HDHR EAS Test v0.5 – a free tool to record and document the Nov 17 EAS test with your HDHomeRun

[bleggett29]

I put together a tool for capturing exactly what our local stations send during the nationwide EAS test (Tue Nov 17, 2:20 p.m. ET / 12:20 MT). The goal is to collect evidence of how the alert does or doesn't reach HDHomeRun users on encrypted ATSC 3.0 stations. I'd love for others to run it in their markets.

What it does

• Records each tuner you choose for the test window you set. ATSC 3.0 is saved as IPv4 RAW (consumer HDHR) or ALP-PCAP (TECH/DEV HDHR)(with PLP selection); ATSC 1.0 as plain .ts.
• Afterwards it runs RENDER on every ATSC 3.0 recording and builds a summary page. The page shows when each station sent the alert signaling (AEAT / on-screen message notification), what it contained, and how long it lasted.
• On encrypted stations the picture and sound stay locked, but the alert signaling should still be logged. The recording then shows whether the alert was sent even when you couldn't see it.
• A test run you can do now (a few minutes) to make sure your tuners, channels and disk space are right before the real thing.
• A scheduled run that runs in the background, so you don't need to be at the PC.
• Offers to zip the results: reports only (small, easy to share) or everything (large: about 7–9 GB per station).
• A live viewer with AC-4 sound (FFmpeg with the AC-4 decoder), plus a release-tuner button to free a tuner a DVR or scan was holding.

Platforms

• Windows 10/11: GUI, ready-made zip on the Releases page.
• Linux / Raspberry Pi: text interface (TUI) plus an optional GUI, built with ./install.sh.

Download / source
https://github.com/bleggett29/hdhr-eas-test
https://github.com/bleggett29/hdhr-eas- ... ws_x64.zip - Win10/11 ZIP

How I'm running it (El Paso market)
I'll record the ATSC 3.0 signal and the ATSC 1.0 versions of the same stations side by side, then compare whether the alert shows up on each.

• ATSC 3.0: RF 15 (KFOX's NextGen TV signal), PLPs 0 and 1, recorded as PCAP and run through RENDER to log the alert signaling (AEAT / on-screen message notification)
• ATSC 1.0 counterparts, one tuner each, recorded as .ts:
  • RF 16 – KTSM and KFOX
  • RF 17 – KVIA
  • RF 18 – KDBC
  • RF 26 – KTDO
• Window: 12:10–13:00 MT (the test is at 12:20 MT), 60-second segments, all tuners on two HDHomeRuns running at once

Afterwards I'll post, for each station: whether the alert appeared on ATSC 1.0, whether the ATSC 3.0 signal carried the alert signaling, whether that service was encrypted, and the times. If the 1.0 version shows the alert and the 3.0 version is encrypted, that's the gap we're documenting.

Before the test
Free every tuner you plan to use (DVR, bandscans, live viewing), set up a channel per tuner on the EAS Test tab, and do a test run. Keep the PC on and signed in on the 17th.

It's built on RabbitEars' HDHomeRun TUI v0.9 and RENDER v0.4, and uses libhdhomerun from SiliconDust. Released under the GPLv3. This is a personal project, not an official SiliconDust tool.

If you run it, please post your market, stations/RF channels and what the summary showed (encrypted or not, alert seen or not). The reports zip is small enough to share by link. Questions and bug reports welcome here or on GitHub.

– Brian Scott (bleggett29)

[NatHillIV]

I FINALLY got it installed.
Not all of us are github regulars. Took me WAY longer than it should have to find the file to download.
Might want to add that for folks like me who aren't very tech savy!

The good news is that once I found it on github, installed it on the folder as you recommended, and it works perfectly.

[bleggett29]

I FINALLY got it installed.
Not all of us are github regulars. Took me WAY longer than it should have to find the file to download.
Might want to add that for folks like me who aren't very tech savy!

The good news is that once I found it on github, installed it on the folder as you recommended, and it works perfectly.

Thanks for the feedback. I added a direct link to the ZIP.