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  • Cullen Gallaghergallagher123123@dragonscave.space
    Jun 3, 2026, 5:06 AM

    Of course, I'm late starting my posts for #AudioMo, and it's already midnight at the start of Day 3. Oh well, I'll share the audio anyway, because why not?
    Here's what I intended to post on Monday, June 1.
    First, a bit of an introduction. On June 1, 2011, I officially became fascinated by the Emergency Alert System when I heard it activate for a tornado warning in western Massachusetts. While the alert was scary and I was concerned for the people affected, I couldn't help but be fascinated by hearing the system in action, along with the ScanSoft Tom voice that I knew so well.
    Prior to that, I had only heard the system used for tests and didn't fully understand its purpose. Hearing that tornado warning sent me down a rabbit hole. I spent countless hours watching videos of the system in action, from weather alerts and AMBER Alerts to various tests and everything in between. About a month later, that interest also led me to NOAA Weather Radio.
    Now, back to the present day and this piece of audio.
    I was sitting in the living room watching an old episode of Card Sharks on Buzzr when it was suddenly interrupted by the EAS. At first, I assumed it was just a standard test and didn't think much of it. Then the message began with, "The Civil Authorities have issued a Required Weekly Test." That immediately caught my attention, because I had never heard one start that way before.
    The message went on to list a large number of states, and I later realized they were all in the Eastern Time Zone. It was voiced using the Loquendo Dave voice.
    Fortunately, I was watching through our Comcast cable box and was able to rewind it. I knew I had to capture it because I had never heard anything quite like it before.
    After doing some research, it appears that this may have been an IPAWS test, some type of federal alert. I'm still not entirely sure whether the public was intended to hear it or whether the station made an error when transmitting it. If anyone knows more about this, I'd love to learn more.
    What made it even more fascinating to me was that I happened to hear it on the 15th anniversary of the event that sparked my interest in the EAS in the first place.
    Enjoy this recording, captured on my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

    A few seconds of Card Sharks, followed by the EAS tones. Message: The Civil Authorities have issued a Required Weekly Test for all of Connecticut, all of District Of Columbia, all of Delaware, all of Florida, all of Georgia, all of Indiana, all of Kentucky, all of Massachusetts, all of Maryland, all of Maine, all of Michigan, all of North Carolina, all of New Hampshire, all of New Jersey, all of New York, all of Ohio, all of Pennsylvania, all of Rhode Island, all of South Carolina, all of Virginia, all of Vermont, and all of West Virginia beginning at 11:01 am and ending at 12:01 pm. Test Message IPAWS OPEN CAP EAS Feed Configuration Test Message." End of message sound followed by a few more seconds of Card Sharks.
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Replies

  • Jayson Smithjaybird110127@dragonscave.space
    Jun 3, 2026, 5:33 AM

    @gallagher123123 FWIW here's the decoded SAME (Specific Area Message Encoding) data. I used a program called MiniModem to decode it. The SAME data bursts are those long buzzy noises before the 853 and 960 Hz attention signal. The final three SAME data bursts at the end are End of Message (EOM) bursts designed to tell receiving equipment that the message is concluded. ZCZC-CIV-RWT-009000-011000-010000-012000-013000-018000-021000-025000-024000-023000-026000-037000-033000-034000-036000-039000-042000-044000-045000-051000-050000-054000+0100-1521501-BUZZR -

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  • Cullen Gallaghergallagher123123@dragonscave.space
    Jun 3, 2026, 4:37 PM

    @jaybird110127 This is so fascinating! This has caused me to start going down this rabbit hole again, and was actually watching a video the other night about these headers. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I gave this to Gemini and it was able to translate it.

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