[Lord Vader]

My brother lives in The Woodlands, Texas, about 20 miles or so NW of Houston. I was checking for him on antennaweb.org his digital channel information. That site, though, says there are no digital channels available, even though his HR10-250 HD TIVO has them in the guide.

He just got this HD TIVO and is getting an antenna installed--his home didn't have one--so he can receive his locals OTA.

Would anyone happen to know about how far he is from Houston's digital broadcast antennas? Where I'm at in Chicago, for example, I'm 25.2 miles west/southwest of my OTA locals' origin. Antennaweb.org is telling my brother he's 42 miles away from his Houston signals' origin, which seems awfully far.

 

[Camerazi]

My brother lives in The Woodlands, Texas, about 20 miles or so NW of Houston.

Would anyone happen to know about how far he is from Houston's digital broadcast antennas?

That is correct. All of the network stations in Houston have their towers in one antenna farm in Missouri City which is SSW of downtown Houston.

The Woodlands is a long way away.

 

[Lord Vader]

Which is why he's going to end up getting an amplified antenna.

 

[Jim5506]

He's about 40 miles from the towers, almost due south of him.

It appears he may be in a low area or behind a rise.

If I put zip code 77380 into Antennaweb.org with a 100' antenna height, it shows 11 yellow and 6 more stations that range from green to blue.

Use a fringe antenna and get it up as high as practically possible, add a pre-amp if needed.

Inexpensive - Radio Shack U-75R antenna with Channel Master 7777 pre-amp (don't use the cheaper Radio Shack pre-amp).

Middle expense - Channel Master 4228 antenna with same pre-amp.

Most Expensive - Antennas Direct 91XG antenna with same pre-amp.

 

[ibglowin]

Since Houston is about as flat as a pancake, unless he is right in front of a huge building or power lines that may cause a multipath problem he should have no problems picking up the signal. I would stay away from radio shack antenna's (trust me). Stick with Channel Master or Winegard and you'll be good to go.

 

[Cap'n Preshoot]

Have him stand on his roof at night and look South. There are approx 8 very tall towers all clustered together in Missouri City (East of Sugar Land). Houston is flat as a pancake so I bet on a clear night he should be able to see the strobe lights.

The local NBC affiliate (on channel 35 UHF) is operating with 1 million watts (1 megawatt) of power. So is channel 39 KHCW so he ought to be able to pull in those two no problem. CBS and ABC may be a problem for him because they're not running much power on their HD channels. The FOX affiliate (Channel 26) is running almost 1/4 megawatt (234,000 watts) so it too ought to make it out to The Woodlands.

Come 2009 when the analog channels get shut off he is going to need a VHF/UHF combo antenna, at which time he should then have no trouble with CBS and ABC. Have him check out the channelmaster web site. Given his distance I'd steer him toward the Channel Master # 3671 but start out with NO PREAMP (preamps often cause more problems than they solve)

The Woodlands is an upscale trendy Houston suburb approx 45 miles North of downtown Houston. I'm guessing he may be as far as 50 miles from those towers.

 

[Lord Vader]

He's 49.5 miles, to be exact, IIRC. A rooftop antenna is nearly out of the question due to his VERY steep roof. He's considering an indoor amplified antenna that he can place in his attic or toward the top of his building.

 

[Jim5506]

Indoor amplified antenna probalby will not work at these distances, outdoor antenna is stressed and needs pre-amp.

Erect a telescoping mast next to the house and attach it at the peak.

 

[Lord Vader]

I ran his address through antennaweb.org and it shows that he is 42.5 miles from the Houston towers. Not that that makes much of a difference, though.