.

hga 12y ago
I think your personalization scheme would never work in the real world of inefficient at best government bureaucracies (e.g. https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=991&bih=621&q=katrina+flooded+school+busses https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sour...). Besides the raw fact of an alert, it would have to e.g. note in real time where I am to send an appropriately tailored message.

cbd1984 12y ago

> You still need linear radio for things like emergencies. If radio is going to be for emergencies, make sure it's guaranteed to work in emergencies: - Mandate local control. No more networks piping music in over a network line. Network lines go dead, and then where is your radio station? More to the point, if there's no one in the booth, there's no way to get someone to tell everyone else there's an emergency. This has already happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minot_train_derailment - Mandate that people be in the radio booth 24/7. No more late-night autopilot, and certainly no sign-off. Have cots or similar if the weather starts to get bad, so multiple shifts can stay at the station. (Hospitals already do this.) - Mandate that radio stations have their own generators. Multiple redundancy. No excuses. - Create a way to get information to radio stations even if all other information transmission infrastructure is down. Because that is what we're talking about, right? Radio as an emergency last-ditch information transmission medium? Satellite communications can get jammed by bad winds blowing Earth stations around, point-to-point microwave is killed by serious snowfall, and this isn't even considering man-made emergencies. So, unless you do that, you're just playing at being an emergency service. That represents the bare minimum to be taken seriously.

hga 12y ago
Ah, I can see I sort of assumed that, given that I was born, raised in and have retired to an area a hair's breath from the US Tornado Alley, as we were recently reminded: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Joplin_tornado. We're deadly serious about Civil Defense, and at least the main news/talk station has what's needed, is for example always on the air live with useful info when there's a Tornado Warning. On the other hand, even if all the things you list aren't in place, if you have the basic infrastructure including massive penetration of receivers you can jury rig the rest given a little time and luck.