Tap the Los Angeles channels you watch. The check sorts them by the band they actually transmit on, VHF or UHF, using each station’s RF channel from the FCC’s public files, and tells you whether your antenna needs to receive VHF.
Tap the channels you watch
Tap one or more channels to see which band they use.
On VHF
On UHF
Nearly all Los Angeles TV stations transmit from Mount Wilson and nearby peaks, NBC4 and ABC7 reported. A clear line toward those mountains matters as much as the band; see TV Reception in the San Fernando Valley: Why It Is Different and How to Fix It.
Facts from the FCC Public Inspection File, read October 2026. Channels can move; rescan your TV if a station disappears. The full list is in Los Angeles TV Channels: Every Free Over-the-Air Station.
Why the band matters in Los Angeles
The number on your TV is a virtual channel; the RF channel is what the station really transmits on, and it decides which antenna works. Five Los Angeles stations transmit on high-VHF channels 7 to 13: ABC7 on 7, KCAL on 9, FOX 11 on 11, KDOC on 12 and KCOP on 13. Many flat indoor antennas are built mainly for UHF, so these are the channels people most often lose. See The Best TV Antenna for Los Angeles: VHF, Mount Wilson and Placement.
Not every low number is VHF. CBS Los Angeles shows as channel 2 but transmits on RF 31, and NBC4 shows as 4 on RF 36; both are UHF. The check uses the RF channel, not the number on your screen.
Several stations share one RF channel: KCET and KLCS on 28, KSCI and PBS SoCal’s KOCE-TV on 18, and KXLA and KJLA on 30. If you receive one of a pair, you will almost always receive the other.
Station names are shown only where the station uses them on its own website; the rest are listed by call sign.
Los Angeles TV stations in the check
| Channel | RF | Band | Call sign | Community of license |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 31 | UHF | KCBS-TV CBS Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA |
| 4 | 36 | UHF | KNBC NBC4 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 5 | 35 | UHF | KTLA KTLA 5 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 7 | 7 | VHF | KABC-TV ABC7 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 9 | 9 | VHF | KCAL-TV KCAL (CBS Los Angeles) | Los Angeles, CA |
| 11 | 11 | VHF | KTTV FOX 11 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 13 | 13 | VHF | KCOP-TV | Los Angeles, CA |
| 18 | 18 | UHF | KSCI | Long Beach, CA |
| 28 | 28 | UHF | KCET | Los Angeles, CA |
| 34 | 34 | UHF | KMEX-DT Univision 34 | Los Angeles, CA |
| 44 | 30 | UHF | KXLA | Rancho Palos Verdes, CA |
| 46 | 29 | UHF | KFTR-DT | Ontario, CA |
| 50 | 18 | UHF | KOCE-TV PBS SoCal | Huntington Beach, CA |
| 52 | 25 | UHF | KVEA Telemundo 52 | Corona, CA |
| 56 | 12 | VHF | KDOC-TV | Anaheim, CA |
| 57 | 30 | UHF | KJLA | Ventura, CA |
| 58 | 28 | UHF | KLCS | Los Angeles, CA |