I don't understand why people think they have to have an OTA tuner on their receiver to get OTA channels...I don't know of many TV's that don't have multiple inputs that you can't hook up an OTA antenna to and switch to, so no you can't hook to the receiver and record the OTA channels, but that doesn't mean you can't get the OTA channels and they are always free OTA, you choose to pay for them to be in the Dish line-up. Just sayin...
In most cass they want the ability to record the chanels.