How far from this "neighboring DMA's" TV towers are you ? It's a really, long stretch to pick them up with an indoor antenna...
We're probably talking an hour, an hour and ten minutes, by car. I can't even pick up the local DMA signals, which are closer, with an indoor antenna. The best I've ever done is a digital signal for a single station in the local DMA that cuts in and out when it shows up at all and is basically unwatchable.
Honestly, I didn't have high hopes for the dish as an antenna idea (Though since the dish is external, I thought it *might* stand a chance at getting a channel or two), I just read some people talking about it, and wondered if I could try it by pressing a few buttons on my remote control. Turns out, I have the wrong model for anything like that. Was worth asking about, though.
Anyhow, as long as I'm discussing it, some folks have mentioned that I'm screwing up my terminology by calling the piece of metal on my roof a dish. So the metal shaped like a dinner dish is a receiver? What's the dish then? I assume there is a dish, since the name of the company is Dish Network.