TV channels & antenna towers in Reston, Virginia

Reston is a city of about 58,400 people in Virginia. There are 43 licensed TV transmitters within 70 miles: 25 full-power, 6 Class A, 11 low-power and 1 translator. Based on each transmitter's power, antenna height and distance, 32 are likely to arrive at fair strength or better, and 21 at good or strong strength.

22 of them are within 25 miles of Reston, 12 sit 25 to 45 miles away and 9 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.

For the networks, the best local options 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). 10 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 E, at about 87°. The main network towers for Reston sit in that direction, so a single directional antenna can pick them all up.

11 network stations, WTTG, WPXW-TV, WDCW, WRC-TV and WZDC-CD and others, transmit from the same tower site about 13 miles east of Reston (91° E). That one direction covers every station on the site.

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

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

The farthest main network tower for Reston is WMAR-TV (ABC), 45 miles away with a good estimated signal. That is why we suggest an amplified indoor or attic antenna here. Skip that station and you may get away with a smaller antenna.

WTTG is only 13 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 32 stations at fair strength or better, Reston ranks 14th of 381 places in Virginia: more than the typical Virginia town (16). Its nearest major network tower is 13 miles away, against a state median of 21 miles.

36% of Virginia's cities and towns get the same recommendation: an amplified indoor or attic antenna. The nearest larger city is Arlington, 14 miles away.