We were just talking about TV licenses. A guy at work has just bought a hosue and is not planning to get a license until September 1st because he'd have to pay for 2 weeks of August he's not going to use.

The women in the offic ethink a detector van can detect an LCD television, I say it cant.

So how do they work anyway ?

You know what. in my 28 years on this earth I have never seen a tv detector van. Has anyone else?

They look at a database of addresses, and see who has a licence and who doesn't. Those that don't have licences, they send letters/officers to.

Rob.

This chap had a letter to "The Occupier" when he bought the hous ebut before he moved in. He rang them up and said he wouldnt be in until September.

I think they'll call in if an inspector happens to be passing - otherwise he'll get a letter on September 1st with an application form enclosed.

Most likely, yeah - would be surprised if he couldn't stall them for a couple of weeks one way or another...

Rob.

I think he'll get a few letters before he gets the inspector round. AFAIK, the detector vans are now a thing of the past

Not that we should need to pay a TV licence if we don't watch BBC1 or BBC2

Chris

I think he'll get a few letters before he gets the inspector round. AFAIK' date=' the detector vans are now a thing of the past

Not that we should need to pay a TV licence if we don't watch BBC1 or BBC2

Chris[/quote']

or listen to radio 1 2 3 or 4.

I think its about time it was abolished to be honest. The BBC must be laughing. they can do whatever they want and are still garaunteed the money

or listen to radio 1 2 3 or 4.

I think its about time it was abolished to be honest. The BBC must be laughing. they can do whatever they want and are still garaunteed the money

Interesting point that - do I need a TV licence to listen to the radio in the car? Not that I ever do lol!

Chris

I think due to the unique way that the bbc is funded that you do need a license to listen to the radio in the car

I think due to the unique way that the bbc is funded that you do need a license to listen to the radio in the car

Just to clarify

In the United Kingdom' date=' the 2006 television licence was

TV licence vans are few and far between , and mostly just consist of a place for the person to put their handheld detector.

These hand held detectors can't pick up LCD or plasma sets , but they don't need to.

It's far more efficient for them to check the database of every house and if there is no licence shown they will send you stroppy letters then send round a licencing officer (who are all contracted out) to see if they can see a TV through the window and knock on your door.

For a couple of weeks he'd easily get away with it

Our LG has a monochrome mode - perhaps we could save some money and watch in B&W only ?

Our LG has a monochrome mode - perhaps we could save some money and watch in B&W only ?

nope as it is still capable of displaying colour. Also if you have a video in your house you have to have a colour license

Having worked in the industry, the vans are a myth.

Even if you saw one in the 70's/80's all it was, was a van with dummy aerials on the roof. The only way they used to tell if you had a TV was to drive to addresses that didn't have TV licences and look for an earial, then try and look through the letterbox/windows etc.

The principal is still the same today, except they send you the threatening 'We know you've got a TV' letter hoping to frighten you into admitting it before they send an officer round to actually check wether you have or not.

The job is made slightly easier today by the size of TV's and the fact most have sattelite dishes on the wall!!

I wouldn't worry for the few weeks till september.

just say you havent officially moved in.

when i moved into my flat. called them up and said i wouldnt be fully moved in for a few weeks, and they said dont worry about it, call us back when you have.

the old detectors use to pick up the current being used by the airel.

an ariel not connected to a tv, shouldnt have any power flow through it unless you are using a powererd booster.

but as above posts, thay now just send out letters for un licenced houses, then send out the busy body.

These hand held detectors can't pick up LCD or plasma sets ' date=' but they don't need to.

[/quote']

actually this isn't so. all superhetrodyne radio recievers emit a signal back through the aerial, it because of the way that television signals are decoded by the television. because the tv has a superhet reciever it produces a signal which is a sine wave 39.5Mhz lower than the recieved tv signal, it does this to increase the quality of the signal. now the two signals are now mixed together to get what called the 'intermediate signal', because of the way the signals are mixed and because of the amount of gain added to the signal some of it is induced back into the aerial and it acts like a mini-transmitter, and becuause the frequency emmited is different for every channel they can even tell what channel you are watching. it is around 754Mhz for BB1 and around 802Mhz for BB2

so basically everything with a tv reciever(including a PC card tv thingy) can be detected. large or small.

but this signal only transmits for a very short range. and also it dosn't apply to digital terestrial signals because these are all broadcast of the same frequency.

So if watching digital terrestrial through a "set top box", the TV is not giving out the giveaway signals ?

So if watching digital terrestrial through a "set top box", the TV is not giving out the giveaway signals ?

well yes it does, but as i said in the previous post it is only a harmonic of the origanal signal. the main difference with digital terstrial tv is that all the stations are broadcast on the same band of frequencies (or carrier) and the station are multiplexed(or coded) onto the same waveband, hence the need for a decoder(demultiplexer), because the stations are all broadcast on the same band there is no way of telling which station you are watching.

i dont really think you have much to worry about though. because of the nature of tv signals and the fact that the are omni-directional it is vitually impossoble to tell which signal is comong from which aerial and as sombody has previously said, tv detector vans are just an urban myth dreamt up by the bbc's marketing bods to get us to cough up. they're more likely to send a stinging letter through the snail mail.

All good news then. My colleague has decided to buy a license on September 1st

Sorry to burst the bubble guys, tv detector vans were real, however as previosly stated MOST were dummies, usually parked near an outskirts of city shopping center (close to a post office) , to "remind " people to buy a licence.

The favourite time to send these dummies out were the last week & 1st week of the month. ( close to pay days)

There were only approx 6 REAL vans covering the UK, due to the cost and size of the equipment needed in order to detect.

I used to work for a company that processed the TV licences back in the very early 1980's , & we had a presentation from the TV licencing people.

Detector vans do work, and they pick up a signal emitted by an analogue and digital tv , they can even work out which part of the house the set is in using directional aerials .It does not matter if the set is crt,lcd or plasma,it is the tuner in the set that emits the signal ,the signal varies in frequency with transmitter area and they can tell which channel you are watching , in fact they can watch the pictures retransmitted from your set.

Most of the "detecting" is now done on the database ,but the vans are sent out to certain areas to make checks

Also, theres a scheme where i think by law, Retailers have to keep a record of names and addresses of customers who buy anything that can recive a TV signal... i had to fill a tv-licencing form in when i bought a new DVB reciver for my pc.

i guess its a step in the right direction.. if they put 2+2 together.... automatic fine maybe?

i guess its a step in the right direction.. if they put 2+2 together.... automatic fine maybe?

Think automatice fines are a way off - you might be buying it for a friend! AFAIK it's just used as another database check...so if someone buys receiving equipment and their address doesn't have a licence against it, they can send reminders/officers round.

Rob.

above post is correct, anything involving tv recieving device. has to fill in the name and address of where the device is going to be used. but yes you could register it at another address when buying.

actually this isn't so. all superhetrodyne radio recievers emit a signal back through the aerial' date=' it because of the way that television signals are decoded by the television. because the tv has a superhet reciever it produces a signal which is a sine wave 39.5Mhz lower than the recieved tv signal, it does this to increase the quality of the signal. now the two signals are now mixed together to get what called the 'intermediate signal', because of the way the signals are mixed and because of the amount of gain added to the signal some of it is induced back into the aerial and it acts like a mini-transmitter, and becuause the frequency emmited is different for every channel they can even tell what channel you are watching. it is around 754Mhz for BB1 and around 802Mhz for BB2

so basically everything with a tv reciever(including a PC card tv thingy) can be detected. large or small.

but this signal only transmits for a very short range. and also it dosn't apply to digital terestrial signals because these are all broadcast of the same frequency.[/quote']

HAM or Radio/TV Engineer???