In a filing to the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency notified the FCC that it has selected Wednesday, August 7 as the next date for a national EAS test.
From the filing:
In accordance with the provisions set forth in CFR 47, Part 11.61(a)(3) Tests of EAS Procedures FEMA hereby notifies the Commission that FEMA has selected Wednesday, August 7, 2019, as the primary test date for the 2019 national EAS test with Wednesday, August 21, 2019 as a back-up date should conditions preclude conducting the test on the primary date. FEMA proposes to conduct this test at 2:20 PM EDT (18:20 GMT). The test message will use the National Periodic Test (NPT) event code and be geo-targeted using the All-US (000000) geocode.
This year FEMA proposes to originate the test via the National Public Warning System composed of the FEMA designated Primary Entry Point (PEP) facilities. The intent of conducting the test in this fashion is to determine the capability of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to deliver messages to the public in event that dissemination via internet is not available. The public should be aware that full message text and multilingual messaging will not be available due to the over the air message delivery and relay used in this system of EAS message dissemination.
As in past years the national EAS test message will look and sound very much like the regular Required Monthly Test (RMT) messages broadcast every month by all EAS Participants, broadcast radio and television, cable, wireline service providers, and direct broadcast satellite service providers.
More information regarding the test as we draw closer.
