I'm in Richmond/Sugarland, - ten miles from Houston - about 15 miles away from the major HD antenna area in Missouri City.

The problem is, i'm in an old apartment complex (about 20 years old) and my apartment is facing away from missouri city.

Therefore, all the indoor antennas i've tried, a couple from Target which were pathetic, and the Philips Indoor HDTV Antenna (PHDTV1) could barely pick up a signal.

I've ran a line outside to the porch with the Philips, and it picks up most of the HD stuff in the area.

My question is, what's a good short range outdoor antenna that i don't have to mount on the roof, or isn't permanent. I'll probably clamp it to the porch railing.

TIA

Jason

What is your zip code? Makes it easier to look up your local stations and what channels are the digital stations on? If all of your digital stations are UHF, you could try a Channel Master 4220 2 Bay (http://www.pctinternational.com/channelmaster/0612/) or AntennasDirect DB-2. You will need to orient the antenna so it either facing towards or somewhere in the direction of the broadcast towers.

What is your zip code? Makes it easier to look up your local stations and what channels are the digital stations on? If all of your digital stations are UHF, you could try a Channel Master 4220 2 Bay or AntennasDirect DB-2. You will need to orient the antenna so it either facing towards or somewhere in the direction of the broadcast towers.

My zip is 77469. according to antennaweb, all digital stations are yellow.

ah, forgot to mention. Most are UHF, two are vhf.

* yellow - uhf KNWS-DT 51.1 IND KATY TX 104° 14.8 52
* yellow - uhf KTMD-DT 47.1 TEL GALVESTON TX 102° 14.0 47
* yellow - uhf KTRK-DT 13.1 ABC HOUSTON TX 100° 15.0 32
* yellow - uhf KLTJ-DT 22.1 DAY GALVESTON TX 123° 37.7 23
* yellow - uhf KRIV-DT 26.1 FOX HOUSTON TX 100° 15.0 27
* yellow - vhf KUHT-DT 8.1 PBS HOUSTON TX 100° 15.0 9
* yellow - uhf KFTH-DT 67.1 TFA ALVIN TX 102° 14.0 36
* yellow - uhf KHOU-DT 11.1 CBS HOUSTON TX 104° 14.8 31
* yellow - uhf KHCW-DT 39.1 CW HOUSTON TX 102° 14.7 38
* yellow - uhf KETH-DT 24.1 TBN HOUSTON TX 105° 14.3 24
* yellow - vhf KPXB-DT 49.1 ION CONROE TX 102° 14.0 5
* yellow - uhf KTBU-DT 55.1 IND CONROE TX 105° 14.2 42
* yellow - uhf KPRC-DT 2.1 NBC HOUSTON TX 102° 14.7 35
* yellow - uhf KAZH-DT 57.1 AZA BAYTOWN TX 102° 14.0 41
* yellow - uhf KXLN-DT 45.1 UNI ROSENBERG TX 105° 14.3 46
* yellow - uhf KZJL-DT 44 SAH HOUSTON TX TBD 105° 14.9 44
* yellow - uhf KTXH-DT 20.1 MNT HOUSTON TX 105° 14.3 19

If you cannot get a line of sight on the towers, are there any large buildings facing your unit? Last year my cousin had a similar problem after moving into an apartment in the Galleria area. In his case, after a couple of unsuccessful efforts with other antennas, we ended up getting a PR-9016 (reasonably directive, not too large), putting on the balcony and pointing it at the Four Leafs towers...worked like a charm.

If you cannot get a line of sight on the towers, are there any large buildings facing your unit? Last year my cousin had a similar problem after moving into an apartment in the Galleria area. In his case, after a couple of unsuccessful efforts with other antennas, we ended up getting a PR-9016 (reasonably directive, not too large), putting on the balcony and pointing it at the Four Leafs towers...worked like a charm.

That's a pretty clever idea. We don't have any large buildings in the area to point to, just an apartment complex in the middle of a neighborhood.

what i ended up doing is getting a Philips MANT940 powered antenna and mounting it on the edge of the porch, right outside the balcony above us.

I'm picking up everything except the ion channels, and 2.1-2.3 (for some odd reason, we pick up analog great, but the tv isn't finding the digitals).


i bought a whole bunch of antennas though, gotta return them now. Even a 20 element directional antenna which ended up being as large as my porch.

That's a pretty clever idea. We don't have any large buildings in the area to point to, just an apartment complex in the middle of a neighborhood.

what i ended up doing is getting a Philips MANT940 powered antenna and mounting it on the edge of the porch, right outside the balcony above us.

I'm picking up everything except the ion channels, and 2.1-2.3 (for some odd reason, we pick up analog great, but the tv isn't finding the digitals).

i bought a whole bunch of antennas though, gotta return them now. Even a 20 element directional antenna which ended up being as large as my porch.
I would not have recommended the Philips MANT940 as these tiny amplified antennas are generally not very good performers for the money. But if it works for you keep it. Size is an issue for your situation.

Checking the FCC database, KPRC-DT NBC 2 is broadcasting on UHF 35 at the maximum allowed power of 1000 kW for digital UHF broadcasts so it is not running at low power. Some ATSC tuners allow you to directly enter the actual broadcast channel. What do you get if you tune to channel 35 or 35.1? Does anything show up on the signal meter? You may want to move the antenna around on the porch and try slightly different aims to see if that brings in KPRC-DT 2.

I would not have recommended the Philips MANT940 as these tiny amplified antennas are generally not very good performers for the money. But if it works for you keep it. Size is an issue for your situation.

Checking the FCC database, KPRC-DT NBC 2 is broadcasting on UHF 35 at the maximum allowed power of 1000 kW for digital UHF broadcasts so it is not running at low power. Some ATSC tuners allow you to directly enter the actual broadcast channel. What do you get if you tune to channel 35 or 35.1? Does anything show up on the signal meter? You may want to move the antenna around on the porch and try slightly different aims to see if that brings in KPRC-DT 2.

well i figured since the 7 dollar bunny ear antenna i had before was pulling down every channel, i'd give this phillips a try.

thanks for the help, adding 35 found 2.1-2.3. My TV doesn't have a signal meter (AFAIK) with its internal tuner. the only options i have are adding channels manually, or doing an auto channel search.

how do i check the fcc database for channels? 13.1 isn't there either.

well i figured since the 7 dollar bunny ear antenna i had before was pulling down every channel, i'd give this phillips a try.

thanks for the help, adding 35 found 2.1-2.3. My TV doesn't have a signal meter (AFAIK) with its internal tuner. the only options i have are adding channels manually, or doing an auto channel search.

how do i check the fcc database for channels? 13.1 isn't there either.
Several ways to look up info on the stations.
Wikipedia has a entry on almost all full power stations. For example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTRK-TV. Way down the entry is a link to the FCC database. KTRK-DT ABC 14 is broadcasting on 32 as shown the antennaweb list you posted (last number on the row).

FCC TV station database: http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

I have not heard of any ATSC tuner that does not display station signal strength. Look through the menu options.

Several ways to look up info on the stations.
Wikipedia has a entry on almost all full power stations. For example . Way down the entry is a link to the FCC database. KTRK-DT ABC 14 is broadcasting on 32 as shown the antennaweb list you posted (last number on the row).

FCC TV station database:

I have not heard of any ATSC tuner that does not display station signal strength. Look through the menu options.

Thank you.