Sage to discontinue the ENDEC 3644
Parts availability and a "bursty" market for EAS equipment are cited for the company ceasing the manufacture of the popular EAS unit.
In an official release received today by Sage Alerting Systems, the company has announced that they will cease the manufacturing of the popular ENDEC Model 3644 Emergency Alert System (EAS) encoder/decoder.
According to Sage President Harold Price, “Some parts for the ENDEC are no longer available”. Price also stated that “EAS has been an odd niche business with a very bursty sales rate. The FCC has been contemplating major changes to EAS for the last year or two. What happens remains to be seen. Sage will evaluate opportunities for new products in the coming months.”
This announcement comes at a time when around 630 granted construction permits from the 2024 LPFM filing window are still under construction and around 270 additional applications remain pending.
Sage states that they will continue to support the firmware and provide user support via email and phone lines. The next planned release will be a free maintenance release that will also enable the Missing or Endangered Persons (MEP) alert code.
Sage has also stated that expect to continue repairs on ENDECs currently in the field for several years and that warranty repairs will also continue.
The alternative to the Sage ENDEC is the Digital Alert Systems DASDEC III with version 5.x software. REC currently uses a DASDEC II and is our recommended unit for meeting EAS compliance.
Known for its value and friendlier upgrade policy, the Sage ENDEC has been very popular among LPFM and other small market stations with a past REC constituent survey estimating that nearly 70% of the EAS decoders being used by LPFM stations is the Sage ENDEC.
REC does remind new stations seeking to obtain an older used Sage ENDEC to make sure that they are getting the blue ENDEC model 3644 and that the current firmware version is Rev96. Many older boxes may be equipped with Rev95, which needs to be updated. The update, which costs less than $200 is available through Sage or an authorized reseller.
The FCC is currently considering additional changes to EAS including a requirement to support multiple languages out of the box, despite the fact that many of the languages that are being mandated are not being broadcast on radio in the United States. With a new administration coming when Brendan Carr becoming the new FCC Chairman, the future of the FCC’s multi-lingual EAS requirement is uncertain.
The delay in the release of the Sage Rev96 firmware resulted in REC and the National Association of Broadcasters teaming up for the first time on a joint filing to request that the Commission extend a compliance deadline for a previous FCC EAS mandate.
LPFM stations using Sage ENDEC units should continue to use them until there is ever a time when Sage announces that they will not be able to support a change in EAS that was mandated by either the FCC or FEMA. REC also reminds stations to be on the lookout for new firmware releases (many of them are free) and to assure that any security certificates remain up to date. It appears that Sage will continue to support these for the time being.
REC wishes Sage best of luck on future endeavors and we look forward to the day when EAS becomes more affordable and/or there are open source methods that can be used, especially for LPFM and LPTV stations that are only required to decode EAS and not encode it.