Locals Required? (a bit long)

[Mister B]

I had Orby last year with my own Winegard dish. I tried to put it back up this week but the neighbor's tree has grown and blocks the signal intermittently. The dish needs to go on the roof and I am not doing that. I speculated how much Orby would charge to move my dish and went to their installation menu. To my surprise they are running a special at $25 for their dish, locals antenna and installation. I took the offer and could save my Winegard dish for a possible FTA project someday.
When I received the installation confirmation email the fine print at the bottom stated that I would be getting a Fedex tracking number when the equipment ships. I had assumed the installer would bring the equipment. I chose the earliest possible installation date at next Monday afternoon (2 working days). I then called Orby as I found it highly unlikely that the equipment would arrive by installation time. The customer representative said that most installers do bring the equipment and that would be the case for my order. They need to update their email.
I happened to mention that I do not need the locals antenna. On those rare occasions that there is a local crisis I can get a couple of local affiliates with a loop antenna on the back of my TV. Other than that, I prefer to read the newspaper. The CSR said that locals are required for the system to work properly. I did not have a local antenna connected to my Winegard dish and it worked just fine. Unless there is something different about their dish I see no reason to have the extra antenna in the wind on the roof and a handy place for birds to sit and make a mess. Is this true that the local antenna is required with the Orby supplied dish?

 

[Titanium]

Local channels are not required for either subscription fulfillment or for the system to work properly.

 

[FTA4PA]

Local channels are not required for either subscription fulfillment or for the system to work properly.

And vice versa, I have disconnected the Orby dish and the receiver still works just fine for only the locals.

 

[Tvland1]

And vice versa, I have disconnected the Orby dish and the receiver still works just fine for only the locals.

Curious if you have DVR and if it still works without service or did you just unhook the satellite signal?

 

[FTA4PA]

Curious if you have DVR and if it still works without service or did you just unhook the satellite signal?

We have four receivers but all are the non-DVR type so unable to answer that. Sorry.

 

[Tvland1]

We have four receivers but all are the non-DVR type so unable to answer that. Sorry.

I unhook the sat cable without the antenna and can still play DVR recordings..Hooked up OTA and still have all function..I just wonder if you stop service if the DVR still works for OTA and watching saved recordings.I guess as long as you unhook the sat in from the receiver there's nothing to stop the DVR function

 

[N6BY]

I unhook the sat cable without the antenna and can still play DVR recordings..Hooked up OTA and still have all function..I just wonder if you stop service if the DVR still works for OTA and watching saved recordings.I guess as long as you unhook the sat in from the receiver there's nothing to stop the DVR function

On Orby's website it says if you want locals only and no sat, there is a $12 monthly fee.

 

[Tvland1]

On Orby's website it says if you want locals only and no sat, there is a $12 monthly fee.

I forgot about that..I will be switching back to my dish RV account here in a week and pausing the Orby account.. I'll make sure to unhook the sat input before my due date and see what happens.. It's hard telling if the receiver has any type of shutdown date programmed into it.. I'll find out.

 

[Mister B]

Local channels are not required for either subscription fulfillment or for the system to work properly.

Good, that is just as I thought. I am sure the installer will not mind skipping the locals antenna work. I will even keep it for future use or a neighbor in need.
As for the above discussion on whether the DVR would work while the account is on pause, last year I got my DVR back out after a couple of months and it would function as a OTA tuner but in order to record there was a message on the screen in relation to the $12 DVR fee.

 

[Claude Greiner]

The installer should bring out all the required equipment for your installation.

Nothing should be shipped to you via FedEx.

As far as the locals off the antenna, the tech is going to install the antenna. However it’s not required to make the system work

 

[Mister B]

Installation was today. The Tech had no problem with not installing the locals antenna. He gave it and the diplexer to me. The antenna is very small an lightweight. If I want locals at a later date I will certainly use something better.