No Consensus on When Next National EAS Test is Needed
There was little agreement on a Federal Emergency Management Agency webcast Tuesday about when the government should next test the national emergency alert system. Several problems with the simulation have been identified since a Nov. 9 EAS test (CD Nov 18 p1), which was the first time the EAS was triggered nationwide. When Manny Centeno, FEMA program manager for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, asked the roundtable participants when the next test should be, dates as early as April 1 and as late as November, were suggested.
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Holding a test too soon could be problematic, said Greg Cooke, associate chief of the policy division of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. “We're really going to be crunching this data for a while, and it’s not even due until the end of the year,” he said. “I think a full-blown national test might be a little premature” before a full year has gone by since the Nov. 9 test, he said. Cooke suggested smaller, regional tests could help hammer out some of the technical and operational problems identified in last month’s exercise.
Others wanted another test sooner. “I think a yearly test is a good idea, but we need to do it more often until we get it right,” said Scott Mason, chair of the Society of Broadcast Engineers’ EAS Committee. “Once it’s working, we can go a yearly or quarterly basis, but we need to identify the problems, try to get it fixed and hit it again.” Overall, roundtable participants spoke of the Nov. 9 test as a success, despite the problems. “It was impressive to see it work,” said Adrienne Abbott, chair of the Nevada State Emergency Communications Committee. Remote stations out of range of the signals from a primary entry point (PEP) station didn’t receive the EAS test message, but that was no surprise, she said. And some stations picked up the test in areas she didn’t expect the signal to reach, because NPR stations carried the test and relayed it to other EAS participants, she said. “That made a big difference.
Coverage was an issue in Michigan, said Larry Estlack, director of technology for the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. That’s something that will need to be addressed “if we are able to truly receive and send a message to the entire country, as opposed to several populated areas that happened to be equipped with PEP stations,” he said. FM stations could help get the signal out, or more PEP stations could be added, he said.