TV Licence

You might want to actually charge the phone while still streaming. Heaven forfend.

Reply to
Graham.
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You are truncating the sentence too early The opposite of "installed or used for the purpose of..." is "installed or used NOT for the purpose of...".

The fact that the definition continues "whether or not it is installed or used for any other purpose." shows that my interpretation is correct, otherwise the second "installed" would be redundant. Clearly the purpose for which it is installed is critical to the definition.

Reply to
OG

The principle proves the rule. In the end any legislative body will take a view, and try not to set an unfortunate precedent that allows evildoers off the hook.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Meaningless wriggling.

Reply to
Bob Eager

Golly. I suppose the last 800 years of legal precedents are just 'meaningless wriggling'

You should try reading up a few high court judgements some day.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

It has often been rumoured that *some* 'TV detector vans' are indeed empty. I have no evidence either way, but it might be considered a sensible money-saving strategy (much as many speed-camera boxes have no actual camera in them).

However the fact that some of them are fully functional is beyond any dispute. I used to work where the current generation of TV detector vans were designed, prototyped and tested. I know personally the engineer who invented and developed their means of operation. I know how they work, although obviously I can't say (beyond confirming that they no longer detect the Local Oscillator radiation from the TV tuner, as the older generation did).

Richard.

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Reply to
Richard Russell

Caught in possession of a working local oscillator is not and never has appeared in any UK legislation.

I could have a tv the size of a small car on my living room wall, connected via RF on any UHF channel between 21 and 69, and fed from my pattern generator such that it displayed a very close approximation of the BBC test card. Just such an 'installation' wouldn't need any licence whatsoever. I could at the same time leave all presets on the TV set to specific channels on the local transmitter I can see out of my window. The aerial plug could remain dangling from the wall just a few feet away or, come analogue switch off when our local self provided relay 'dies', I could even plug the aerial in. At no stage is there *any* requirement for a licence.

Need I go on?

Reply to
Mike

Signed up to the official secrets act or something?

I can absolutely guarantee that the tv tuner a relative designed and built 15 years ago as part of a research project cannot be detected by

*anything* other than a Mark 1 eyeball and ear.

He has the test results to prove it.

Reply to
Mike

ISTR that the thing they picked up was the IF frequencies, well enough to actually watch the same picture that was on the perps telly.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Indeed, but what commercial telly is built to that spec?

It USED to be just about possible to pick up what a monitor was showing, by 'listening' to the high voltage radiation off cathode and scan coils..

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

That tells me quite enough to confirm that it can be detected by the current generation of TV detector vans. ;-)

Richard.

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Reply to
Richard Russell

Look for a light source that has step changes in brightness corresponding to the frame rate of the TV....

Reply to
John Rumm

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Richard Russell saying something like:

A shill from the TVLA, are you?

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

Wrong I'm afraid ;-)

What I suspect is that we live in the only country in the world where some internet video streams require a government permit and others don't.

How are you supposed to tell the difference? Before anyone says that it's easy remember it's not just our domestic UK television streams that are restricted in this way

Reply to
Graham.

It's not obvious to me why you can't say. It's not like the single mums on the council estate are going to rewire their tellies to counteract it.

How do they work?

Pete

Reply to
Pete Verdon

It was one of the most secretive projects I've encountered in my time at the BBC, and even internally little was said about the technical detail (although the prototype van, and the modifications it underwent, could hardly be missed!). I'm afraid it will have to remain a subject for intelligent guesswork.

Richard.

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Reply to
Richard Russell

in a court of law?

Adam

Reply to
ARWadsworth

I'm only an engineer; I know nothing at all about the legal implications. The detector van simply confirms that a TV receiver is being used at a particular address, precisely to what use that information is put I cannot speculate. Obviously it must be considered of considerable value to justify the substantial modifications to the vans and the installation of some quite expensive equipment.

Richard.

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Reply to
Richard Russell

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Reply to
Piers Finlayson

Not if it is in soundproof house with lightproof curtains and surrounded by large gardens with a very high fence and gate with microwave security ... and a screen that is behind a secret shutter in a basement that TV licencing and the local council planning don't know about. :)

P.S. The aerial is also 'stealthy'

Reply to
Mike

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