FCC Issues Report on 2011 Nationwide EAS Test

The FCC has issued a report summarizing the Nationwide EAS Test on November, 9, 2011.  The test was the first-ever nationwide test of the emergency Alert System. Thousands of broadcasters, cable operators, and other EAS Participants took part in the test, which involved the
simultaneous receipt and broadcast of a live national EAS alert to all EAS Participants across the United States and its territories.

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The purpose of the test was to allow the FCC and FEMA to assess how the national EAS architecture would perform in practice, and to develop and implement any necessary improvements to ensure that the EAS, if activated in a real emergency, would perform as designed.

An executive summary states that overall, a large majority of the EAS Participants successfully received the Emergency Action Notification (EAN), the live code for the national EAS, and, if required, retransmitted the EAN to other  EAS Participants.

The test demonstrated that the national EAS distribution architecture is basically sound.

As expected, however, the test uncovered several problems that impeded the ability of some EAS Participants to receive and/or retransmit the EAN. These included:

• Widespread poor audio quality nationwide;
• Lack of a Primary Entry Point (PEP) in the area to provide a direct connection to FEMA;
• Use of alternatives to PEP-based EAN distribution;
• The inability of some EAS Participants either to receive or retransmit the EAN;
• Short test length;
• Anomalies in EAS equipment programming and operation.

The FCC recommends that another nationwide test be conducted after the Commission takes a number  of steps to strengthen the EAS, including:

1. Commencing a rulemaking proceeding to examine equipment performance issues during activation of an EAN and seek comment on proposed changes, if any, to the EAS equipment rules  to ensure that EAS equipment operates in a consistent fashion throughout the EAS architecture.
2. Issuing a Public Notice encouraging states to review and as necessary update their EAS plans to ensure that they contain accurate and up-to-date information regarding monitoring assignments as required by FCC rules.
3. Commencing a rulemaking proceeding to consider possible changes to its EAS plan rules.
4. Working with FEMA to develop and issue best practices and other educational materials for EAS Participants, and, also with FEMA, consider hosting a workshop or other public forum that could  provide opportunities to educate EAS Participants about EAS performance and address concerns and questions EAS Participants may have about EAN operations.

No timetable was noted.