EAS Blue Alert Code Begins Use Jan 18, 2019

Delivery of Blue Alerts over EAS will be implemented January 18, 2019.  Your EAS receiver is NOT required to have the “BLU” code as rebroadcast of the alert is voluntary.  Here is where a few of the manufacturers stand with their update.

Sage Endec users: Updated firmware will be available next week (week of Jan 18).  See further explanation in paragraph below.
DasDec users: The BLU event code is in the v4.0 software update.
Trilithic/Viavi: includes BLU event code in its v18.10 software update.
Gorman-Redlich: has an update, contact the company for details
[ Sage reports: Although the Sage ENDEC allowed for the manual addition of new events codes, this facility should not be used to add the BLU event code.  There is a problem with the generation of the crawl string, and of text to speech, for manually added events when received via CAP.  We will release a software update later next week that will add the BLU event code to the standard set of events.  DO NOT manually add the BLU event code into your Sage ENDEC.]

History:
In January 2018 the FCC amended its regulations governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to add a new event code, BLU, to allow alert originators to issue an alert whenever a law enforcement officer is injured or killed, missing in connection with his or her official duties, or there is an imminent and credible threat to cause death or serious injury to law enforcement officers.

As a reminder the BLU event code is in the “voluntary” list, that is, it is not one of the FCC required relay alerts (EAN, NPT, RMT). Stations can elect to relay these alerts or not, with guidance from their state and local EAS plan.

Blue Alerts over WEA takes effect July 18, 2019.