I live in Katy (west of 99, just west of FM1463) and recently cut the cord. I bought a Mohu Leaf 50 (mile) antenna that comes with an amplifier and put it on a window in the living room. I cannot get good signals from ABC (Houston channel 13) or FOX (Houston channel 26). I can't even pick up CBS (Houston channel 11) in the scan. NBC (Houston channel 2) is the only decent one, but even it goes in and out occasionally.

Am I just in a bad spot at the window? I can try running it to a different window in the living room but that would be 3x the distance on the coax. Is 50-miles enough to pick up Houston stations? Per the online stuff I've looked at, it should be plenty. Looks like the farthest station is not quite 30 miles. Does the Mohu Leaf just suck??

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

What side of your house is the window on? Most of the Houston towers are in the sugar land area.

North side.

When I had trouble with this, I went to reddit.com/r/cordcutters and posted for help there. I also uploaded the results of my tv fool results: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29


I thought I had everything pointed in the right direction, but the users there told me to point it in a different one, and that fixed most of the issues. I just used the compass on my iphone to get it the right direction.

My general guess (and I'm by no means an expert) is that you'd lose a lot of the distance rating for the antenna by it being on the other side of the house, so it's probably functioning more like a 25mile antenna than a 50. I'd say test that theory by doing a temporary setup on the south side of the house. If it works, you can decide if you want to run more cable, or just try getting maybe a 100 mile antenna.

That's my $.02 for how I'd tackle he problem.

Alright I'll do some experimenting tonight and see if that helps. Thanks!

there are websites and apps that will show you where the actual broadcasting towers are for your area for OTA signals. Not having line of sight is your problem here, im 99% sure of it

i plugged in Katy, TX to this website and this is the result:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3de2cb6f60fd8ddc

I live in Klein and currently use a 50-mile (not Mohu) HD antenna in a south-facing window. ABC isn't great (but there's an app with live streaming) and Houston CBS is absolutely terrible. But, I've heard CBS is hit or miss no matter how close to the signal you are. There is also a live streaming app for CBS (Houston, local) but I actually pick up Bryan/College Station's CBS affiliate very well; so, what's I use for NFL games. The CBS app (CBS All Access) apparently doesn't have the right to broadcast NFL. Pretty odd. Not an issue with NBC's app. (NBC Sports).

I actually just ordered a 150-mile outdoor antenna. I'm planning to remove my old dish and mount it in the same spot with the existing hardware. Already wired to that location, too. I'm a fairly recent cord-cutter and am not having any regrets at all. I've managed to find a way to view all the content I want. If I can help with any specific questions/solutions, I'd be happy to.

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I live in Klein and currently use a 50-mile (not Mohu) HD antenna in a south-facing window. ABC isn't great (but there's an app with live streaming). There is also a live streaming app for CBS (Houston, local). The CBS app (CBS All Access) apparently doesn't have the right to broadcast NFL. Pretty odd. Not an issue with NBC's app. (NBC Sports).

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The CBS app I looked at charges a few bucks a month. Is there a free one? I'm more concerned with SEC football games on Saturday on CBS

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i plugged in Katy, TX to this website and this is the result:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29&q=id%3de2cb6f60fd8ddc

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I used this too. I actually first bought a 30-mile antenna thinking it would be enough but it barely got NBC. The 50-mile + amplifier really isn't helping that much though. I'll try it again tonight at a different location. I can't face it south b/c there are no logical places to put it on the south walls of the house (south side is bathrooms and kids rooms)...

I never could get good reception until I got an exterior antenna... a small one from RCA.

I was able to mount it to my existing dish on the roof and utilize the existing coax run to get it into the house. After that, I got terrific reception.

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I never could get good reception until I got an exterior antenna... a small one from RCA.

I was able to mount it to my existing dish on the roof and utilize the existing coax run to get it into the house. After that, I got terrific reception.

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The issue with this is I'd have to utilize the coax run into the house. I currently don't for the antenna (antenna is connected directly to TV INPUT via separate coax...

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I live in Klein and currently use a 50-mile (not Mohu) HD antenna in a south-facing window. ABC isn't great (but there's an app with live streaming). There is also a live streaming app for CBS (Houston, local). The CBS app (CBS All Access) apparently doesn't have the right to broadcast NFL. Pretty odd. Not an issue with NBC's app. (NBC Sports).

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The CBS app I looked at charges a few bucks a month. Is there a free one? I'm more concerned with SEC football games on Saturday on CBS

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The CBS app is free and will come with free content. However, if you want to the ability to live stream the local CBS affiliate, you have to pay the fee ($6//month).

$6/month is pretty insignificant compared to most cable bills. But, if you really want to avoid it, I suggest you try getting CBS out of College Station. From Katy, I'd bet you can do it with a 50-mile antenna if it's north-facing and elevated (second floor window). Thing is, though, the external 150-mile antenna is probably cheaper than what you paid for the Mohu. If you previously had a dish, you should already be wired and ready to go after installation. If your utilities are aboveground, you should still be able to connect to the existing coaxial but you'll need the hardware to mount the antenna. If your utilities are buried, you may have to run a new line.

Gotcha. Yeah I just have the TV in my living room on a side where there is no coax outlet (just moved it). So i'd have to drop another from the attic if I wanted to use an external antenna...

I'll ask here.

Old house attic antenna with booster was crystal. New house it is not good and goes in and out.

Increased my distanced by about 10mi but shouldn't matter that much.

I also get poor cell reception in the house. Could something on my roof be interfering?

Radiant barrier?

Trees?

We use a set of rabbit ears, get all the stations.

The key with CBS, is you have to lay the antenna flat/horitizonal as opposed to vertical or standing up (stupid I know). We've got a big ole attic antenna we plan on using once the tv is move and mounted.

Based off of your results, I would try to point your antenna at either 128 or 288 degrees. Consider getting an attic antenna as well, or putting the one you have in the attic as long as you don't have a radiant barrier.

If your attic is like mine and was a rat's nest of coax, you get this this cable tracer/tester at Lowes for $25. http://www.lowes.com/pd/Southwire-Analog-DataComm-Tester/50278121

Update: I put the Mohu Leaf 50mi antenna with amplifier on a window on the East side of the house. I physically cannot put it on the south side of the house from the living room. This did not help -- I'm able to somewhat pick up ABC (still goes in and out) but now no NBC and still no FOX or CBS.

I'm now looking for bigger amplifiers...or are there better indoor antennas?

My options as I see it now are:

1) Get bigger amplifier and continue to use indoor antenna and hope for the best
2) Get external antenna and mount outside house. Will need to run new coax in attic into north wall of living room where TV is (exterior wall). This will be a big pain but might have best long-term results since whole house would technically be ready for antenna signal (via coax network).

Any other options?

AGeng25 said:

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Update: I put the Mohu Leaf 50mi antenna with amplifier on a window on the East side of the house. I physically cannot put it on the south side of the house from the living room. This did not help -- I'm able to somewhat pick up ABC (still goes in and out) but now no NBC and still no FOX or CBS.

I'm now looking for bigger amplifiers...or are there better indoor antennas?

My options as I see it now are:

1) Get bigger amplifier and continue to use indoor antenna and hope for the best
2) Get external antenna and mount outside house. Will need to run new coax in attic into north wall of living room where TV is (exterior wall). This will be a big pain but might have best long-term results since whole house would technically be ready for antenna signal (via coax network).

Any other options?

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Can you put an antenna in an attic? A few more feet of altitude made a big difference to me.

Also, after I was getting lousy reception on a store-bought antenna I built the one Chipotle linked here: http://texags.com/forums/30/topics/2639623 It works much better, especially with the reflector.

Check your coax. Bad coax means bad TV. Make sure you don't have any loose ends, and maybe try changing out whatever cable you were using to make sure you don't have a bad piece.

Lastly, make sure your amplifier is next to the antenna and not the TV - you want to amplify a bad signal before it looses more signal in your coax, not before.

I ordered better coax cable (RG6). We'll see what this does...

Ark03 said:

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Can you put an antenna in an attic? A few more feet of altitude made a big difference to me.

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Don't think this would help as I have the weather tech shield. It blocks my cell phone reception so I'm assuming it will block the antenna signal as well...