In the UK can TV detector vans detect LCD TV's?

Or plasma tv's.

No

Quite correct, Cheerio.

As I recall, the vans used to detect the presence of a telly from the high amplitude line oscillator harmonics initially, then take a look at the re-radiated emissions from the first stage local oscillator to confirm reception, once they'd got a bead on you. The law is that it's an offence to actiually receive a TV signal (or have the apparatus for doing so) without a licence, as I recall.

Nowadays I'm inclined to think the detector vans are a bit of a bluff. From what I gather they go after anyone registered at an address that doesn't have a TV licence, on the basis that everyone MUST have a TV.......................

VP

Indeed. Some years ago I was confronted by a guy from a detector van in the UK who wanted to see my TV licence. I told him I didn't have one, and he told me I was committing an offence. I asked him why it was an offence not to have a TV licence, and he finally twigged that something was up.... but I still had to let him look through the whole house before he accepted that I didn't have a TV.....

Is the UK the only country to have a "TV Licence"?

Sounds a bit out-of-date, since most folk would have one?

Why keep it going?

halas

You poor Bs in the UK still electing polies who sell you TV licences!

But then we in Oz have a tax on more than 2 toots in a house and a gang in Melbourne issuing speed camera tickets for doing 70 kph in an 80 kph zone with many paying the hefty fine.

Crumbs - Orac is wrong for once. TV vans used to detect the intermediate frequency which was reflected back up the aerial, and transmitted to anyone who could receive it. That was in the old days.

These days, they do not use detector vans any more. They assume that everyone has a TV(or video or other receiver) and chase them anyway. I have a friend ho has no tvs, and he would have a more peaceful life if he were to go onto the underground with his rucksack.

I have a 42" Plasma, no internal TV tuner. I use a Sky box joined to a communal aerial, even if it used a local oscillator, and it leaked, I only use the digibox part, not the RF part, and do not use a TV aerial. Based on their detector technology (http://www.tvlicensing.biz/detection/), perhaps, Synthetic, you can explain what signal I would output, to what aerial and how they trace it back to me?

And I have a licence on the principle they rely 99.999% on their database.

Yer Com aerial is still taking the signal off air Mr ORAC and yer digi box will still be using the RF signal at the input.
One had a look inside a working detector van once they did as advertized they could tell you what prog was being watched and what room the reciever was in,blocks of flats did buggah them up though, as someone has said they go on addresses without a licence listed agin them now ,it simpler.
I agree its long past the time the TV licence was scrapped,it had some merit at one time when the BBC was cut above,but nowadays it churns out the same shallow shite as the rest for the majority of the time,and its run by a bunch of limp wristed huggy fluffs.
One really resents paying for them feckers. :suspect:

When colour recievers first appeared,we had to inform the authorites the address of every colour set we installed,dunno if thats the situation now.

Is the UK the only country to have a "TV Licence"?

New Zealands for one. We needed a licence when I lived there in 1998. I can't remember how much it was though.

I can remember when yer had to have a licence forra dog, don't think many people bothered though,dog detector vans were not practical, oh yes,and a Gun licence was ten bob from any post office.

"Do you av a Liconce for that minkey"?

:rolleyes:

18-Wheeler: Not any longer, done away with a few years back.

South Africa still requires a licence to own a TV set. All fees go to the state broadcaster (and the taxpayer also helps out) while the independant stations either charge on a pay-for-view system or make their money on advertising revenue.

The licence fee is a total ripoff if the crap programming and biased viewpoint spouted by the voice of the ruling party is taken into account. So, nothing's changed from the old days, then...:rolleyes:

People moan about the BBC but in reality they put out a lot of good programmes. If you really want to see poor TV, have a look at some of the satalite and digital channels.

What would make a difference to the licence fee is reducing the amount they pay to some of their actors and news readers. I mean is it really necessary to pay a quarter of a million per year for someone to read out the news? And on the subject of news, is it really necessary to send said newsreader all over the world to cover some disaster? Its not just him either, its the camera man, sound man, producer, best boy etc. Its not as if they don't have correspondents in the area.

I suppose it could be worse. Just think how much the fee would be if it wasn't subsidised by BBC sales.

I haven´t watched the BBC is years, think it´s awful. Watch Sky news for the news, Sky sports for the footie, Sky 1 and Sci-Fi most of the rest of the time or a movie channel.

More than happy to pay for radio - R4, World Service etc. But why do I have to pay so they can compete with shite TV reality and game shows against commercial channels pumping out the same and their internet sites which, as far as I am concerned, is totally outside their remit and an infringement on the commercial market.

Yer even had to have a separate licence for a wireless in yer car. I got one when I put a wireless in me Austin 10. 10 bob I think. Mind you, by the time I had filtered out all the ignition noise I could only receive the Home Service. Cor, I feel old!

The radeng household has never had a TV. When we moved in 1985 and they sent a letter, we replied telling them so. Since then, all letters go in the bin. Unsolicited requests for action can only be met by paying radeng's standard consulting fee of £200 per half day, discount for more than one day's consulting. (Don't get too many takers at that rate!)

In 20 years, despite the threats, never had a visit. One interesting point is that in order to get to the house, they have to enter private property three quarters of a mile away (a long shared drive in a rural area) So what happens if they get told to b****r off private property before they can get close enough to use the detector apapratus? I suppose they then have to get a court order. Likely to cost them more than licence fee to find that there isn't a TV.

At the last house, one of my 'friends' sent them an anonymous letter saying that I hadn't got a TV licence, and I still never heard a word!

A few years back, a guy in Edinborough without a TV was hassled by them so much that he took them to court: from memory, he got something like £8000 plus costs.

he got something like £8000 plus costs.
Could afford to by a TV then!

Mate of mine didn't have a licence for thirty odd years,he did get captured in the end and fined 150 quid or summat, I recon he had still saved close to a grand over the years.
Once you are in their data base you is fecked.
:rolleyes:

Mr Darper said:

>Once you are in their data base you is fecked.

Regrettably, these days, I get the feeling that 'you is fecked' regardless of whether or not you're in their data base.

Once you are in their data base you is fecked.

Fairly well describes the age we live in.

IIRC, Peter Wright of Spycatcher infamy pretty much discovered/invented/refined this technology, which in one of its forms is TEMPEST. Pretty simple really.

What if one had cable TV (i.e. only optically received), and an LCD monitor with no tuner (common in the US). You could still watch the BBC in the UK, but no receiver required.

And for info, the UK pays for the BBC, but BBC World, or BBC America is free.

Detector vans are one of the greatest con's of this century.

And like all good cons, they worked just fine.:E

I was furious when I was asked for my name and address just to buy a set-top box as a Christmas present for my parents. I didn't have a television, I didn't watch television, they had no right to that information and no need of it. Fortunately I could give them completely false information, I just had to pay in cash.

Had to give information again when I bought a DVD player - still no tele as there was no aerial. Why the ^&*# do I have to give such information when buying a device to replay material for which I have bought or rented a licence?

They then still hassled me when we finally got an aerial and I bought a set-top box (under my own name and address, as their interest at least had a semblence of legitimacy by then even if I disagree, and more importantly we had a licence), despite the fact that we had a licence in my housemate's name.

These guys are a bunch of obsessive freaks, who really do know too much about us.

Is the UK the only country to have a "TV Licence"?

Sounds a bit out-of-date, since most folk would have one?

Why keep it going?


Eight (count 'em, eight) television, eleven national radio and over fifty local radio stations, all pumping out without a second of advertising or sponorship messages. Yes, there's some shite on, and there is some reason to complain about the money spent on bbc.co.uk when you can access it from anywhere in the world (most popular website in Europe or summa't like that?) but no country in the world produces a similar variety, quality or standard impartial and unbiased broadcasting.

Oh, and btw, it's bollocks about detector 'equipment' - modern patrols use a computer database that simply tells them which households have bought a lisence and which ones haven't. Then it's a random knock on the door after they've had a surreptitious peak through your living room window while you're watching Eastenders.

Sorry about the patriotic rant, I've taken the 'Land of Hope and Glory' CD out now :ok:

*j* <------ who's in Canada now with nothing but two language versions of the same old cack, with advert breaks five times in every thirty minutes.

PS...

Had to give information again when I bought a DVD player - still no tele as there was no aerial. Why the ^&*# do I have to give such information when buying a device to replay material for which I have bought or rented a licence?

That's got nothing to do with your license, it's just Dixons/Currys/etc after your info so they can monitor your shopping habits and direct-mail you junk marketing later. Same with the Freeview box.