Monday Morning Coffee and Technical Notes

October 5, 2026 View as Webpage

  National EAS Test Scheduled

The National EAS Test will be transmitted on November 17, 2026 . 

FEMA will transmit the nationwide test of the EAS at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) using the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). If conditions on that date require the rescheduling of the test, it will be conducted on December 3, 2026.

Engineers should ensure the station EAS equipment receives the Required Weekly Test (RWT) from IPAWS each Monday at 11:00 AM local time. The national test will be fed via IPAWS.

Under FCC rules all licensed broadcast stations must make their transmission facilities available and actively process and relay the national test message.

The FCC reminds stations that an EAS Participant’s failure to receive or transmit an EAS message during a national test or actual emergency because of an equipment failure may subject the EAS Participant to enforcement action.

ETRS Form Filings

All EAS Participants are required to participate in the nationwide EAS test and make required filings in the Commission’s EAS Test Reporting System (ETRS). 

 • All EAS Participants must submit their annual ETRS Form One for calendar year 2026 no later than October 30, 2026.

• All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form Two within 48 hours of the nationwide test. The deadline for Form Two filings is 2:20 pm ET on November 19, 2026, or, if the test is conducted on the alternative date, 2:20 pm ET on December 5, 2026.

• All EAS Participants must file ETRS Form Three to provide detailed post-test data within 45 days following the nationwide test, which will be on or before January 4, 2027, or, if the test is conducted on the alternative date, on or before January 18, 2027.



 If you have any questions about the actual National EAS Test or the ETRS filings, contact the Alabama State Emergency Communications Committee

ABA Engineering Academy

Television engineers, both newcomers and seasoned, should mark their calendars for the week of October 26^th as the ABA Engineering Academy holds its fall Television Engineering Class.

Seats are still available so sign up today. We cover basic electronics, audio (analog and digital), video creation and transmission (including ATSC 3.0 and SMPTE 2110) plus transmitters and antennas.

Classes are held at the ABA Training Center, 2180 Parkway Lake Drive in Hoover AL (Birmingham). Register online here.

______________________________________________________

ABA Engineering Webinar

The October webinar will be held on Tuesday October 20^th at 10:00 AM central time.

The Associate Director of Information Technology at Texas A&M University, Wayne Pecena will be our special guest on the October ABA Engineering Webinar. Wayne will be discussing Firewalls, what they are, why they are needed, and the many ways they can be configured.



Join us for this most information webinar on October 20th at 10:00 AM. Click here to register.

___________________________________________________________________

Time Change November 1^st, 2026

Barring any movement in the Senate most of the U. S. will adjust their clocks back to “Standard Time” November 1^st. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sunshine Protection Act in July 2026 to make Daylight Saving Time permanent; the Senate has not yet approved the legislation.

Moving from Daylight Savings time to standard involves moving clocks back one hour.

What do you mean, inspector won't sign off on this?

Pro Audio – Mixing 101

The biggest problem in learning church audio is figuring out where to begin. Too many people end up stressed out and frustrated because all they study is mixing.

They don't understand this one truth:

The quality of audio going into the mixer drives the quality coming out of it.

Mixing is only a part of the job. there's so much other work that needs to first be done. Just to give a simple example, if the wrong type of microphone is placed on a kick drum or isn't placed in the right place, it will sound horrible and no amount of mixing can fix it.

A lot of sound engineers are using direct boxes (DI) to ensure they capture the clean sound of the source. Then use microphones to sample the sound from their amplifiers to fill in.

The only exception here is when using an acoustical drum kit, although you may need a DI on electronic drum kits depending on the output.