In the News . . .

November 9, 2011, NWR Required
Weekly Test (RWT) Rescheduled or Canceled

• The NWS has rescheduled the NWR Routine Weekly Test from Wednesday, November 9, 2011, to Tuesday, November 8, to mitigate any potential confusion that could arise from the Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test scheduled for November 9 at 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
• Local NWS offices and NWS Regional Offices may elect to cancel the NWR RWT test for that week after consultation with respective state emergency management officials, state emergency communications or EAS committees.
• If the rescheduled NWR RWT cannot be conducted because of potential severe weather on Tuesday, November 8, the test should be canceled for that week. The few locations that conduct a second NWR RWT test later in the day should make a reschedule/ cancellation decision after consulting with area emergency management, emergency communications, and EAS officials.
• No NWR RWT test should be conducted on Wednesday, November 9, 2011.

See the one-page printable flyer (PDF) that includes background and reasons for the NWR RWT being rescheduled or cancelled.

Nationwide EAS Test on Wednesday,
November 9, 2011, at 2:00 PM Eastern Time

Update 11/4/2011

"After a careful review of the technical elements of the test, FEMA and the FCC have concluded that a thirty-second test will allow the agencies to effectively assess the reliability and effectiveness of the EAS as a way to alert the public of national emergencies with limited disruption to the public. Today’s public notice supersedes any prior Public Notice, and announces that a revised Handbook
reflecting the new thirty second test length has been posted at www.fcc.gov/nationwideeastest.

The test will NOT be broadcast on most NWR stations. A few NWR stations in the Pacific Northwest and other areas will broadcast the nationwide EAS test. NWS and FEMA are working on improvements that include NWS receiving the national audio message and broadcasting it over the NWR network. During the nationwide EAS test, NWS will demonstrate the interfaces for receiving and capturing EAN live-code and audio messages. NWR Improvement Project (WRIP) Phase II will be installed in the NWS Telecommunications Operations Center and at NWS offices nationwide through 2012. After those improvements are complete, NWS will install updates which include capability to broadcast the EAN live code and audio from FEMA over all NWR stations

NWS will reduce the possibility of confusion by moving the NWR Required Weekly Test (RWT) scheduled for Wednesday, November 9, to Tuesday, November 8, or at local NWS and emergency officials option, cancelling the RWT for the week. NWS does not plan to send any test messages via AWIPS, NWWS, EMWIN or other dissemination systems or on NWR the day of the nationwide EAS test. For NWR RWT information for November 8, please tune to your local NWR station for public service announcements or visit your local NWS offices website for weather radio information by clicking your approximate location on the map at http://www.weather.gov/.

Additional information about the Nationwide EAS Test is available at:

• FCC Nov. 3 Public Notice with Updates on Nationwide EAS Test
• New FEMA EAS Test main page is at http://www.fema.gov/eastest/
• November 4 FEMA Press Release
• Joint FEMA/FCC Letter: National Alert System Test: PDF, 2MB; TXT 9KB
  

• FEMA Press Release
• FEMA Nationwide EAS Test Resources
• FEMA Nationwide EAS Test Information Toolkit, pdf
• FEMA EAS Best_Practices, pdf
• FEMA’s National Dialogue On EAS
• FCC Nationwide EAS Test Guide
• FCC Nationwide EAS Test Resources
• NWS Nationwide EAS Test and NWR Required Weekly Test Rescheduling, pdf
• Emergency Alert System National Test | National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)   
• Details on National EAS Test | National Alliance of State Broadcasters Associations (NASBA) and NAB
• Latest EAS National Test Information | Society of Broadcast Engineers

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