How it Works: TV Detector Vans

[MontyVeda]

As one of the many thousands of people in the UK who try to enjoy a TV licence free lifestyle... I welcome the idea of a TV detector van parking up outside my house and 'detecting' the lack of a TV in my home. Thing is... I've always suspected the TV detector van was a bit of sci-fi cooked up much like the USA's 1980's Star Wars space defence program.... and reading this... i might be right....

Taken from an application for a warrant to search an address suspected of using an unlicensed TV:

....
5. A television display generates light at specific frequencies. Some of that light escapes through windows usually after being reflected from one or more walls in the room in which the television is situated. The optical detector in the detector van uses a large lens to collect that light and focus it on to an especially sensitive device, which converts fluctuating light signals into electrical signals, which can be electronically analysed. If a receiver is being used to watch broadcast programmes then a positive reading is returned. The device gives a confidence factor in percentage terms, which is determined by the strength of the signal received by the detection equipment and confirms whether or not the source of the signal is a “possible broadcast”.
6. On the 31st March 2011 at 18.36 hours the detector van was positioned near the Premises. When the detector camera was pointed at the window of the Premises a positive signal was received indicating a TV receiver was in use receiving a possible broadcast with a confidence factor of 97%. A television aerial and satellite dish was also seen affixed to the Premises.
....
(source)

so... in point 5, they mention an optical detector... could this be an eye, or something more technical like a bog standard digital camera? then in point 6, its a 'detector camera' pointing at the window to detect light... or just a camera.

In spite of having a TV detector van supposedly packed to the brim of high-tech 'detecting' equipment... it appears to be ignored in favour of the human eye.

Can they see light coming from a TV inside the property? Check!
Can they see and aerial and satellite dish on the property? Check!

"Good job lads... we've detected the possible presence of a TV with a confidence factor of 97% "

So what does the TV detector van 'do' apart from provide transport for a few pairs of eyes and a camera?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Can they see and aerial and satellite dish on the property? Check!

Yes, that bit made me laugh!

I am no expert, but it always seems like a bit of a publicity stunt to me.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Has anyone ever seen one in the wild?

I certainly haven't

 

[Deleted member 20519]

 

[TVC]

Has anyone ever seen one in the wild?

I certainly haven't

Not since the 1970s, I assumed they had died out.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

As I've not had a telly for the past 8 yrs and I thought I would have seen at least one checking me out in that time... but alas, all I get is a [sign and confirm] letter every 3 years and the continual 'threat of a visit'.

 

[snorri]

So what does the TV detector van 'do' apart from provide transport for a few pairs of eyes and a camera?

After reading in the local press of the imminent arrival of the detector van the gullible criminals felt persuaded to go out and buy a tv licence.
There was an alternative to the tv detector van,..... a hat with all of the direction finding electronics built in and worn by the detector person who could patrol the locality on foot. Being less conspicuous, this method was less effective in "selling" licences.

Edited following comment from ASC1951

 

[Black Country Ste]

I very rarely watch TV and the cost was something I could do without when I moved home. If there's anything worth watching I go up the parents' or use the catchup services so I cancelled it.

I've had four or five letters since and filed them all in the bin without reply. A private company with whom I have no business needn't know my details and I resent being threatened with investigations and warrants for the crime of not plugging my TV/monitor into a receiver.

 

[ColinJ]

Has anyone ever seen one in the wild?

I certainly haven't

I was working in Burnley in 1987 and someone I worked with had a mate who drove a TV detector van. He came round to see us one lunchtime and we went round to the back of the van to take a look inside. It certainly contained some realistic looking electronic equipment which was switched on. An oscilloscope-type display was showing what looked like a constantly changing RF signal.

I wouldn't have bet my life on it being real, but I would have put a tenner on it!

 

[ColinJ]

This one involved a friend's dodgy friend ...

Dodgy friend is in an upstairs flat, watching an old secondhand TV; he doesn't have a licence. There is a knock at the door. He opens the door and there is a man standing there who says that he suspects the owner of operating a TV without a licence. The owner tells the licence guy to wait and closes the door in his face. He walks to the window of the flat and opens it, then he walks over to the TV, unplugs it, picks it up, and lobs it out of the window. He walks back to the door, opens it, and says "Sorry, what were you saying ...?"

 

[Custom24]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Eck_phreaking

I used to think this was the basis of their detection, but I'm not sure - it seems unlikely.

I also tried to live a TV free life for a while, but my girlfriend at the time caved into their letters.

 

[ColinJ]

I also tried to live a TV free life for a while, but my girlfriend at the time caved into their letters.

Sounds more like a TV for free life!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Wasn't there someone on here who had someone turn up at their door one day and try to forcibly enter their house so that they could 'make sure that there was no telly' and they got as far as..... well, the front door?

 

[ASC1951]

After reading in the local press of the imminent arrival of the detector van the gullible felt persuaded to go out and buy a tv licence..

The previously criminal, you mean?

 

[musa]

How do they know if you live in a set of new builds therefore using a comnunal aerial.

I know if you buy a tv today then shop has to tell the tv licensing they sold you a tv