Silent Radio

KI4GGU Scott tells us that in Israel, there is a service called "silent radio" which people tune into.

It is a regular active FM station, but it is "silent." until something of a disaster/etc happens, then they broadcast.

Bob G8IYK says the Emergency Planning community in the UK have tried to have something like this established for many years, but always receive the line 'it would be prohibitively expensive'. In fact not so long ago the nation-wide warning siren network, set up in WWII but retained and improved upon throughout the Cold War period, was scrapped for the same reason.

Of course in the USA there was for many a year CONELRAD the Civil Defence Warning broadcasts on the AM dial.
Speaking of civil defence warnings, unconfirmed moves to provide a dozen major cellular carriers in parts of the US with weather alerts, amber alerts (lost/stolen child), and possible civil defence alerts via some "push" mechanism to customers cell phones.

These days new plans are underway, Norm Seeley KI7UP from the Amateur Radio Newsline in a recent bulletin said that X-M Satellite Radio is getting into the emergency alert business. This by making available the X-M Emergency Alert channel to its more than 2.1 million subscribers, nationwide.

Channel 247 X-M Emergency Alert will be dedicated to providing updated critical information before, during and after natural disasters.

The channel will also provide key survival information such
as evacuation routes, shelter locations and updated weather emergency information for impacted areas.
Local police and fire departments and eyewitness reports will make the service about as all encompassing and up to the minute as it can get.

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia

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