EAS Fine for KCEC Upheld

More FCC enforcement action, this item having to do with EAS.
Farmworkers Educational Radio Network, licensee of KCEC(FM) in Wellton, Ariz., has been notified it’s responsible for paying the full $8,000 fine for failure to ensure its EAS encoder/decoder is working.
During a 2005 inspection, a San Diego field agent noticed that no EAS messages were being received by or passed onto the designated stations in the EAS daisy chain for KCEC, nor was staff noting the discrepancies in the log. During a 12-month period, only four monthly EAS tests were received and none were re-transmitted, said the agency.
The chief engineer said the EAS receiver wasn’t properly connected to a power source and the equipment, originally set for automatic mode, was now in manual mode, the FCC said.
In response to the original fine, KCEC said it had made a good effort to comply with EAS rules and that the receiver would have worked if someone had not “jostled loose” the plug, according to the FCC.
The commission disagreed with KCEC’s assertion that the equipment worked and there were only occasional lapses in logging the malfunctions. Voluntarily disclosing malfunctions to an FCC agent after an inspection has begun does not qualify for a penalty reduction, said the commission, which upheld the fine.