June 18, 2012
Radio Tech Check

12 Days to EAS CAP Compliance Deadline

On June 11, 2012 the FCC issued a Public Notice reminding licensees of the June 30, 2012 Emergency Alert System CAP compliance deadline. The Public notice states, in part, that:

“…[o]n or before June 30, 2012, EAS Participants must have deployed operational equipment that is capable of receiving and processing Common Alerting Protocol (CAP)-formatted EAS alerts in a manner consistent with the Commission’s EAS rules(47 C.F.R. Part 11)...”

This means stations must have all necessary equipment installed and operational by June 30.

The Part 11 EAS Rules adopted in the January, 2012 5th Report and Order (Docket 04-296) include:

  • Requirement that broadcasters interface with and monitor FEMA’s IPAWS server for federal CAP-formatted EAS messages

  • Because IPAWS monitoring will be largely conducted via an Internet connection, the FCC will consider, on a case by case basis, applications for waivers from this monitoring requirement based on the physical lack of availability of broadband.

  • A requirement that, effective June 30, 2012, broadcasters must use the enhanced text data in the CAP-formatted message – when available – to create the visual display elements (i.e. text crawl) of an EAS alert.

  • Allows for the use of Intermediary devices that receive and convert CAP-formatted messages into SAME format messages that would be inputted into a station’s legacy EAS equipment for broadcast over the air. But these devices must meet the CAP related obligations with respect to use of the enhanced text capability no later than June 30, 2015.

  • Limited the duration of the EAS 2-tone attention signal to eight seconds

    • As of June 11, FEMA is sending from the IPAWS server, test messages – using the RWT code – every day at 11:00 a.m. local time. If your station’s EAS decoder is not receiving these messages, contact the equipment manufacturer for help with resolving the problem.

    For further information regarding this FCC requirement, please contact Tom Beers, Chief, Policy Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, (202) 418-0952; or Gregory Cooke, Associate Chief, Policy Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, (202) 418-2351.

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