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i have never seen a detector van. Do they exist? Has anybody or their friends had a "knock at the door".
Now that viewers of BBC Iplayer on tablets and phones have to pay--I guess there must be rich pickings for inspectors should they care to hover around university campus territory or dare I say it-care homes where older people have their own rooms( and have to have a licence!)
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Students are covered by their parents' licence as long as they are watching on a device powered solely by battery. In practice, this is unlikely, but whether the detector people want the hassle of trying to sort out who was using only battery and who was plugged in, I don't know.
People aged 75 or over get a free TV licence. Probably most people in care homes are over 75.
So I'm not sure what "rick pickings" are on offer here.
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i have never seen a detector van. Do they exist?
They certainly used to back in the late '60s. I knew a bloke who drove one. The trick was to cruise around an area, making sure the local PO had sufficient forms for the resultant rush. They would have a list of addresses and only 'look closely' at those that didn't have a licence.
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Internet wisdom is that old style detector vans are a scare tactic with little or no scientific basis. I suspect those who end up in court (and there are a lot) are duped into fessing up.
I do think we should all pay the licence if we use the service but the special status the BBC enjoys in using the power of the criminal law to collect dues seems a bit anachronistic given that they are pretty much a fully commercial outfit nowadays.
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I personally have always felt it is wrong, the TV licence is a forced sale to people that might otherwise not want it.
Imagine if when you bought a PC or smart phone you were then obliged by law to pay money to all the software companies that your device might be able to use despite you not actually wanting their products? Why should the BBC be any different?
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The disturbing fact about the old "detector" vans was that there has never been a single instance where the "evidence" obtained by a "detector" van has been presented to a court.
A reasonable person would conclude that the "detector" vans are nothing of the sort and are full of DR Who-style special effect electronics.
This current scare tactic is just that a scare tactic.
How is it going to work when scanning a block of flats?
200-300 routers all blasting out WiFi - and they are going to indentify individuals who are watching iplayer and haven't paid their TV licence?
Pull the other one Mr BBC.
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The joke in the 60's about the detector vans ( Austin Cambridge estates with something that looked like a fireguard on the roof) was that the only operational thing in the back was two men drinking tea!
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How is it going to work when scanning a block of flats?
200-300 routers all blasting out WiFi - and they are going to indentify individuals who are watching iplayer and haven't paid their TV licence?
Pull the other one Mr BBC.
It is much easier for them to detect who is watching iplayer without even going out to the streets. They can get the IP addresses when the people connect to the iplayer service. That is how they block people abroad from watching iplayer. Of course people can and do use VPN's to hide their IP and location.
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There is no such thing as a TV detector van. It is just a device by the BBC to try and force you to pay for their propaganda.
With internet TV they can track you via your IP adress. They cannot track you while using normal TV.
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The old style broadcast system using analogue technology was easily detectable. A chap I knew worked for the GPO as it was then. We were getting interference very regularly on out TV set, which I queried with him in the club one evening. He came round next day with his van. Got out some equipment and a direction finder and set it up in our lounge. Sure enough the interference started, lasted about 5 seconds then stopped, this patern repeated every 20 minutes or so. He said the interference was from next door, in the room that adjoined ours. When he went next door he discovered that the thermostat on their heating boiler, in the fireplace, was creating the interference via the solenoid. He issued them a notice to have a suppresor fitted, which they did and problem solved. This chap reckoned he could tell all types of electrical equipment in use in a house from outside. So the detector definitely worked for electrical appliances. What the eqipment is like for detecting digital output I don't know.
I do like the BBC though and would not like to think of a unique institution being totally changed on the alter of commercialism. My brother in law pays Murdoch over £90 a month for Sky, so the BBC seems cheap. Personally I would not urinate on Murdoch if he was on fire. Totally ruined football, but that is another story.
Cheers Concrete
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Nonsense.
Your home TV does NOT transmit any signal, it only receives the TV signal.
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Your home TV does NOT transmit any signal, it only receives the TV signal.
Old CRT TVs certainly used to re-radiate and that was the signal detector vans could locate.
It was also alleged for TV repairmen to be made sterile by this re-radiation by leaning over the back of TVs, placing their genitals directly in harm's way.
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Nonsense.
Your home TV does NOT transmit any signal, it only receives the TV signal.
Where in my thread does it mention TV signal? I was refering to interference with the received signal from another source, to wit an elctromagnetic solenoid valve. The equipment used to detect that signal could detect other elcto magnetic fields transmitted when working parts of electrical appliances became operational, I.E thermostats opening/closing etc. and old oscillating valves in TV sets. The GPO equipment used for my benefit certainly worked in this instance so I have no doubt they had some state of the art kit to achieve their purpose elsewhere.
Cheers Concrete
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How does the technology work?
How can they detect if someone is receiving a tv signal in their homes?
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How does the technology work?
How can they detect if someone is receiving a tv signal in their homes?
Hello Paul, from what I gathered at the time the detection equipment could receive broadcast signals from radio and tv. This determines that the broadcast signals are available in that specific spot. The other equipment, which was used for my benefit, detects the electro magnetic fields given off from electrical appliances. My friend reckons he could tell if a radio, tv, refrigerator, washing machine etc was being used inside the property. Most appliances give of a generic type of wavelength and are therefore identifiable. Whether this is still the case I don't know. I suppose the more digital the equipment the less interference it gives off.
Cheers Concrete
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How does the technology work?
How can they detect if someone is receiving a tv signal in their homes?
Hello Paul, from what I gathered at the time the detection equipment could receive broadcast signals from radio and tv. This determines that the broadcast signals are available in that specific spot. The other equipment, which was used for my benefit, detects the electro magnetic fields given off from electrical appliances. My friend reckons he could tell if a radio, tv, refrigerator, washing machine etc was being used inside the property. Most appliances give of a generic type of wavelength and are therefore identifiable. Whether this is still the case I don't know. I suppose the more digital the equipment the less interference it gives off.
Cheers Concrete
According to someone who worked in one of the vans they were false, and they could not tell where the signal was going, they cannot now, they just had a list of addresses they sat outside and either knocked at the persons door- or- seeing the van scared them into buying the licence
Drivers just sat in the back drinking Tea/Coffee occasionaly turning the detector aerial, this come from a chap who drove a detector van and explained it to a famous radio station
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Well bolt, an interesting story. But I can assure you the old GPO sorted out my interference problem using some decent equipment. As already stated they could not be certain a tv signal was being received, but they could tell if a tv set was switched on and working by the elctro magnetic field it gives off. Therefore it is afe to assume that the tv was switched on to receive signals and watch the programmes. Hence the need for a licence. QED.
Cheers Concrete
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Well bolt, an interesting story. But I can assure you the old GPO sorted out my interference problem using some decent equipment. As already stated they could not be certain a tv signal was being received, but they could tell if a tv set was switched on and working by the elctro magnetic field it gives off. Therefore it is afe to assume that the tv was switched on to receive signals and watch the programmes. Hence the need for a licence. QED.
Cheers Concrete
As everything gives off an electro magnetic field and given that usually tv interference normally comes through the mains, using an oscilloscope you can tell what it comes from, the story came from an ex GPO driver who was under strict instructions(during his employment) not to tell anyone what was inside the van, he also told the story on national radio
AFAIK its impossible to tell if a tv is recieving a signal unless a meter is connected to the aerial at least it wasnt while I worked for Granada TV, if they had it would have made life easier troubleshooting install problems
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I once saw a Chicken OXO detector van in Norfolk.
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Well bolt, I think we have just agreed on that point. I think it may be easier to detect the Chicken Oxo than a tv signal then!
Cheers Concrete
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Seriously. I did see a Chicken OXO detector van. They were used alongside an OXO advert on TV. It was a few years ago.
I only tell the truth.
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Seriously. I did see a Chicken OXO detector van. They were used alongside an OXO advert on TV. It was a few years ago.
I only tell the truth.
Hello Kia Ora, sorry for the delay in replying, SWMBO and I have been away for a week in the Cotswolds and very nice it was too.
I hope you are not offended by my reference to your story. I do not doubt for one minute the veracity of it. I was simply using it to highlight a point.
Cheers Concrete
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