FCC's Seeks Comment on First-ever Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test

On September 23, 2013 the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau released a Public Notice seeking comment on the equipment and operational issues identified following the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System. The test was conducted by the FCC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) at 2:00 p.m. EST, on November 9, 2011.

Earlier this year, on April 15, 2013, the FCC released a report discussing the results of the Test (see Radio TechCheck , April 22, 2013). The Test was deemed in large part a success by the Bureau, with EAS generally performing as designed were it to be activated for an actual emergency. The FCC however reported that the test uncovered several problems that impeded the ability of some EAS Participants to receive and/or retransmit the EAN, including anomalies in EAS equipment programming and operation that appeared to have led to inconsistent performance.

With this Public Notice, the FCC stated they are beginning a dialogue with EAS stakeholders to develop recommendations for Commission action, if any, to address these issues. The FCC says will consider all comments filed in response to this Public Notice as it develops its recommendations regarding any further action, including issuance by the full Commission of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on some, if not of these issues.

Comments may be filed on-line by accessing the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System. Comments are due on November 4 and Reply Comments on November 19, 2013.

The October 21, 2013 Radio TechCheck is also available in an Adobe Acrobat file. Please click here to read the Adobe Acrobat version of Radio TechCheck.