New UK Emergency alert system.

[Andrew C]

6 hours ago, ANDYLASER said:

In certain parts of the country, the local McDonalds getting hit by a rogue meteorite would be classed as a disaster.

Culinary triumph.  Fixed it for ya...

 

Back on topic - shift workers are going to be dead pleased...

[kerry davies]

Just checked and thank heavens I did. The kids set my phone up so that before opening settings I had to update 15 apps (what's an app?) but I discovered that they had not set me up for meteor warnings but had for earthquakes. Doh?  I can't wait for this test now that I have turned off all "location" on the machine. Will it won't it go off alarming?

In Sweden in the 70's those sirens were a nuclear attack warning and when they were tested it caused a national plague of merriment. It was something like a two minute warning with an all clear sounding after three minutes by which time of course.....

Oh and my nearest McDonalds is either 20 miles downwind in another country or the other side of a mountain range. Do your worst, meteors.

Edited March 23, 2023 by kerry davies

[Tomo]

It doesn't use location services or anything like that.

The emergency broadcast system is cell-based - they pick some cells, choose a message and broadcast to every mobile that's connected to those masts.

The phones then ignore the signal because everyone finds them annoying and turns it off the first time it interrupts them.

[adamburgess]

Just some info for non-UK people, it is certainly cell-based in the UAE.
Actually very clever as it knows within a metre that you've crossed into Oman from Dubai, then the enclave within Oman that is Hatta, owned by Dubai, you're back on non-roaming…

Nothing to do with personal phone permissions or Location Services etc.

So, you can't turn it off - every phone connected to the masts the provider sends it to gets it if the phone is switched on.
Every week, or any national day, our provider name can be changed at will; so "Happy New Year" can be scrolling across our screens for two days.

I give my money to Virgin Mobile, but Etisalat and du are the government owned providers with the actual infrastructure. Can do a full volume "PING" for anything they like.

I'm sure the UK can do exactly the same and target stuff to where it's actually needed and not for it to just become an annoyance 🙂

EDIT

So, checking my phone, it doesn't say Virgin next to the 5G signal bars. It says "1B Meals"

A Ramadan charity thing, I guess.

Edited April 3, 2023 by adamburgess
Additional current info

[KevinE]

my android has the 'emergency alert' notification on/off option greyed-out. So someone wrote the operating system to allow it to be turned on/off and someone else removed the option after. I've turned off all alerts. It means I dont get pinged for a text message either, which is a good thing.

[adamburgess]

Yes, I bought this phone new here GCC spec a couple of years back.

Last one (iPhone 8ish) was a grey US import (for a good bit less than local prices, but obviously unlocked to any network!).
Was new in box, with US adapter and definitely unopened.

So maybe I could've updated that one to the actual Apple SOS thing software-wise, even though it wouldn't do a thing…

 

[kerry davies]

And then ......

Quote

The flood warning system relied on by hundreds of thousands of households in England will be put on permanent autopilot, officials have said, despite warnings it is inaccurate.

[paulears]

Back in the late 90s, I was on the roof of a tall building installing antennas for a short term radio station I was involved with. In the equipment room on the roof was some rusty old electrical switch gear, and one of the big brown boxes had a button labelled 'test'. I pushed it. Great Yarmouth at the time had the WW2 air raid warning sirens still active and functional, used for flood alerts if ever they needed to warn the population and there was a siren on the roof, and the test button still worked. My God it was loud and worse, no off switch or way to silence it. I found a scratched local telephone number on the case, and called it. It was the Police control room and they said "We wondered who did that". I discovered that very few people knew the sirens were there and were still intended to be used - this sounds very similar to the new alert system. Who will actually know what is going on if their phone gets an alert?

[Ynot]

2 hours ago, paulears said:

 

Of course, there used to be a LOT of secret squirrel siren and early warning systems routed through the BT networks .....

Not that I'd know anything about them........................  😄 😄 😄

😄

[gareth]

13 minutes ago, Ynot said:

Of course, there used to be a LOT of secret squirrel siren and early warning systems routed through the BT networks .....

Our somewhat esoteric lighting control room library at my old place of work contained a book which featured a pretty detailed, and very interesting, explanation of UKWMO, HANDEL, etc. - it was a fascinating read.

[paulears]

Ha! That was my world in the 80s and 90s. I think ynot too? Civil defence college at easingwold, and police officers delivering PJ996 batteries and maroons to post offices and pubs in the villages. I had to retrain one postmaster, because he organised a test. He pretended the ticking box shouted out an alert, let off his maroons and wound the handle on his siren. Warned all the locals and did his own little exercise. Missing the point that it was supposed to be secret, until needed. Few younger people know that at the police station was the gizmo with two red telephone handsets, where the officer would have pressed the button and said attack warning red. I got sent to a small town fifteen miles away to collect a green goddess control room with pump up masts and radios. It lived in a lock-up had an MOT each year and from the 50s when new, had been kept, just in case. Back in the 90s I thought this fun. Looking back, it was pure dad’s army.

[Simon Lewis]

The timing of the alert has now been set at 3pm on the 23rd, so as to avoid sporting events etc.

[ianknight]

I don't know if it's still there but there was a big feck off siren mounted on a mast at Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne. Every Monday morning they sounded it (at 10am I think) to test it was working - the first time I was staying at the then GF's parents and it sounded, it was eery.

he siren was intended to let locals know if one of the 'patients' escaped.

[Stuart91]

3 hours ago, ianknight said:

I don't know if it's still there but there was a big feck off siren mounted on a mast at Broadmoor Hospital in Crowthorne. 

There's something similar at the State Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire. I think they still test the siren, although less regularly than every week. 

So the top tip for escaping from Broadmoor is to do it at 10am on a Monday, that way everyone will assume it's just a drill...

[J Pearce]

Where I rehearse with a brass band is next door to a large chemical works that process phosphorus compounds.

They have a siren that can be heard for a mile or 2 around, which is tested annually. The bandroom has a ‘red’ phone.

The local canals used to catch fire as the water lapped at the edges.