integrinB4

So I want to figure out if this DirecTV situation will work. I think this is the best place to ask:

Question: Will a DirecTV dish/receiver combo installed in a certain city (i.e. Chicago) still pick up the local channels of that install city (Chicago) if the dish/receiver are moved to another market (i.e. West Lafayette, IN) without telling DirecTV you have moved (I’d re-set up the equipment myself).

Rationale: I am moving to West Lafayette, IN for work. I currently have DirecTV (though I am not the subscriber, my current roommate is, so all of that is staying behind. I am looking to start new service). While looking to get D* set up in West Lafayette, I discovered that in that market, D* has NO LOCAL CHANNELS! Not just any HD locals, but NO LOCALS at all. Your package starts at Channel 70 (HBOHD) and goes from there.

After a bit of research, the problem comes down to a CBS affiliate (WLFI). Lafayette, IN has no network affiliates (ABC, NBC, FOX) except for this CBS affiliate. They get the rest of the networks from Indy, except you need a honking OTA antenna to get them. The details of this are chronicled here:
(According to board rules, I cannot post a URL until I have 5 posts)
Check jconline from June 1, 2008.

According to WLFI, they have given permission to the satellite companies (after an 8 year holdout), to carry their network, but D* has no timetable to do so, not even in the new satellite rollout later this fall.

I cannot install a huge antenna on the roof because I will be living in an apartment complex. The complex does allow dishes as long as they are mounted on a pole outside your patio door. However, if I subscribe with a Lafayette address, then I will get NO LOCAL channels other than the local CBS affiliate with my indoor OTA antenna. I WILL NOT subscribe to Comcrap ever again (as that is the only other option to get local channels, and get them in HD).

Proposal: I have family that lives in the Chicago burbs. They do not have D*. They live in a 1st floor condo where an install could be done using a pole mounted dish and running the line through the back window with those window wire connectors (I am currently using one).

Once the install is complete, disassemble the equipment and bring it down to Lafayette. Re-set up on my own (which can be tricky, but with my fiancée and I both science/engineer types, I think we can handle it).

Any account management would be done online so no need to worry about paper bills, but it is family, so I can always get anything from them if I need it.

Preliminary Data: When I used to tailgate at Purdue football games in West Lafayette, people that had D* in Indianapolis would bring their dishes, receivers and TV to tailgates (and run them off generators) and we would watch other games while we tailgated. I know for a fact that we did indeed get the local Indianapolis channels through those dishes even through we were set up in Lafayette. I have to assume that it was because the dish/receiver were originally setup in Indianapolis. I want to make sure that the dish/receiver does not know where it is at any given time, but only where it was installed.

Potential Problems: Obviously the potential problem is that if the dish can tell where it is located at any given moment. Will it not work at all? Or will it just not show the Chicago local channels because it can detect that I am in a different viewing area? That is the biggest question I have. Another problem is if one of the pieces of equipment fails (receiver or dish) and needs to be replaced. I would have to figure something out. I'd probably say we just moved and forgot to tell D*.

Thoughts?