cGrant wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Was anyone actually talking to someone on their phone

You are showing your age... people don't actually use their phone for talking! 
 

Quit trolling this board please. I talk on my phone all the time. I'm not 18-24 but god damn I'm not 50 either.

Dial Twister wrote:

betaylored wrote:

...and it won't matter because whatever the message of today's alert was, it was unintelligible.

B. I. N. G. O.
 

 
Along with the marble-mouthed robotic voice, do you think the shrill discordant alarm sound should be retired, and an equally attention getting new alarm created? The familiar repetitive squawking noise everyone is only too familiar with, is pretty easy for most to disregard. ;)

Also, anyone know if the hearing impaired were taken into consideration during this test?

Radiowiz wrote:

cGrant wrote:

Perhaps, Madam, you failed to see the "laughing" emoji at the end of my post. That would indicate I was joking. (Perhaps, having to spell it out for you, ironically, proves my point, though) ---> here comes another emoji: 
 

I'm a SIR and you are to address me as "Mr. Radio Wiz, sir" in the future.
You weren't funny btw. It was directly insulting. 

 

 
Ah, snowflake, I'm sorry. Offended your preciousness, I did. I never wrote I was funny: I wrote I was joking, as in a jest. If that insulted you, well, tough. Grow a pair.

(Again, ironically, your demeanor purely illustrates my point about age. Thanks for making it.)

❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Did anyone else who received the alert have it come through via their Weather Network App? Rather odd I think. What if I didn't have this app loaded, or be set to auto update? I tried to upload two screen captures but failed in doing so.

Last edited by DeepTracks (May 8, 2018 6:24 am)

Thanks. I may have received it via the Cell broadcast system, I don't know. At the time my phone was on 'hard' mute. A slide switch on the side of my iPhone 5 kills all sounds. Cheers!

splunge wrote:

ironically, just after that report, the emergency notice appeared on the tv.... for over 5 minutes.
 

When at home, just press the exit button on your remote. In a hospital or doctor's office, the TV out in the open might not have a remote or an exit option though.

Last edited by Radiowiz (May 8, 2018 10:41 pm)

Was in Quebec for the test (we did a tour of the Gaspé Peninsula) and was somewhere around Trois Rivières at the time. Nothing whatsoever came through on my iPhone 5S. Friends in Montreal report one test success and one non. I have no idea whether iPhone 5S is too "old" for the alerts.

Didn't pay too much attention to radio while there - when the test was going on we were probably walking about the town...

On a radio note, visited CHNC FM in New Carlisle QC, where Réné Levesque worked (when it was AM) as a journalist before entering politics. Also noted an obviously unauthorized station on 87.9 while returning home in the car near Cornwall-Akwesasne, playing Aboriginal music (mostly drumming and vocals). Signal carried for quite awhile; I'd guess maybe 50-100 watts. The now-licenced CKON 97.3 started out there as a pirate many years ago.
 

An Amber Alert went out over Toronto radio and TV stations just after the noon hour Monday, warning about a missing and possibly abducted child. It comes just days after the first test of the emergency system was mostly a complete bust on a majority of cell phones. Did anyone's cell get this one?

Got it. Though I think if I get amber alerts every time a child custody case goes awry hundreds of miles away I'll stop paying attention.

I didn't get the test while in Quebec on May 7. I use an iPhone 5s ...

Just got a second alert, that the child has been found. In the first case I had the phone set to vibrate, which it did, pinging maybe ten times but quite softly so that it wouldn't disturb anyone. For the second alert I had it to 'sound' (because I was expecting a call and was alone at the time) and I got the type of sound you hear on the radio. The "Waah, waah, waah" seemed to go on ad infinitum and was truly distracting.

I wonder if this will change user behaviour. Damned if I'll ever go out anywhere in public without setting it to vibrate; and in some cases turning it right off (because at some quieter events like classical concerts or talks you can hear a phone vibrate). The audio is way louder and more abrasive than any ring tone...
 

At least 3 alerts today.  Once while driving - so I glanced over and the alert disappeared - vaporized before I could read it.  A 2nd alert about a missing kid, apparently nowhere near where I was.  Before I could read the entire alert, it vanished from my iphone.   3rd alert rescinded alerts #1 and 2.
Is this how it's going to be, bombarded by alerts for missing kids,  (in Thunder Bay) who might actually not be missing???  This is the old "cry wolf"  My spouse's iphone (same carrier) did not sound the alert even once.  

I suspect if I was in a meeting this would have disturbed everyone, because it was loud enough to wake the dead.

Someone noted that the alert came through if you have the weather network app on the phone.  I don't seem to.  I have The (US) Weather Channel (not related), The "Weather Office"  and Accuweather.  Anyone know if those triggered my phone's alarm 'cause I'll remove them ASAP.

What a great system eh????

Last edited by tvguy (May 14, 2018 2:49 pm)

To be honest I don't think the amber alerts should happen on phones. At least when they apply to custody disputes. If a child is truly abducted and the police have reason to believe alerts are relevant to a particular area, I'm more amenable. But these things are dealing with custody disputes - this was clear from the message that went out earlier today because it indicated who was wanted. I hope there's a strong backlash. In the meantime, when I am out my phone is on vibrate or off. If there is any way to remove such an option, I'm game, unless this system is made exclusively for public safety and targeted carefully on geographic basis. There's also the cry-wolf scenario - at some point people will have tuned out when it really matters. My opinion as to their applicability to radio and TV - there I don't mind amber alerts or whatever...

Last edited by Saul (May 14, 2018 3:55 pm)

I was in the break room at work when it happened. I could hear my co-workers cell phones all going off in their lockers. However, mine did not. My phone did not get the test alert last week, or today's Amber Alert. A co-worker was on her phone, I asked if she also got the alert, she did (but didn't read it, she thought it was another test).

Maybe my phone is just old.

RadioActive wrote:

An Amber Alert went out over Toronto radio and TV stations just after the noon hour Monday, warning about a missing and possibly abducted child. It comes just days after the first test of the emergency system was mostly a complete bust on a majority of cell phones. Did anyone's cell get this one?

 
I know by now that chatr doesn't support my Moto phone, when it comes to alerts, but I did see and RT the amber alert today on Twitter, so Twitter, and my radio will have to be my alert system, as will be the case for a good number of people.

And, a positive side benefit: no marble garble unreasonable imitation of a human voice to have to listen to, and try to decipher.😁

Thanks for the suggestion cGrant. I've downloaded the Weather Network app. Rogers owns chatr, so I have no idea why they don't support the alerts on all types of cellphones.

With regards to using Twitter as a way to track emergency situations, I find Twitter is geographically specific enough to bring urgent and or life threatening situations to the public, in a way that these general alerts have yet to master. The Friday wind storm several weeks ago was a good example, with the Twitter accounts of the police, hydro, fire dept. updating the public, and people tweeting about their power outages. All the tweeted pictures of trees lying across cars brought the severity of the weather home.

Matt Guerney, Steve Dangle, lots of radio people RT missing persons alerts trying to be helpful. I won't debate the wisdom of it, people need to do what works for them.😀