It’ll cost $159 to bring your Sage ENDEC Model 3644 into compliance with the latest FCC rule change.
Emergency Alert System equipment manufacturer Sage Alerting Systems is letting users in the United States know that a firmware update is coming in June.
If you purchased your box after Dec. 12, 2021, the update is free.
Stations must comply with a recent FCC report and order to improve EAS messages by Dec. 12, 2023. “This R&O requires a significant change to EAS procedures, mandating that alerts received via over-the-air ‘legacy’ EAS data tones be held while the possible presence of a matching IPAWS CAP alert is checked for and then used preferentially,” Sage told users in its pre-release announcement.
“There are a few other rules requiring changes on how the text for national alerts is constructed.” The firmware update will keep the ENDEC in compliance with Part 11 rules.
“In addition to the FCC required changes, we will also add several usability features, including automated emailing of log summaries and the conformance report,” it said.
“These two features should reduce the amount of time needed to acquire and review the log data, and reduce the number of people that need to access the ENDEC. It will help to further highlight compliance issues such as failure to receive RWTs and RMTs, and to send RWTs.”
Sage noted that the commission also issued a notice of proposed rulemaking last fall regarding security. While the outcome of that process isn’t known yet, Sage said it is “proactively implementing some tools that may assist users in improving security, such as expanding our audit logs to include login/logout and failed login attempts. Our emailed conformance report will also assist with operational readiness.”
The June update will be available through Sage distributors. You’ll need to provide the serial number of each ENDEC you need to update. The company published answers to additional questions on its site.
