National EAS Test Scheduled for August 7th

FEMA has announced that the 2019 National Periodic Test (NPT) will be issued Wednesday, August 7, 2019 at 2:20 PM EDT. The alternate date is Wednesday, August 21, 2019. All broadcast stations are required to participate and file required reports.

We expect the FCC to issue a public notice about the test soon, setting the applicable deadlines for the EAS Forms 1, 2 and 3. EAS Form 1 is usually due to be filed or updated about two weeks prior to the test. EAS Form 2 is due by midnight on the day of the test. EAS Form 3 is usually required about two weeks after the test.

This year’s test comes with one big wrinkle – it will not be fed via the IPAWS network as in past years. Instead, the test will be received via state assigned Primary Entry Point (PEP) stations and relayed by the LP-1 and LP-2 broadcast stations applicable to a station. For this reason, we recommend that stations verify (now) the two required monitor sources assigned by the station’s State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC). Check not only for the correct source but the quality of the audio. If a station is not able to receive clearly the assigned sources or have not been receiving the Required Weekly Test (RWT) from both sources, a station should contact its SECC for an alternate source now.