App Detail » TV Towers USA

Published by: Generally Helpful Software

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Price: $1.99
Current Version: 1.12
Released: October 20, 2010

What's New

• Added separate display of NextGenTV (ATSC 3) stations including annotation of DRM limited stations.
• Large number of changes to database to take into account the spreading of "lighthouse" NextGenTV stations with multiple major networks on one digital channel.
• NextGenTV stations are marked with a darker map pin color

App Description

TV Towers USA is a map of digital TV broadcasting towers in the United States and its territories plus a select number of Canadian stations. The database includes over 2000 stations and over 1000 repeaters. My users include avid RVers who roam from region to region and need to locate available TV networks, and homeowners setting up a new antenna system.

Apple Watch (Series 5) users can make use of their compass with the optional in-app purchase of an embedded watch app.

There is an alternate compass tab which shows the direction of stations within a 45 mile radius—given enough screen space—just look over your phone to see which way to point your antenna.

Pinch to zoom into your locality, or hit the circular location button to concentrate on local stations. If more than 80 stations are in the area being viewed, a random assortment of 80 stations will be displayed.

There is no "phoning home" with data, personal or not. If a data connection is available, the FCC servers will be asked for contour plot data when a tower is selected. This will show up as a blue overlay showing the calculated area over which the signal will drop off by at most 35 dBu. Basically, this is the area where an antenna not too near the ground has a chance to receive the signal; your luck will vary. Once downloaded, the data is stored for the next time you select the tower.

Errors and omissions are to be expected especially for stations with low power licenses. Please e-mail the support address if you find a glaring omission or error; I'll need a call sign and a TV network.