User Manual

EASy-PLUS
®
User Manual
10 –
TRILITHIC
Rev 1.02
SECTION 2
UNDERSTANDING THE EASy-PLUS® SYSTEM
2.1 INTRODUCTION
This section includes an overview and description of the EASy-PLUS® equipment including front and rear panel controls,
connectors and displays. The EASy-PLUS® encoder/decoder is the device which, when radio station signals are
supplied to its internal radios, decodes Emergency Alert System header information when monitoring your (local primary)
LP-1 and LP-2 stations, and optionally, your National Weather Service radio signals (on NOAA frequencies 162.400 MHz
(WX2), 162.425 (WX4), 162.450 (WX5), 162.475 (WX3), 162.500 (WX6), 162.525 (WX7), 162.550 (WX1).
Your LP-1 (local primary one) and your LP-2 (local primary two) radios are usually an FM and AM radio station, respec-
tively. These radio stations are assigned in your state emergency plans, usually available on the home WEB site for your
state. Your state plan should detail how your entire state emergency alerting system functions, including your assigned
(SP) state primary frequencies and transmitter locations. Your LP-1 and LP-2 broadcasters typically have the obligation
to pass through to your encoder/decoder the EAN (that’s the Emergency Action Notification-the presidential message)
and the RMT (the Required Monthly Test). You will also receive RWT (Required Weekly Tests), which you may, or may
not, be required to pass on to your cable system headend. You are required to perform your own locally generated RWT,
which can be done from the front keypad, remotely via a telephone, or by using the random RWT generator built into
your EASy-PLUS® system.
Your EASy-PLUS® encoder/decoder is the first piece of equipment to receive the alert from your monitoring stations. It
will decode the signal, format the message into an NTSC video signal (standard analog format) and present this video to
its output port (CG VIDEO OUT). Depending on whether you’ve looped your “designated E.A.S. channel” video through
the CG VIDEO IN, your E.A.S. will either crawl over incoming video, or crawl over an internally generated full-screen
E.A.S. page.
The E.A.S. alert audio associated with the message is also available at the rear connector and is distributed to either
your I.F. switching interface or your comb generator, just as the video output is distributed to these same interfaces.
For remote hub site channel insertions downstream, your EASy-PLUS® has a built-in AFSK in-band data generator for
signally Trilithic’s remote headend/hub site Virtual Controller. The V.C. is used for multiple applications at remote hub
sites for performing channel insertions, remote OM-1000 control for force-tuning Motorola settops during an E.A.S. alert
as well as many other off-site applications.
The FCC requires logging of all incoming E.A.S. events and tests. This is accomplished by applying a customer-
supplied parallel printer (non-Windows driver based) to the DB-25 parallel printer port at the rear of the EASy-PLUS®
system.
Visit WWW.TRILITHIC.COM and click on EAS DIVISION to view or download manuals on all of Trilithic’s E.A.S.
products.
2.2 FRONT PANEL
The EASy-PLUS® front panel contains four items.
Perforated holes for the internal microphone.
Perforated area for the internal speaker.
LCD display
16 button keypad
The keypad is used for rudimentary setup at the cable headend and for initiating the Required Weekly Test. Most setup
features are programmed using the SETUP program provided with each EASy-PLUS® encoder/decoder.
ENCODER
Initiating E.A.S. events (other than the RMT and RWT) is accomplished using the SETUP software. Activation of events
will be covered in the software setup section of this manual.
DECODER
The decoder is an automated mechanism used to decode incoming E.A.S. messages via the baseband radio input
signals to the microprocessor.
2.3 BACK PANEL
RS-232 COM1 Used for uploading setup data from PC or Laptop.
COM2 Future Use.
PARALLEL PORT: Used for connecting a standard (EPSON emulation) parallel printer for FCC mandatory logging of all
incoming E.A.S. events and tests.
CG VIDEO: IN: Connect “designated E.A.S. channel” video, (your tune-to channel), to CG VIDEO IN, if and only