Logging Requirements & General Info
This is my own independent interpretation of the FCC EAS rules. While I
believe this to be accurate I take no responsibility for what an FCC inspector
may say or how they may interpret or apply the rules. I feel that if you
follow these guidelines you should be OK with a FCC EAS inspection, however
it is your responsibility to read the rules and apply them to your own
situation.
This was written in Feb of 2002. Some of the things discussed here may change.
Jim Tharp
1. Each station needs to have approved EAS equipment (decoder/encoder)
installed and operating.
Co-owned and co-located stations can share a single unit if it is installed
to work with all.
2. Each station needs to have a Chief operator.
A letter naming the Chief
Operator and or Alternate Chief Operators needs to be kept on file, usually
along with the Station License. The Chief Operator is responsible for the EAS
log. He can delegate that authority to someone else but he is ultimately
responsible.
3. Each week the Chief Operator needs to review the EAS log, make any
necessary corrections, comments, explanations etc, and sign it. The act
of signing then makes it "The Official EAS Log".
4. Each station needs to have a copy of the FCC EAS handbook, a copy of the
Washing State EAS Plan, and a copy of the Local Area Plan, kept at the Control
Point / Studio.
Co-owned and co-located stations with a single Control Point, need only a
single copy of each. They can all be combined in to one 3 ring binder.
When reviewing the EAS log the Chief Operator needs to check for and log the
following.
1. Reception of 2 weekly tests per calendar week from the 2 sources you are
required to monitor by the State Plan.
The reception of a monthly test or a real alert can be used in lue of a weekly
test. Usually when a monthly test occurs you will see on the paper tape where
reception has occurred from the second source. It will say something like,
"Monitor Port #2, Alert Already Heard". This can be used as the second weekly
test reception.
2. One weekly test issued by each station for each calendar week.
This needs to be at random days and times that your station is on the air.
A monthly test or a real EAS alert transmitted can take the place of a weekly
test for that week.
3. One monthly test received and transmitted each month.
The relay of this
test needs to be done within 60 min. of reception. This is a scheduled event.
The yearly schedule can be found at http://www.wsab.org/eas/html. A real EAS alert that you have relayed
can be used instead of the monthly test. This is risky because the RMT is
usually scheduled for the first week in the month, and you have no idea whether
a real alert may occur later in that month.
(Day Time Only stations need only relay a RMT if it is received while they
are on the air. They do need to log the receiption. If they wish they can
relay a RMT received at night in the first hour of returning to the air in
the morning.)
4. Reception of any real EAS alerts that were received and or relayed.
5. If any of these items are missing or goofed up, then the chief operator
needs to explain what the problem was, and what he has done to correct it,
date it, and sign it.
6. If the equipment is taken out of service for repair, the time out of
service and the time back in service needs to be logged and signed.
Equipment may be out of service for up to 60 days without having to notify
the FCC.
Note: A calendar week may vary from station to station. Each station
can define it's own calendar week. It usually is Sat. mid. to Sat. mid. but
it could be Sun. mid. - Sun. mid. etc. You may want to check with the LP1 in
your area to find out how they define a calendar week. Your week need not
coincide with theirs.
Note: NWS policy is that they usually issue a weekly test each Wednesday
close to 12:00 PM. If a watch of any kind is in effect they will not issue
the weekly test. They may delay it to later in the week or may just skip it
if the watch continues. This usually occurs in winter during times of bad
weather.