EAS REMINDER: Revisions to FCC ETRS Form 1 Due by Sept. 15

posted on 9.11.2023

Most Texas stations already have taken steps to prepare for the upcoming Oct. 4 Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test.

By now, for example, most broadcasters already should have filed the online Emergency Test Reporting System (ETRS) Form 1 for each licensed station.

The FCC requires stations to file Form 1 annually to provide an update of a station’s EAS equipment as well as other types of information.

If your station hasn’t done so, you are urged to do so immediately.

Also, if your station has seen a sale, move, or other changes since Form 1 was filed earlier this year, you will need to update the previous filing.

All updates of Form 1 are due by Friday, Sept. 15.

Stations can access ETRS at https://www.fcc.gov/general/eas-test-reporting-system.  

Form 1 requires stations to pull together some specific information for the filing itself such as:

• ETRS login information (user name and password from previous filings)
• Federal Registration Number (FRN)
• Call letters and FCC Facility ID for each station
• Make/model of current EAS equipment and current firmware version
• Coordinates of station transmitter site (in decimal degrees, not degrees, minutes and seconds).  Stations should fret here.  A  link at this section of Form 1 will send you to a location to calculate decimal degrees using your known degrees, minutes and seconds.  U.S. stations are west of the 0 degree longitude, so don’t forget the negative sign by your longitude when entering this information on Form 1.
• Transmitter city and county
• Day of Test contact
• Two required monitoring sources (stations can also list additional sources)

Filings of ETRS Form 2 and 3 take place on the day of the test, and within 30 days of the test, respectively.  

These reports focus on operational issues.

Other Nationwide EAS Test Preps

The Oct. 4 nationwide EAS test will be disseminated using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message.  

FEMA will send the test at 1:20 pm CDT on Oct. 4 in in English and Spanish under the EAS NPT code.

In advance of the test, the FCC recommends stations should:

• Review the station’s role in the Texas State EAS Plan
• Confirm the station ENDEC is operational and software is current
• Confirm the EAS clock on station EAS equipment is synchronized with the official time used by the National Institute of Standards and Technology which is used by the IPAWS system
• Confirm the station has an accessible and current FCC EAS Handbook 
• Review the handbook for instructions on the operation of the EAS system 

Our friends at the Alabama Broadcasters Association recently did a Zoom conference covering these preps in greater detail, as well as updates from several EAS endec manufacturers.

That presentation is available for viewing here.

The nationwide EAS test will take the place of the October Texas EAS RMT.

Stations should not issue an RWT during that first week in October either as the nationwide test also takes that test’s place as well.

Questions? Contact TAB’s Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.
 

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