Why are the federal thugs cutting off all radio/tv broadcasts on Nov. 9 under the guise of national security?

Well, the national test is the final step of the EAS conversion program. For years, station by station, the system has been added to and then tested once a week on a local level. This is just the next step, of testing ALL of the installations instead of randomly once a week on a local basis.

YES, this is exactly like "big brother" and having the control in anyone's hands other than the president BOTHERS me, but, WHAT can I do about it? I am an amateur radio operator, MY radio if NOT part of the system. MY radio equipment is 100% completely under my control.

Of course, the FCC knows about it because I am licensed. They know where I live and the location my transmitting equipment. One of the conditions of my license is that I volunteer for emergency services if needed as a public service.

When Katrina blew into town and a whole bunch of people went dark, amateur radio operators were able to assist with communications in parallel with other emergency services. If there was some sort of conspiracy as you infer, you would think they would co-opt ME to participate along the party lines. What you fail to understand is that while there IS a national test, no one is forced to comply.

When the system is triggered, it only will affect stations who have agreed to comply. No one will be holding a gun to anyone to force then to switch off their transmitter and only broadcast what the fed says to broadcast. You seem to think this system will disconnect things under remote control and the stations will not be able to do anything, and THAT is NOT the case.

The system works like a "drop out" relay. A drop out relay drops iout, turns off on a loss of power. When the power comes back on, it does NOT turn itself back on.

It takes pushing a reset button to reset the relay to turn the power back on. This is a safety device which protects equipment for a power surge when the power supply is restored. Anyway, sure, the fed can trigger stations remotely, but the station is not forced to DO anything.

The system is currently set up to rebroadcast whatever the fed says to, but the operators can override that at will. Your posturing about conspiracy is not founded in any facts. You simply speculate on the worst case and assume THAT is the only case.

The whole system is voluntary compliance, not mandatory with no intervention possible. You are asserting that this is equivalent to the scenario in the movie Failsafe where the system has no override to cancel an action taken by a single rogue individual pushing the button. Sorry, but I just do not see the conspiracy here, the ulterior motive that you infer is behind this national test.

This is one thing I wish we had on 9/11... You DO realize that the 9/11 Commission recommended a country-wide emergency alert system exactly like this one, yes?

I see no reason for alarm. Remember, that radio spectrum belongs to the public. These stations are licensed by the gov't with the goal of benefiting the public.

Being required to broadcast emergency information in time of emergency certainly falls within the realm of being a requirement of that license. I for one would like these stations to provide information during an emergency, rather than keep showing repeats of Seinfeld.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.