The Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) has announced that a National EAS test will be sent on Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018. There is a difference between this test and the two previous tests. At 2:18 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), FEMA will send a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) test message to all WEA capable wireless devices throughout the entire United States and territories. Immediately following the WEA nationwide end-to-end test, at 2:20 p.m. EDT, FEMA will conduct a live test of the Emergency Alerting System (EAS). All EAS participants are required to participate in this nationwide test. The EAS message will be disseminated via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

Stations are encouraged to verify that their EAS units are communicating correctly with the IPAWS server. Review your station logs (which should be checked once each week by the chief operator) to ensure you are receiving the Required Weekly Test (RWT) from IPAWS. This RWT is fed every Monday at 11:00 a.m. local time. Contact your equipment representative for details on setting up your EAS decoder to properly receive and relay the National test.

EAS participants are reminded that they are required to register with the EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS) and must complete the filing of ETRS Form One on or before Aug. 27, 2018. Then on or before 11:59 p.m. EDT, Sept. 20, 2018, EAS participants must file the day-of-test information sought by ETRS Form Two on or before Nov. 5, 2018, EAS participants must file the detailed post-test data sought by ETRS Form Three.

Filers can access ETRS by visiting the ETRS page of the Commission’s website at www.fcc.gov/general/eas-test-reporting-system. Instructional videos regarding registration and completion of the ETRS Forms are available on the ETRS page.

The Battle for the C-Band Heats Up

By Chris Imlay, SBE Legal Council 

On April 19, 2018, the FCC issued a public notice of a temporary freeze on applications for new or modified fixed-satellite service earth stations and fixed microwave stations operating in the 3.7-4.2 GHz band. This is the C-Band downlink.
Continue reading Register Your C-Band Receive-Only Earth Station Now →

On October 24, 2014, there was an unauthorized playing of the national emergency alert notification (EAN) tones during a syndicated radio broadcast.  These tones were a retransmission from the original EAN test conducted on Nov 9, 2011. There is a possibility that Digital Alerting Systems’ DASDEC units may have stored the recent unauthorized EAN and will retransmit on November 9 when the date/time stamp becomes valid.  Digital Alerting Systems has published a Field Service Bulletin on this matter, http://www.digitalalertsystems.com/pdf/DAS%20FSB-103014R1.0.pdf. If you are using a DASDEC system version 2.5 or earlier, AND if you are located in any area where this syndicated programming was broadcast on your EAS monitoring source/station, we suggest that you read the Field Service Bulletin for more information and for the company’s instructions on how to proceed. If you use another manufacturer’s  EAS equipment, we recommend you contact them if you have any questions.

(It’s very unlikely the recent national error event propagated to San Diego, and checking a client DASDEC unit, I found no stored national EAN’s. However, it’s a good time to check your configuration to turn on Strict Time if available on your device’s configuration. –ed)

The Society of Broadcast Engineers announced October 8 it will work to attract and serve those who work in technical broadcast and media related positions, in addition to its traditional broadcast engineering membership base. SBE president, Joe Snelson, CPBE, 8-VSB, made the announcement in his address during the Society’s 50th anniversary Annual Membership Meeting held at the Turning Stone Resort, in Central New York State.    Continue reading SBE to Expand Membership Scope, Support →