Grandpa Ham – Grandpa Can do IT!

An NPR report on Wireless Emergency Alerts saving lives in Illinois:

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/20/246274989/early-warnings-saved-lives-in-weekend-storms

NWS via IPAWS  for Cellular Carrier Broadcast.  YES!!!!!

I have a new offering for all who do alerting using the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). I can create a combined blog, tweet and RSS functionality for your alerts as an IPAWS COG, or for any set of IPAWS Public Alerts. The capability works independently and also as an add-on to any IPAWS capable alert origination software. If you have an IPAWS COG, I can make it work without any special integration effort. If you have software that creates CAP alerts, I can build a connection to that software, depending on the interfaces it provides. If you have your own Facebook Page or Twitter Account, I can connect to that. If you have your own WordPress blog, I can use it for the connection. Or I can provide you with whatever you need. I can do it for messages you originate or, if you are an information consumer only, I can support that for any IPAWS Public alert. I can host the connection for you, or you can host and I will help you set up.

Examples:
1. All recent Tornado Warnings and Flash Flood Warnings in the U.S can be found at http://weatheralerts.alertblogger.com and/or follow @ipawsweather on Twitter.

2. All recent IPAWS Public Alerts affecting Virginia’s First Congressional District can be found at http://va1stipaws.alertblogger.com and/or follow @VA_1st_IPAWS.

3. All production non-weather IPAWS Alerts can be found at http://ipawsnonweather.alertblogger.com and/or follow @ipawsalerts.

Please note: This is a grandpaham.com offering and is separate from my support to IPAWS origination vendors. The IPAWS connection tech support is free (as I am paid for it by FEMA) to such vendors. This new capability will be priced according to the complexity of the solution to be provided. It can be inexpensive. Any time spent on customization will necessarily raise the price.

Finally received my first real live Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) on my AT&T iPhone. It was a FlashFlood Warning. I live on very high ground, but do often travel a flood prone route close by. So, the alert is appreciated.

Actual Tornado video with #WEA alert sounding in the background! washfm.com/player/?mid=23…

Finally, #WEA alerts through #IPAWS on my AT&T iPhone. I can finally get the results of my own IPAWS efforts.

I recently wrote an application to pull the actual full alert connected to Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) sent through IPAWS for counties in Virginia’s First Congressional District (where I live). The program then blog/tweets the details (http://va1stipaws.alertblogger.com). It is just a test app, but the NWS is posting actual alerts to the test environment I am monitoring. I was in my upstairs office when I got a tweet from @VA_1st_IPAWS of a tornado warning. Clicking on the blog revealed a tornado warning with my office in the direct path. So I went downstairs for safety (where I am now).

But,of course I never got the actual WEA, because I have an AT&T iPhone, and they have yet to work out issues with Apple. So, it looks like I will either have to go with a different carrier who has, or will have to go Android. PITA, to say the least.

Update: No damage to my home. Lots of trees down close by. Nice to be warned so I did not go out some where.

WEA is alive and operational in a big way. The big carriers are fully up and running, as are many of the smaller ones. Currently working with some folks in Puerto Rico. Just finished with some folks serving Mississippi. Both will be ready for hurricanes this summer.

I also saw a nice description of WEA as a Disaster Recovery Tip on the Agility Recovery Web site. Check out:

http://blog.agilityrecovery.com/bid/96992/Disaster-Recovery-Tip-23-What-you-never-knew-you-had