Using An Antennae For Local Channels With Our Dish DVR



Although DishTv & CBS are currently in a dispute, we are still watching CBS shows from our Dish DVR with no disruption.  Because we no longer pay for local channels through Dish. Instead, we added an antenna and an airtv adapter, which allows us to record over the air channels right to our Dish DVR.

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Total expense came to less than $80 for us.  Since we were paying $12 a month for local channels, we'll recoup that cost in less than 7 months, AND we have CBS even when they are in a dispute with Dish.


A few years back, when Dish was having a dispute with one of the other networks, Dish sent free  antennae to their customers upon request, and it did not work well for us, so I assumed an  antenna just would not work where we live. (We have a large hill right behind the house, and tall trees to the side of us) I was wrong - we just needed a better  antenna.  That may not be the case for everyone - I recommend buying one you can return, just in case!  But when I posted on my facebook page that we had done this, I was surprised by how many in our local area were already doing this!  
We purchased this antenna on amazon.  It ships quick, and was EASY to put together and install!  https://amzn.to/2OzvBsA
Originally the plan was to put this high up on the peak of our top roof.  But we put it together and set it in the backyard first, and immediately pulled in 11 channels. With it sitting on the ground.  So we installed it on our one story porch roof, instead of at the very top of the house, and it works great for us, even though we have a hill right behind the house and woods to the side of us.

Over the air tv - our local channels, are FREE.  We had been paying Dish $12 a month to have them included in our tv package, because those same free channels charge companies like Dish and Direct Tv for access.  But for you an I, these channels are absolutely free to access.  
This adapter connects our antenna to the dish dvr, allowing me to record shows just like I did before, when we had the channels through dish.

If you are like me, however,  and never actually watch live tv in real time, it was worth it to pay the $12 a month to let Dish handle the channels for me, so I could tape them on our dvr.  Until I found that we could add a $30 device to our antenna to connect it to our DISH, and record the channels right from the normal Dish TV guide, and have them appear on our dvr just as they had before!  

 We looked into a variety of other DVR options - but all of them are rather pricey for what we wanted.  Keeping our DishTv service, at the lowest package rate, with the local channels dropped, works best for us.  
We pull in around 17 over the air channels with our antenna.  They appear in our Dish guide right along with our other Dish channels.


 THE CATCH - 
With this set up, I can only tape two over the air channels at one time.  I don't know if there is an option to record more OTA channels at one time or not, for us, two is enough.
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