DISH/SlingTV offers a professional antenna installation service. It is available to anyone, even if you don't have Dish or Sling TV.
Call 1-888-364-6055 to schedule an appointment. Next day service is available in many areas.
I figured I would give this a try at my new house. Called today and a very helpful lady at the "cord cutters hotline" answered and setup an appointment for tomorrow. A dish network technician is going to come out in the afternoon to install an outdoor antenna. Total cost was $163.11, and they said if the antenna is not able to pick up any signals at all then they will cancel the order and issue a refund.
I'm definitely interested in how your experience goes with this. I've been considering this service, too, but haven't heard any details from a perspective beyond a single article write-up.
I've heard the antenna is pretty decent and included in price of the install. I'm only about 30 miles from most the towers, but I'm at the base of the foothills which makes reception difficult; also, we have a few channels that are VHF, and most antennae don't seem to have much coverage for those frequencies.
I'm going to try to get it installed in my attic. I could do that part myself, but I haven't figured out how to run a cable from the attic to my office where the HDHR is. I'm actually not sure if the tech will be any better at it, but we will see.
Old installer tip - saves lots of time...
Exit/Enter through exterior walls then shoddily install a plate (that will fall off in 2 months - you could take over from here with a real low-voltage 'old work' plaster/plate ring).
A dish network tech showed up on Saturday during the 75 minute arrival window they gave me, and did a great job getting the antenna on my roof and wiring it down to the existing coax outlet in my office.
Unfortunately OTA signals out here aren't great and I can only pick up ABC, Unimas and PBS. I was hoping to be able to lock onto the new ATSC3 signal in the area, but it's coming in very weak at 20% quality.
Still, I would recommend this service to anyone who wants an antenna professional installed for a flat cost and with next day service. Their phone hotline is also a great resource, even if you decide not to buy an antenna from them- they will answer all your cord cutting and antenna questions, and will look up your location to tell you which stations you might be able to receive.
Sounds like a good deal and looks like the Televes DigiNova Boss UHF/VHF Antenna.
What did he use to aim the antenna?
Are you picking up any VHF channels, or UHF only?
My UHF roof mounted doesn't pickup two VHF stations (VHF-HI 9 & 10), so I would be interested in the service for that price.
Should replace the antenna with an RCA Yagi. I bet it will pick up those channels you are looking for. Also, significantly cheaper.
Yea....:
I've been building/installing antennae for over 50 years and I know a piece of crap (make that $100 Piece of crap) when I see one:
If they actually visited TV Fool/Other to see what was possible, then installed that joke on your roof they're not really interested in providing OTA (cause that thing just won't cut it), so you paid for a solid installation (adequate - at first glance). What they really want is for you to keep your Dish Package.
That RCA would be better than that Chinese Miracle Antenna, but do keep in mind that 150 miles is WAY over the horizon and unless physics and the laws of the universe have suddenly changed - that too is a bogus claim that can NOT be realized... ever (unless you want to put one atop 1000 foot tower).
Be sure to buy a real antenna designed and cut for the bands you're working in, in a fringe area you need antennae with real physical size (not a space age antenna designed to capture customers - not signals) and remember:
If it sounds too good to be true - it very likely is.
There's another UHF/VHF-High for not much money - good for 40 miles - not the 80 they claim. On the Amazon page above near the bottom you'll see those things that look like what's sitting on top of the Robbie The Robot's Head in Forbidden Planet (1956). Those may work in China because they're cut for Chinese UHF (perhaps Myanmar, as I recall a spirited exchange among old timers when they showed up). If they work for someone in America RF energy is re-writing your DNA and/or cooking you and your dog from the inside out as we speak and yes, a coat hanger would work just as well...
Summary (lol):
150 clams for a decent installation isn't bad at all - if you know what you're gonna get when it's done. Heck, I wouldn't climb on a roof these days for less than $1000! (rotfl - to discover I can't get up).
Wire, terminals, hardware, labor = well worth a bit over $150.
Just get the guy to install the thing so you can lean out the window and replace their antenna with one that works. Position the family recycling can right under the location, so you can drop 'Televides' right into the bin. "Look out below!"
I do wonder what would happen if Dish showed up to install one of their 'miracle' antennae to find out you've already got a brand new one you just 'happen to have' - and could he install that one instead? Even if they charge $160 - with an antennae you provide (that at least has a sno-ball's chance)... it would still be a good deal.
I recommended the RCA Yagi because those are what I use. I agree 150 miles is probably a ridiculous claim (although I haven't tested it), but it pulls in every channel available in my area, in perfect quality. From towers in multiple different cities. I bet it would do anything under 40 miles perfectly. And would probably do other further away channels if the weather was right.
Solid Signal's Hands On Reviews
Televes is based in Spain and designs and manufacturers all their products in Europe. The manufacturing quality is far above other similar products.
The company has been around since 1958 and is a worldwide leader in antennas, satellite products and test equipment. They’re used by all the major satellite companies for their own test and measurement systems.
I'd trust a real use case before I'd trust a hands on review - by the guys trying to sell the world a better mouse trap (for a hundred dollars).
The RCA antenna appears to be a traditional, time honored design configured in a way as to produce real gain. The 'Better Mouse Trap' appears to be a coat hanger in a plastic shell - the only gain generated through an amplifier.
In the 80's we used to get (sometimes watchable) TV via the troposphere at distances far exceeding 150 miles. It required a lot of aluminum aloft, powerful and expensive rotators and much of the time snow (big bang remnants) was all you got. We put the word "Deep" in "Deep Fringe".
Digital TV saw an end to 'tropo-DXing' - you either get it, or you don't - understandable 'cause UHF/VHF(High) don't propagate. It hits the ground about 65 miles from the transmitter and dissipates - so there's a grain of salt (the size of the Bonneville Salt Flats) taken with 'the wild claims'. Weather doesn't mean that much these days - but warm weather means leaves and leaves mean a LOT (all of it bad).
Even the most 'enthusiastic' Stack Doctors eventually find out where the wall is - this guy did all this and was still met with disappointment, but that is one of the best stack jobs I've ever seen (he gets high points for effort):
I guess we'll wait on @tmm1 's review when he replaces his better mouse trap with something more 'traditional' and he tells us what happened (if anything).
I use this one (https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Aspen-EASDTV2BUHF-Directv-Approved/dp/B000GIT002/) mounted on a pole at the gable end ridge of my roof (no amp/Connect DUO) and am able to get all of the channels listed on this map, even ABC which is listed VHF:
Cool! Where is that screenshot from?
My roof mounted UHF antenna gets all of my UHF channels from 40+ miles.
I'm only missing two VHF channels from the same antenna farm and those aren't changing with the FCC repack.
Have been looking for an inexpensive combo VHF/UHF and the price was right since it included installation on a 40 foot roof.
I know enough about it that I'm not fooled by marketing claims for 4k/1080 'digital' TV antennas.
RF is analog...
My Grandpa's antenna is the same as these new antennas as far as RF goes, except for LTE filtering.
Would like to hear some "real world experience" also.