TV channels & antenna towers in Franconia, Virginia

Franconia is a city of about 18,200 people in Virginia. Within 70 miles of the town center we count 42 licensed TV transmitters: 24 full-power, 6 Class A, 11 low-power and 1 translator. Based on each transmitter's power, antenna height and distance, 30 are likely to arrive at fair strength or better, and 24 at good or strong strength.

21 of them are within 25 miles of Franconia, 4 sit 25 to 45 miles away and 17 are more than 45 miles out. Nine of the 17 network stations in range are licensed to Washington, DC, so most of the network channels you will find here come from Washington's stations.

The strongest network signals here are ABC on channel 2 (WMAR-TV), CBS on channel 9 (WUSA), NBC on channel 4 (WRC-TV), Fox on channel 5 (WTTG), PBS on channel 26 (WETA-TV), CW on channel 50 (WDCW), ION on channel 66 (WPXW-TV), Telemundo on channel 44 (WZDC-CD), Univision on channel 14 (WFDC-DT) and MeTV on channel 48.1 (WDME-CD). Spanish-language viewers can pick up Telemundo (strong signal) and Univision (strong signal). 9 full-power stations in range have no network listed in our data; these are typically public television, religious, shopping or independent stations.

Point your antenna NNE, at about 16°. The main network towers for Franconia sit in that direction, so a single directional antenna can pick them all up.

11 network stations, WDCW, WRC-TV, WZDC-CD, WFDC-DT and WDME-CD and others, transmit from the same tower site about 11 miles north of Franconia (18° NNE). Point at that site and a single antenna setting picks them all up.

Of the 16 full-power and Class A network signals that reach Franconia at fair strength or better, 69% arrive from the north; the rest are spread across one other direction.

All of the main network towers are within their radio horizon as seen from Franconia, so signals arrive fairly directly and a well-placed antenna should hold them steadily.

The farthest main network tower for Franconia is WTTG (Fox), 13 miles away with a strong estimated signal. That is why we suggest an indoor antenna here.

WMAR-TV (ABC), 47 miles northeast, is the exception: the nearest listed affiliate of its network is far enough away to need an outdoor antenna. Some local stations in our data carry no network tag, so check the other stations table below before buying a bigger antenna just for that one.

WDCW is only 11 miles away with a strong signal. Signals that strong can overload an amplifier, so start without one and add it only if distant channels are missing. Read when an amplifier helps.

With 30 stations at fair strength or better, Franconia ranks 55th of 381 places in Virginia: more than the typical Virginia town (16). Its nearest major network tower is 11 miles away, against a state median of 21 miles.

33% of Virginia's cities and towns get the same recommendation: an indoor antenna. The nearest larger city is Annandale, 4.3 miles away.