Station Compliance›Field Notes
Compliance Calendar
Form One has no fixed annual date. For 2026 the FCC set it for October 30, three weeks before the first nationwide EAS test since 2023. Here is everything in the Public Notice, in the order you need it.
By Mark Shannon ·
Every EAS Participant must file ETRS Form One for 2026 by Friday, October 30. The date comes from the FCC's Public Notice DA 26-989, released September 16, which also set the nationwide EAS test for November 17.
Form One is the annual one. It does not depend on the test happening, and it does not move if the test does.
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| October 30, 2026 | ETRS Form One due from every EAS Participant |
| November 17, 2026, 2:20 pm ET | Nationwide EAS test, sent by FEMA through IPAWS, in English and Spanish |
| November 19, 2026, 2:20 pm ET | Form Two ("day of test" data), 48 hours after the test |
| January 4, 2027 | Form Three, detailed post-test data, within 45 days |
If the test is moved to the backup date of December 3, Form Two is due December 5 at 2:20 pm ET and Form Three by January 18, 2027. Form One stays October 30 either way.
The rule itself gives 24 hours for Form Two. For this test the Bureau is allowing 48, because it wants every Participant able to file. The 48-hour deadline is specific to this notice, so do not plan the next test on it.
The notice is plain: all EAS Participants, and it names three that people tend to assume are excused:
Four kinds of station are exempt from registering and filing in ETRS (§ 11.11(b)):
If your translator originates any programming of its own, the first two exemptions do not describe it.
Form One renews your station's identifying information in ETRS: the details of the station and its EAS setup, as the ETRS form asks for them. The rule requires you to renew it every year, and again whenever your State EAS Plan is revised (§ 11.61(a)(3)(iv)(A)).
The rule does not list the fields; the form does. The practical approach is to log in early, look at what was filed last year, and correct anything that has changed: equipment, monitoring sources, contacts, ownership.
ETRS is reached from the FCC's EAS Test Reporting System page. From the notice:
Do not leave this for October 29. The filing takes minutes. Untangling a Username that is not tied to the right FRN can take days, and the FCC's licensing support line (1-877-480-3201) is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, weekdays only. October 30 is a Friday. ETRS questions go to ETRS@fcc.gov.
The Bureau "encourages" EAS Participants to prepare, with their State Emergency Communications Committee, by:
That firmware line is the same work the program chain security rule requires (§ 11.35(d)). And a footnote in the notice is worth reading twice: failing to receive or transmit a national test or an actual emergency because of an equipment failure "may subject the EAS Participant to enforcement action."
Not that anyone has confirmed. The Public Notice does not mention § 11.35(d). Some in the industry expect future ETRS forms to ask about security, and the November test exercises exactly the equipment the rule covers. Treat that as a reason to have the work done, not as a fact about this year's form.
For the rest of the year's fixed and moving dates, see the compliance calendar. For the equipment the test runs through, see what the security rule covers.
Everything on this site is free to read. The Program Chain Compliance Kit is the implementation version — the device-by-device reference, the network patterns for a one-rack station, and the worksheets that leave a paper trail behind the work.
The rules on this site change without warning — a deadline gets waived, a filing window opens, a Public Notice lands on a Friday. Leave an address and you get an email when something changes that affects a small station. Nothing else, and one click to leave.