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TV and radio reception among tall buildings


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A few years ago I lived in the Westmoreland subdivision. One of the few drawbacks was that some TV and radio reception was poor (and KTRU was completely blocked) due to the fact that I lived in the shadow of the Executive House.
I now live in Midtown, and tall buildings are springing up left and right. For the time being, I have decent broadcast TV reception, but wonder what effect these buildings will have. I'm also curious if digital broadcast will be as strongly affected by being in the shadow of a tall building as the old analogue signals.
If someone has insights about locations of broadcast towers, signal strength, transparency of modern buildings, etc. I'd be interested to hear them. 

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Yes, digital signals could very well be affected by large buildings or other obstructions. The usual recommendation for indoor digital TV antennas is to place them near a window. I have one of the flat antennas (Mohu Leaf) and in my experience, moving it even a foot one way or the other can make a big difference. 

 

Most of the main transmitters are located southwest of Houston. TV Fool is a useful site to map out your location in relation to the transmitters and see relative signal strengths:

 

http://www.tvfool.com/

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I was working for a client at the Warwick Towers, trying to get the then new HD signal over the air. At the time, Warner Cable's HD offerings didn't work half the time.

 

I was staring directly at the antenna farm out in the area we used to call Dewalt, and could not get reception to save my life. Even while looking at the antennae, the building itself blocked the over the air signal.

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