Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[Dr Hoo]

Maybe dates back to when not many people had phones, and were quite likely to have gone out to a phone box to make an important call? We used to do have to do that through the 1980s and '90s

…and you missed about the bits about standing in a queue in the rain for 20 minutes or walking about for ages because local phone boxes had been vandalised.

 

[317 forever]

In a professional setting I always thought it rather arrogant for people to assume that their question was more important than the task that I had on hand. About 70% of the time it wasn't and could have been delt with by email half an hour later

It is indeed business/professional interruptions I was referring to.

Agencies for example will try to interrupt me doing my job in the hope that they can sell me a new job. You couldn't make it up!

 

[MP33]

I can remember a couple of businesses that had numbers ending 999, which were changed. Also, the car registration VD for Luton was withdrawn in 1974. OO is an Essex registration and cars with number plates spelling BOO, LOO and POO disappeared.

 

[scragend]

We were in Prague and Budapest a year ago and the air raid sirens were tested in both cities whilst we were there.

They still do it in the Netherlands too, on the first Monday of every month.

 

[GordonT]

I wonder if Post-it notes, calendars with space to write dated commitments and physical diaries are heading in the direction of becoming anachronistic as folk become more prone to using online diaries and setting their phone to give alarm prompts when something needs attended to?

 

[Pit_buzzer]

Driving down the A19 in bright sunshine today and all the oncoming cars had their lights on, reminded of the time when you'd flash your lights to remind someone they had their lights on in daylight

 

[Ostrich]

Do TV detector vans still exist?
I can't recall the last time I saw one ......

 

[Buzby]

Do TV detector vans still exist?

No. Crapita use intimidation agents now.

 

[Richardr]

I wonder if Post-it notes, calendars with space to write dated commitments and physical diaries are heading in the direction of becoming anachronistic as folk become more prone to using online diaries and setting their phone to give alarm prompts when something needs attended to?

No room for a Filofax any more?

 

[styles]

No room for a Filofax any more?

"How do you spell.. 'arrods?"

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Nov 2025 ==

Do TV detector vans still exist?
I can't recall the last time I saw one ......

TVL still have a page on their website about them https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ73

How do the detector vans work?
We have a range of detection tools at our disposal in our vans.

Some aspects of the equipment have been developed in such secrecy that engineers working on specific detection methods work in isolation - so not even they know how the other detection methods work.

This gives us the best chance of catching licence evaders.

For more information see our Detection and penalties page.

Though I think most people doubt they actually had any detection equipment in them. TEMPEST attacks have been around for a long time but I'm not convinced TVL ever had the kit in the vans.

These days I think they mainly rely on field intimidation, and getting iPlayer logs from the BBC.

 

[dgl]

Back in the day they relied on TV's being poorly shielded and as such would radiate a lot of "noise", part of this would be the local oscillator in the TV, whose frequency would change dependent on what centre frequency the TV was set to receive. Use a highly directional aerial setup and you could pick up the local oscillator frequency, and by knowing what frequencies were used in the area for TV not only could you tell if someone was watching TV, you could tell which channel they were watching.

In America, at least, there was a company that used the same technology to collect data on what people were watching as market research and to help provide viewing figures.

 

[styles]

Back in the day they relied on TV's being poorly shielded and as such would radiate a lot of "noise", part of this would be the local oscillator in the TV, whose frequency would change dependent on what freq

Was there any evidence of TV detector vans actually having detection equipment though? It seems to most that it was mainly a scare tactic.

After all, when a case went to court it requires evidence and I don't believe there have been any cases brought where the evidence was the output of a TEMPEST attack.

 

[dgl]

Was there any evidence of TV detector vans actually having detection equipment though? It seems to most that it was mainly a scare tactic.

After all, when a case went to court it requires evidence and I don't believe there have been any cases brought where the evidence was the output of a TEMPEST attack.

Going by reports on other forums (with a more vintage radio bent), yes some did have the equipment inside.

 

[styles]

Going by reports on other forums (with a more vintage radio bent), yes some did have the equipment inside.

Do you have a link to something?

I looked into this a while back and couldn't really find any evidence.

 

[cool110]

Was there any evidence of TV detector vans actually having detection equipment though? It seems to most that it was mainly a scare tactic.

After all, when a case went to court it requires evidence and I don't believe there have been any cases brought where the evidence was the output of a TEMPEST attack.

Supposedly they never used them as evidence in court, since then they would have to explain if/how they worked.

 

[PG]

Supposedly they never used them as evidence in court, since then they would have to explain if/how they worked.

Did they have powers of entry back in the day, otherwise what evidence could they provide to a court?
IIRC when buying a new TV you had to provide you name and address to the shop, who presumably passed it on to TV licencing who would check that you had a licence.

 

[styles]

Supposedly they never used them as evidence in court, since then they would have to explain if/how they worked.

Sounds like absolute nonsense to me haha

 

[dgl]

Do you have a link to something?

I looked into this a while back and couldn't really find any evidence.

You'll need to fish through it but here is a forum thread from vintage-radio.net about TV detector vans,

Bot Verification

 

[styles]

You'll need to fish through it but here is a forum thread from vintage-radio.net about TV detector vans,

Bot Verification

Yeah, as noted in that thread, no evidence of their working has ever been provided.

 

[dgl]

Yeah, as noted in that thread, no evidence of their working has ever been provided.

Also meant to link this thread as well of someone restoring one of the vans, which still had all the electronics inside.

Bot Verification

 

[The exile]

Whilst I personally hate making and receiving phonecalls that seems like a dangerous road to go down. Sometimes hearing someone's voice is what you need in that moment in time.

Or indeed much more practically, you need some kind of answer now.

 

[Buzby]

Most of the the TVL vans were Leyland Sherpas, with heavily tinted windows. It was actually used as a crew bus to get staff to the target areas and drive around as a scare tactic. Crapita use the latest versions of the PAF (Postcode Address File) from RM to identify new or removed housing.

 

[styles]

Also meant to link this thread as well of someone restoring one of the vans, which still had all the electronics inside.

Bot Verification

Yet again, no actual evidence is presented.

One person (who made a total of 3 forum posts) says they got the one working Commer/Dodge TVL detector van. They say the BBC came and took photos of it for the archives. Yet no photos are ever presented. They also don't detail any of the electronics. Anyone can stick a yagi antenna on the roof of a van.

Also don't you think that if TVL are so secretive about this alleged technology, they would remove it before selling the van?

Sounds to me like nonsense still.

 

[The exile]

Yes, my response was often “I answered the phone, didn’t I?”, because if it wasn’t OK to talk I wouldn’t have answered. The caller thought he was being polite but I found it annoying.
But my late father would break off in the middle of a conversation and rush to the house phone if it rang.

I’ve always understood “is it ok to talk” being rather more of a restricted question - as in “is there anyone.with you who shouldn’t hear your side of the conversation you know we’re going to have?”

 

[GordonT]

Or indeed much more practically, you need some kind of answer now.

Or in my case Mrs T often feels she needs that, having waited a minute or two in vain for an answer from me to her text message whose arrival I either didn't hear or to which I was not quick enough in her judgement to respond (sigh).

 

[Buzby]

Also don't you think that if TVL are so secretive about this alleged technology, they would remove it before selling the van?

I don’t believe it was theirs anyway. I was at BT’s Martlesham Heath research facility near Ipswich (later rebranded Adastral Park (?) and saw a Commer van being fitted out, complete with a rotatable yagi on the roof. I was told it was designed for DF use (direction finding) and could pin down not only unlicensed TV’s but CB radios (where they didn’t use the ‘approved’ UK frequencies. Of course, it would have received all transmissions, not just the illegal ones. I believe still it was simply PR puffery / licence marketing.

 

[MP33]

The actual vans used by Ofcom. For direction finding and also monitoring. One function, is to check if commercial frequencies are still in use. This is to prevent the purchase of spectrum, and hoarding. It are considerably more sophisticated than the TV Detector vans.

 

[styles]

The actual vans used by Ofcom. For direction finding and also monitoring. One function, is to check if commercial frequencies are still in use. This is to prevent the purchase of spectrum, and hoarding. It are considerably more sophisticated than the TV Detector vans.

Going to continue to be provocative - is there any evidence of these?

 

[MP33]

Yes, they are used to detecting Pirate radio and to trace sources of interference.

 

[styles]

Yes, they are used to detecting Pirate radio and to trace sources of interference.

I'm beginning to feel a bit Paxman.

Have you got any evidence you can show us that TV detector vans existed with TV detecting equipment in them?

Yes it's fun to just say oh they do exist and they totally used them to shut down licence fee evaders, but nobody seems to have any documented proof of this. If RailUKForums breaks the story it'll me an immense moment for us and we'll be able to get the national press involved.