Station Compliance›Field Notes

FEMA will send a nationwide EAS test on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 2:20 pm Eastern. Every EAS Participant has to take part and then report how it went in ETRS. The dates are in the FCC's Public Notice DA 26-989, released September 16.

There is nothing to sign up for. The test arrives on its own. The only question is whether your EAS unit receives it and puts it on the air, and the time to find that out is before the 17th.

The dates

If conditions force a delay, the backup date is December 3, 2026. Form Two would then be due December 5 at 2:20 pm ET, and Form Three by January 18, 2027.

2:20 pm Eastern is 1:20 Central, 12:20 Mountain and 11:20 am Pacific: the same moment everywhere.

What the test is

FEMA sends it through IPAWS as a CAP message with the NPT event code (Nationwide Test of the Emergency Alert System), in English and Spanish. The text, which the notice says will match the audio as closely as possible:

"This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 2:20 to 2:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public."

What the FCC asks you to check

The notice "encourages" every Participant, working with its State Emergency Communications Committee, to:

1. Keep the EAS Operating Handbook at normal duty positions or at the EAS equipment, where operators can get to it straight away (§ 11.15). A fillable PDF of the handbook is on the ETRS page.
2. Read the handbook for what operators must do when the test arrives, and adjust it for anything particular to your station.
3. Check the State EAS Plan for your monitoring assignments, and make sure the EAS unit is actually set to monitor those sources. You must monitor two (§ 11.52(d)(1)).
4. Update the EAS unit's software and firmware to the most recent version.
5. If the unit does not set its own clock from an internet time source, set it by hand to NIST time (time.gov).

A footnote attached to the firmware line is worth reading twice: failing to receive or transmit an EAS message during a national test or a real emergency because of an equipment failure "may subject the EAS Participant to enforcement action."

The checklist we would add

The FCC's list is the floor. These are the things that most often turn out wrong on the day, and every one of them is on the equipment the program-chain security rule covers.

The EAS unit

• Firmware current, per the notice. Write down the version before and after, with the date. That record also answers a security-rule question.
• Default password changed, and still changed once the update is done. Check it after updating, not before.
• Clock right to the minute. A wrong clock does not stop the test, but it makes your logs, and your Form Two, disagree with everyone else's.
• IPAWS reachable. The test starts as a CAP message from IPAWS. If the unit's internet path has been blocked or changed since it was installed, it will still hear the test relayed by your monitored stations, but it is worth knowing which route it arrived by.
• Set to forward an NPT. Check how the unit is configured to handle the NPT code. The manual covers it; the State EAS Plan may say more.

The monitoring sources

• Both are actually being received. Look at the unit's log for the last few weekly tests: a Required Weekly Test should show up from each assigned source. A source that has gone quiet for a month will not suddenly work on the 17th.

The people

• Someone knows it is coming. Whoever is on the board or responsible for the station at that time on November 17 should know what the test sounds like, that nothing needs to be done if the unit is automatic, and what to do if it is not.
• Someone owns Form Two. It is due 48 hours later, and only someone who knows what happened on air can fill it in honestly. Decide who now.

ETRS itself

• File Form One by October 30 and use the visit to make sure your FCC Username is tied to the station's FRN. If you can get in for Form One, you can get in for Form Two.

After the test: Forms Two and Three

Forms Two and Three open in ETRS at the moment the test starts, on November 17.

Form Two is the "day of test" report. The rule normally allows 24 hours for it (§ 11.61(a)(3)(iv)(B)); for this test the Bureau is allowing 48, so it is due by 2:20 pm ET on November 19. Do not assume the 48 hours carries over to the next test.

Form Three is the detailed post-test data, due within 45 days: January 4, 2027.

If the test did not reach air, say so on the forms. A station that reports a failure has told the FCC something it needs to know. A station that skips the filing has given it a second problem.

If something goes wrong on the day

• Note the time and what happened, as it happens. You will need it for Form Two.
• Filing questions go to ETRS@fcc.gov. Username and FRN problems go to FCC Licensing Support on 1-877-480-3201, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern, weekdays.

The short version

• November 17, 2:20 pm Eastern (11:20 am Pacific). Backup date December 3.
• Before then: update the EAS unit's firmware, check its password survived the update, set its clock, and confirm both monitoring sources are coming in.
• Tell whoever is on duty that afternoon.
• Form Two by 2:20 pm ET November 19. Form Three by January 4.

The firmware and password work above is most of what § 11.35(d) asks for on the EAS unit. If you want the whole program chain done in one sitting, the kit walks through it.