Another National EAS Test?

Yes, it is true. The FCC has plans for another national test of the Emergency Alert System sometime this fall. We don’t have specific details yet, though we are hopeful that the lessons learned from the last national EAS test from a few years ago will be used to make this new test less problematic.

One of the biggest issues encountered during the last test was malfunctioning EAS equipment. If that occurred, it was something that had to be reported to the FCC. And while they reserved the right to take enforcement action against an EAS participant in those situations, none ever materialized. Whether such leniency remains in the FCC’s EAS testing mindset is an unknown.

So while you’re making your summer plans and checklists, add an item to have your engineer double check your EAS equipment to be sure that it is functioning properly during tests and is programmed to receive a national test. Once we know more details about the planned test, we’ll let everyone know.