Any areas around Houston good for OTA tv transmissions? (Dallas: appointed, 2013)

[bpollen]

I'm a cord cutter. That is, I don't get cable or satellite, anymore. I have digital antennas on my tv, so I get clear as a bell HD tv signals for about 20 stations, plus I have Roku that I use for streaming. It's wonderful!

I will be selling my house in Dallas soon, but I've been trying to figure out for months exactly where to move to. My first choice is the Houston area. More rain, better soil (for gardening), closer to Louisiana relatives, lots of green spaces/parks all over the place.

I was getting to narrowing down an area I like that has decent property taxes and lower HOAs: Spring-Humble-Conroe. But I can't get over the air transmissions from the Houston tv towers way up there, it seems. (There's a site where you plug in an address, and it'll tell you what over the air stations you should be able to get there.)

Does anyone know of an area around Houston that gets good over the air transmission from the tv towers? I'm thinking Sugarland and Pearland, but the property taxes and HOA fees there seem pretty stiff.

[ipuck]

Are you basing your move on TV antenna reception?

You do realize they do sell big antennas you can plug on the roof that will allow you to receive everything?

[Htown2013]

Spring for a really good HDTV powered antenna and you'll be fine. We get pretty much everything in Sugar Land with one. If you're OK with slightly older house, I think you'll be OK with New Territory or First Colony property taxes, not bad for TX.

[wintersbone]

yea you get everything in sugarland because all of the transmitters are south of Houston between 288 and 59. Next time your traveling the beltway look south and all those really tall antenna towers are for tv and radio. I live right at 288 beltway 8 and I can see them from my window so I basically have a straight shot without anything but air in the way.

[bpollen]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Are you basing your move on TV antenna reception?

You do realize they do sell big antennas you can plug on the roof that will allow you to receive everything?

Oh, I'm counting those, too. Because of buildings and terrain, you apparently can't get reception from the tv towers, which are south of Houston, some 40 miles away. Even with a 30 foot tall outside satellite antenna.

And yes, OTA transmission is one of the factors for the move. Adding cable would add about $1,200 a year X 20 years = over $24,000, for something I don't want or need. And that doesn't count price increases.

These things add up.

[bpollen]

Originally Posted by Htown2013

Spring for a really good HDTV powered antenna and you'll be fine. We get pretty much everything in Sugar Land with one. If you're OK with slightly older house, I think you'll be OK with New Territory or First Colony property taxes, not bad for TX.

The towers are right there by Sugarland. All I would need is a little inside antenna for Sugarland, actually.

Even a 30 foot tall outside antenna wouldn't get me reception way north of Houston, according to that site, because of the buildings and terrain. The towers are about 40 miles due south (by Sugarland and Pearland). I'm so disappointed. I thought for sure Houston would have multiple antennas around the city limits, but it doesn't.

I'll check out New Territory and First Colony. Thanks.

[ilikeme]

All of the major TV and most of the major radio stations are broadcast from the Missouri City antenna farm. It is along the Fort Bend Tollway a few miles south of the Sam Houston Tollway and near Lake Olympia and Vicksburg. It is pretty much the same setup as Cedar Hill up there in DFW. Like Cedar Hill, you can see them from miles away and see the lights flashing at night. Sugar Land, Richmond, Pearland, and Southwest Houston will have the best reception.