In 1981 I was the second individual in central VA to configure and receive Satellite TV. The first indivdual was the founder of what later became AVCOM now sold, but still located in Richmond. That begin a second 34 year career in satc tv installations, repairs, and teleconference down linking.
I did many satellite tv installations over the years mainly of DTV and a few Dish in the Tri-cities, Richmond, and a few in Goochland, Cumberland and Powhatan Cos.. I was very successful (it paid for my youngest son's ECPI Computer Science degree of app. $50,000). Everybody has a time to quit and I retired in 2014 from doing all satcom activities.
I often was asked to do exactly what you now want done for a home satellite tv installation. My answer to when first asked in the mid-80s was the same as the last time I was asked in 2014. The answer always was "NO! ABSOLUTE NOT! The main reason is that I had no idea how the particular house was built. Saying it was "built to code" is more speculation than fact and still leaves a question mark..
Fox example, my house was built to code 100%. Wrong! No it was not in one minor location. It seems that a carpenter decided to install an a short length of 2 x 4 in. as a cross brace between 1 vertical wall struts inside my kitchen wall. My son was in the attic attempting to feed me the electrical 12/2 115 VAC cable. It was supposed to be a straight unimpeded drop but it wasn't. We were 100% blocked! I already had cut the recepticle hole in my kitchen wall. It took over us over 2 hours and we had to use a wood bit on a power drill in the kitchen with a 12 in. shaft to angle wide enough cut a passage hole for the AC line. I was very lucky.
In my opinion, any installer who agrees to do it is playing roulette with the odds of being successful. Maybe things will go fine and maybe they won't. The installer has a contract now to do what he said he would do. He begins installation and has a problem he cannot resolve. He stops and apologizes to the customer for whatever reasons and leaves. He then also can receive a letter from the customer's lawyer advising him he will be charged with non-complaintance of a legal contract and be billed to pay whomever else fixed whatever was wrong but no results were successful. The installer needs to understand the word "LAWSUIT".
For me, doing in structure wall configuring/routings was nothing but problems waiting to happen. The work also has to meet the local building codes. After doing my site survey and confirming the target satellite's look angles, I installed the antenna and dug a trench to the egress point which usually was the closest foundation vent. I was very smart. I additionally ran an extra coax cable to the antenna to the sat tv receiver but not with a RG-6 connector mounted. I routed the coax under the house usually trying to avoid dead mice or rats, spiders, spider webs, and crawling over or around debris obstacles. Most homes had floor vents for AC/heating and I partially made a passage for the cable at the vent side duct work. It worked fine.
A good portion of my income was doing maintenance calls where the installer did not know what the .#$@# he was doing. It included installing a sat antenna in the fall/winter pointing through a bare tree...no problem. However, when spring came, the leaves grew and blocked the satellite signal. Another money maker was to realign the sat tv antenna because either the father, mother, or teen had sideswiped it with there riding lawnmower. All it takes is just a little bit off peak.
I think I still have a new 1,000 ft. roll of RG-6 coax in one of of my outbuildings. I used to buy 1,000 ft. rolls about every 3 months when at the peak of satcom interest.
I recommend you place a service want ad on Craig's List for such if allowable or call BVC the largest A/V operation in Richmond. I used to work with BVC years ago on some satellite teleconference downlinking jobs in the area. Ask whomever is in charge now to provide you with possible references who will do such custom work. Call tv repair shops, if any are left, and ask them for possible references.
It cannot be just any installer. He must be familiar with and have a lot of RG-6 coax cable/connectors. Whomever will do it, expect a 4 figure estimate.
John
W4UVV
