About The New York State EAS Plan

The EAS Plan for New York State has been totally rewritten by The New York State Emergency Communications Committee (SECC). It will become effective January 1, 2005

In designing the new Plan, a significant amount of input has been provided by broadcasters and cable operators. Also, with new codes supporting activations such as Amber Alert, the timing is perfect to roll out this Plan.

There are three major improvements to the Plan that will increase the robustness of the EAS system in New York. First, there is a satellite backbone that creates a direct path from Albany to stations. If there is a statewide emergency, Albany has an EAS Encoder and can get the message to each station with a satellite reception system. Second, each county in the state has been issued an EAS Encoder for county wide activations of EAS. Broadcasters and cable operators should monitor a local frequency for this functionality. And third, all monitor assignments have been reviewed and adjusted as necessary in order to make them more robust, thereby supporting compliance with FCC requirements and eliminate stations under one roof from monitoring other stations originating in the same facility.

All stations should download a copy of The Plan and review it. Particular attention should be directed at the revised Operational Areas and Monitor Assignments.