[EAS] 2019 EAS National Periodic Test -- The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

[Sean Donelan]

A view of the 2019 EAS National Periodic Test.

Overall, my estimate is the 2019 NPT was better than the 2011 test using 
the NPWS/PEP origination.  There were severe thunderstorms around 
Washington, DC at the time of the test, and NWS was kicking off local EAS 
weather alerts throughout the afternoon. Great for testing EAS 
pre-emption rules. My understanding is FEMA shifted the NPT origination 
point to its backup facility to avoid satellite uplink issues in 
Washington, DC.

I recorded 11 FM stations, 5 TV stations, 1 satellite audio and 2 NOAA 
radio stations.  I also searched on YouTube for recordings around the 
country of the NPT.

I didn't record, but listened to WFED-AM in Washington, DC; a zombie PEP 
station not listed as a source in the DC EAS plan.  As expected, it was 
the first station in Washington, DC with the NPT and the audio was 
relatively good (AM quality).

The Ugly.

At least one TV broadcaster played a recording of last year's test, and 
cut-off the dates in the text scroll to hide that it was an old 
recording.  I wonder how they will fill out their FCC ETRS form? Since 
the forms are confidential, no one will know if that station fibs on 
their form.

FEMA probably should add the year as part of the NPT message text and 
audio to catch EAS participants replaying old messages.

The Bad.

Audio levels.

Audio levels ranged from excellent, too hot and with distortion or 
clipping, and finally completely silent. It will be interesting to learn 
the different origination audio levels via VSAT, conference bridge, and 
different NPWS/PEP stations.

I heard some messages with triple copies of the EAS tone (meaning at 
least two daisy chain hops), and very good audio.  I also heard 
unintelligible audio from other stations.  The old EBS had AT&T Long Lines 
ensuring every station received consistent audio levels. The EAS 
daisy-chain is a hodge-podge of audio levels.

Missing EAS audio.

WMDO-CD: Showed text crawl. No EAS audio or tones on stereo (LR)
WFDC-DT: Showed text crawl. No EAS audio or tones on stereo (LR)

Switching and cut-off audio.  Some stations don't program sufficient 
delays when switching EAS audio, and sometimes cut-off part of the EAS 
data bursts or audio.

WASH-FM: EAS AFSK header decode error (part of header cut-off)
WJFK-FM: EAS AFSK header decode errro (part of header cut-off)

DISH-TV/Sat: Missing EAS data headers, attention tone and first few 
seconds of EAS audio message.

Ducking program audio with EAS audio.

KSAT-TV: Ducked but did not mute program audio.  Combined with EAS audio.

The Good.

Of the 16 Washington, DC stations I recorded carrying the NPT, I found no 
(major) problems with 12 stations.  There were some audio ticks and double 
EAS attention tones, but overall I graded the message audio itself as 
understandable.  EAS isn't meant to be high-quality 5.1 surround sound 
audio, but should be understandable.

Searching on YouTube, there were a few states or parts of states which 
experienced audio problems early in the daisy-chain which affected 
downstream stations. [Yes, I know the State of Washington SECC will 
pipe up here about not using a daisy-chain].

Satellite sources.

Sirius XM: A bit hot, but understandable.
NPR: Very hot, but understandable.
Premiere: No reports.