TV detector vans..myth?

Capt'n Midnight

robbie7730 wrote: »

And tell its from my house and not next door of course, or the endless other electronic items that use oscillator circuits.

PAL colour burst is 4.43361875 MHz

So not likely to be confused with anything else, especially when they use a TV crystal as a filter.

Kidchameleon

anewme wrote: »

No, they have no legal rights to enter your home. In fact, you don't even have to tell them your name. Once they have a name though, they can send a summons, whereas they can't send a summons to "the occupier".

On my sisters road when it was a new estate, they reported a weirdo interfering with wheelie bins at the front and side of the houses. Turned out to be the TV inspector getting names from the bins so he could send the letters.

I make sure my name is not on my bin!

So lets say they called to the door, asked to see tv licence, you say you have no tv. They cant come in, and you could then get rid of the tv before they return...

JJayoo

LOL

Capt'n Midnight

Detector Van ? Van Eck !

So in theory if the target isn't using a Faraday cage then you could build a universal VDU detector for panels, projectors etc.

Yes a detector van was technically easier in the old days of CRT's when there were higher voltages and less shielding and less EM clutter. Against that modern electronics has progressed a lot and at the end of the day it boils down to simple economics, at what point would a detector van pay it's way in increased revenue ?

Say if you have a TV that you're using just to play a console with and you only use the internet, do you still have to buy a TV license?

Capt'n Midnight

robbie7730 wrote: »

I mentioned projectors as an example, to show its only a tax called a tv licence because a tv can be associated with watching our national channel, even if you never in your life watch it, and just about everyone has a tv.

It has nothing to do with watching RTE
if TV3 made more irish programming they would get more of the license
if RTE made a profit then the govt. would probably still collect thelicense anyway

It's possession of a device that can receive broadcast TV signals
including VCR's satellite dishes etc.


not sure if they got an exemption for mobile phones or not ?

mentalhead

It deff is a tax and always has been. In the UK the liscence is paid and they don't have adverts.....................here we have to pay for channels we don't watch interrupted with adverts that are obviously funding their pockets some more!!!!

Capt'n Midnight

mfceiling wrote: »

Feck the tv in the skip.

If it's electronic you need to recycle it properly or get done for it.

Bruthal

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

It has nothing to do with watching RTE
if TV3 made more irish programming they would get more of the license
if RTE made a profit then the govt. would probably still collect thelicense anyway

It's possession of a device that can receive broadcast TV signals
including VCR's satellite dishes etc.


not sure if they got an exemption for mobile phones or not ?

Your perfectly right, it has nothing to do with watching RTE, but it also has little to do with a licence to possess a tv, its just a tax named a tv licence purely to ensure every premises pays to part fund RTE and their massively overpaid presenters. What would an electronic receiving device possibly need a licence for? Nothing more than as a fund raiser. You can say all you like about it being a licence for a device that can receive a TV signal. Its absolutely nothing more than a tax. How would a licence simply to possess such a device possibly cost €160 euro?

I think mobile phones are excluded, it has to be a certain screen size i thought i seen before.

anewme

Sink The Banana wrote: »

A friend of mine in dublin got nabbed and ended up in court with a 1500 euro fine for not having a TV licence.How they caught him was that he decided to get sky and apparently they matched his sky account and address to the register of tv licence addresses and saw he hadn't paid.He denied everything and ignored all the letters until it was shown to him in court.

That is not true. They got his details another way. It is against the data protection act for Sky or any cable company to give customer details to anyone else.


TV Licence man called to a friend of mines house. Friend said, sorry can't help you, I am just minding the house. TV Licence man said, what is the name of the owner or occupier then. Friend said, no sorry you will have to come back when they are here, I dont want to get involved. End of.

Bruthal

Deleted User wrote: »

Say if you have a TV that you're using just to play a console with and you only use the internet, do you still have to buy a TV license?

Yes you do as it has a tuner, so your caught in the net. Get a panel without a tuner. Most tv users probably dont use the tuner part of the tv, but even getting just a display monitor then you have to have a licence for the sky box etc, even though you now dont have a tv. So it just shows again its purely a tax named a tv licence, nothing more.

iPlop

anewme wrote: »

That is not true. They got his details another way. It is against the data protection act for Sky or any cable company to give customer details to anyone else.


TV Licence man called to a friend of mines house. Friend said, sorry can't help you, I am just minding the house. TV Licence man said, what is the name of the owner or occupier then. Friend said, no sorry you will have to come back when they are here, I dont want to get involved. End of.

Yeah I thought that myself ,he must have got it mixed up or something but he still went to court and paid a big fine

Mike 1972

There are no detector vans used in the Republic of Ireland. The UK authorities do claim to use them and while such claims are widely disputed the technology is certainly feasible (although evidence from a detector van alone would not be sufficent to secure a conviction)

Deleted User wrote: »

Say if you have a TV that you're using just to play a console with and you only use the internet, do you still have to buy a TV license?

Ireland Yes
UK No (unless "internet" includes live streams from TV stations)

LordChessington wrote: »

Exactly. Even if your TV is broken, it is considered repairable.

:rolleyes: Who the fuk gets their TV repaired these days (unless its a warranty job or a top of the range model)

Do recycling centres and landfill sites need a TV licence ? Lots of "repairable" TV's there

Sink The Banana wrote: »

A friend of mine in dublin got nabbed and ended up in court with a 1500 euro fine for not having a TV licence.

Extremely unlikely anyone would get fined this much for a first offence unless there were aggravating circumstances or a criminal record

ART6

Yawns wrote: »

Lived in a house and neighbour reported that some1 walked into back garden via open side gate (no lock ) and peered thru window. Turns out to be tv inspector. We got a letter few days later stating that a tv was viewed on premises. GF just went and got a licence. I was fuming tho.

Moved to an apartment and first thing was cancel that damn thing. Like to see him scaling a building to have a look thru my windows now.

I think that if I found some stranger wandering around my house and peering in the windows, I would assume he was a burglar and I would deal with the situation appropriately

Of course the TV licence is just another tax, from a political system that hasn't the moral courage to ever let people really know just how much they pay for public services.

dxhound2005

Detector vans are long gone. They were only useful when a few people in a street had a TV. Nobody likes paying for things but it's illegal to have a TV with no licence and the AH Charter says we should not advocate criminality.

No advocating criminality or violence

---

Any threads or posts advocating illegal activities or asking for help in such activities will be deleted. Please do not attempt to advocate or incite criminality or violence as this is a bannable offence.

iPlop

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Extremely unlikely anyone would get fined this much for a first offence unless there were aggravating circumstances or a criminal record

He did ,he couldn't afford the licence and never renewed it ,he ignored all the letters ,I don't know much more about what actually took place other than he did get fined 1500 euro and was in court ,that is a fact.

Bruthal

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Detector vans are long gone. They were only useful when a few people in a street had a TV. Nobody likes paying for things but it's illegal to have a TV with no licence and the AH Charter says we should not advocate criminality.

Yes but i would need a tv licence even if i get rid of the tv and use a monitor instead, as i dont use the tuner part of the tv, a monitor panel would do fine, so therefor its not truely a licence to own a tv is it? Maybe the description calling it a tv licence is misleading so?

No advocating criminality or violence

---

Any threads or posts advocating illegal activities or asking for help in such activities will be deleted. Please do not attempt to advocate or incite criminality or violence as this is a bannable offence.

Thanks for that, mod application form on its way:D

mikom

dxhound2005 wrote: »

No advocating criminality or violence

---

Any threads or posts advocating illegal activities or asking for help in such activities will be deleted. Please do not attempt to advocate or incite criminality or violence as this is a bannable offence.

Please produce your Mod licence.
And don't try to pull a fast one..... I've heard all the excuses and none of them work.

grrrrrrrrrr

I could save everyone a euro if I was in charge. First off id shoot Joe duffy and get soneone in that was arrogant and better for a fraction of the price. Sean o Rourke, as good and all as he may be, is not worth 300 - 400 thousand a year. Hes a glorified news reader. And so on and so fort will all the high profile broadcasters. Theres always someone equally as good out there.

Rte should be told that if they cant break even from license fee money AND advertising they wont get the license fee.

If you look on the rte site they say how much each channel gets

blorg

You need a license for anything capable of receiving broadcast TV. You do NOT need a license for a monitor or projector without a tuner. If it is connected to a satellite box, you do need license.

While you DO need a license for a computer with a TV tuner card, you do NOT need a license for a computer capable of receiving TV over the internet. The definition of a television was actually changed in the 2009 Broadcasting Act to include a computer receiving TV over the internet but was specifically excluded from being liable to the license fee:

SI No 319 of 2009 wrote:

3. The following classes of television set are declared to be classes of
television set to which section 142 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 (No. 18 of 2009)
does not apply, namely—
(a) a non-portable television set capable of exhibiting television
broadcasting services distributed by means of the publicly available
Internet, and
(b) a portable television set.

So there you go, a computer connected to the internet IS considered a "television" but is not subject to paying the license fee. Note the exemption is in the form of a Statutory Instrument so the situation on taxing internet connected PCs could be changed by a future minister without having to get anything through the Dail.

Captain_Generic

Originally Posted by SI No 319 of 2009
3. The following classes of television set are declared to be classes of
television set to which section 142 of the Broadcasting Act 2009 (No. 18 of 2009)
does not apply, namely—
(a) a non-portable television set capable of exhibiting television
broadcasting services distributed by means of the publicly available
Internet, and
(b) a portable television set.

So if I stick my 40" in a wheel-barrow all is well?

Or my 6" in the inspector?

AntiRip

Have heard mentioned on another thread that one of Fine Gael's proposals is to put the TV licence onto revenue (paid out of people's pay) or put onto the electricity bill :eek:

oh and the greens want to tax how much people download also

tadcan

Is it true that a video/DVD player can have a tv tuner card and is considered a receiving apparatus. True?

If you have a UPC cable that is turned off, then you are considered to be able to receive a tv signal. True?

If so how far would you have to remove the cable. From the front door, from where the cable enters the land your house sits on.

tricky D

anewme wrote: »

That is not true. They got his details another way. It is against the data protection act for Sky or any cable company to give customer details to anyone else.

Correct.

It's very simple how they get people without licences. The local postman has a list of addresses with licences. If your address is not on that list, they assume you have a TV without a licence and they just get your name from mail. No detector vans, no data sharing.

Anyhoo, could you live with the shame?

Bruthal

tricky D wrote: »

Anyhoo, could you live with the shame?

Imagine the shame of not having a tv licence:eek:

Jesus Wept

JJayoo wrote: »

LOL

lol!

Good song.

Oranage2

I don't have a Tv license and the way to beat the TV inspector is just don't answer the front door.............................EVER!!!

Violafy

Oranage2 wrote: »

I don't have a Tv license and the way to beat the TV inspector is just don't answer the front door.............................EVER!!!

Or open it and tell him to f*ck off. Make sure your TV isn't visible though!

Jesus Wept

Oranage2 wrote: »

I don't have a Tv license and the way to beat the TV inspector is just don't answer the front door.............................EVER!!!

They still get your name and send you letters regardless.

AFC_1903

AntiRip wrote: »

Have heard mentioned on another thread that one of Fine Gael's proposals is to put the TV licence onto revenue (paid out of people's pay) or put onto the electricity bill :eek:

Many countries already have it included in the electricity bill, Pakistan, Portugal, Greece and many others. The difference is what they pay. In Pakistan it's about 30 cent, in Portugal €20-25 ish. TBH it makes sense as it cuts out the whole issue of licence evasion.

Then again it would make sense for our national broadcaster whom we pay for to turn round and tell their presenters to feck off with their wage demands.

You want millions to read the news/chat to celeb's for a few hours a week? Here's two options for you: Pick one.
A) A P45. Feck off, we'll get someone else to do it for a reasonable sum.
Drop your stupidly high wage demands.

Fallschirmjager

hiding taxes is not a solution. your electricity bill is for electricity. you should pay for what you get, nothing more or nothing less.

this is what govt intervention does. it tries to level the playing field and screws it up-- always. it is not the job of the govt to pick tv winners and loosers. what business does the govt have running a freaking tv station.

rte should be sold off or at this stage even given away to get it off our backs, the tv licence eradicated. RTE survive or they dont.

what they then pay for presenters is their own business, literally. this is what taxes do, you are paying for the presenters and therefore have an interest in what they take from you. it should be none of your business what dunphy or any other presenter gets, and the easiest way for you to mind your own business is to stop having to pay for it.

it would give hard fought money back to the people who earn it...namely, you.

ejmaztec

Is it a myth that a TV licence inspector has to be fluent in 48 different languages, including Klingon?

Bruthal

AFC_1903 wrote: »

You want millions to read the news/chat to celeb's for a few hours a week? Here's two options for you: Pick one.
A) A P45. Feck off, we'll get someone else to do it for a reasonable sum.
Drop your stupidly high wage demands.

Madness it is. You see presenters talking to studio audience members about how they are destroyed financially, cant afford bills, and them same people have to fund that same presenter asking them about their terrible circumstances. And if they cant pay, its court and fine.

gurramok

The-Rigger wrote: »

They still get your name and send you letters regardless.

Only if you are on the electoral register or a homeowner(not renter) who receives post.(An Post runs this bit )

cock robin

orourkeda wrote: »

They've heard all the excuses and none of them work

None of them work. Just like RTE.

Jesus Wept

gurramok wrote: »

Only if you are on the electoral register or a homeowner(not renter) who receives post.(An Post runs this bit )

Not true. I am not a homeowner.
I do get voting cards to a very old address despite never having signed up to the voting register.

Got a warning letter to my current address.

northern lights

We'd only moved into our new house 1wk and hadn't even unpacked when I got a knock on the door. Opened it to a gentleman standing there with a clipboard who informed me that he'd been 'watching our build go up, what a fab house it had turned out etc, you must be delighted to have moved in' then produced his identity card and in the next breath said 'can i see your current t.v licence please'!!
I actually burst out laughing at him as was so stressed with the move. 5mins later I'm still laughing, albeit hysterically at this point, and he shoves leaflet in my hand telling me how to apply for one before legging it down the drive.
For fecks sake, talk about big brother is watching you :eek:

'

Capt'n Midnight

ejmaztec wrote: »

Is it a myth that a TV licence inspector has to be fluent in 48 different languages, including Klingon?

57 if you include dialects.

And they have to know Irish too.

msg11

If RTÉ brought in a PC license, I would be ringing up UPC ASAP to get a IP Access listblock. Also get UPC to send me out a letter to confirm I cannot access the RTÉ website.

RTÉ should be sold off as a going concern, if SKY took over for example. You can sure as hell bet that , 5 and 6 figure salary's won't be happening with the poor ratings (for a very well funded national station).

Getting the impression at this stage, all the government party's think every person in the country is on a 5-6 figure sum and that we are all extremely rich. These tax's are not going to cause any harm to any family.

Well start here at RTÉ, Sell it off . Ditch the license fee, nearly every family is up 160€ it's a useless tax. If the Govement wanted to do anything sell of the broadcasting side TV/RADIO and keep the Network side of things. That would bring in money from renting of space on masts etc.. Pay the people who operate it (staff at the moment) and turn in a profit for the state.

Bruthal

msg11 wrote: »

Well start here at RTÉ, Sell it off . Ditch the license fee, nearly every family is up 160€ it's a useless tax. If the Govement wanted to do anything sell of the broadcasting side TV/RADIO and keep the Network side of things. That would bring in money from renting of space on masts etc.. Pay the people who operate it (staff at the moment) and turn in a profit for the state.

Yes it always amazes me to hear some saying its not a tax its a licence to possess a television receiver. The ideal people for our successive governments, people that are easily led and believe everything they tell us.

admiralofthefleet

my missus left me, she took everything. my money, my dignaty, my tv licence

Bruthal

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

my missus left me, she took everything. my money, my dignaty, my tv licence

We`ve heard all the excuses, and that one will work as long as she took the tv too:)

Kungfu

iPlop wrote: »

A friend of mine in dublin got nabbed and ended up in court with a 1500 euro fine for not having a TV licence.How they caught him was that he decided to get sky and apparently they matched his sky account and address to the register of tv licence addresses and saw he hadn't paid.He denied everything and ignored all the letters until it was shown to him in court.

Sky passed on your friend's details to a third party? That was in breach of his confidentiality. I hope he has taken legal action. Regardless of why An Post (or anyone else) wanted such info, Sky breached your friend's customer confidentiality in passing any of his account details onto them. He should look into taking legal action against Sky and I hope he told them where to stick their Sky box after that.

Kungfu

Kungfu wrote: »

Sky passed on your friend's details to a third party? That was in breach of his confidentiality. I hope he has taken legal action. Regardless of why An Post (or anyone else) wanted such info, Sky breached your friend's customer confidentiality in passing any of his account details onto them. He should look into taking legal action against Sky and I hope he told them where to stick their Sky box after that.

My understanding is that TV equipment providers are required by law to keep a list of all customers available for inspection by the authorities to investigate license evasion.

tricky D

Kungfu wrote: »

Sky passed on your friend's details to a third party? That was in breach of his confidentiality. I hope he has taken legal action. Regardless of why An Post (or anyone else) wanted such info, Sky breached your friend's customer confidentiality in passing any of his account details onto them. He should look into taking legal action against Sky and I hope he told them where to stick their Sky box after that.

SKY did no such thing. It's not legal under DPA law.

Deleted User wrote: »

My understanding is that TV equipment providers are required by law to keep a list of all customers available for inspection by the authorities to investigate license evasion.

Again, not true.

Repeating a previous post:

It's very simple how they get people without licences. The local postman has a list of addresses with licences. If your address is not on that list, they assume you have a TV without a licence and they just get your name from mail. No detector vans, no data sharing.

Jesus Wept

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

my missus left me, she took everything. my money, my dignaty, my tv licence

Did she leave the telly?

tdv123

If you murder the TV inspector & hide his corpse really well you wont have to pay it.

Capt'n Midnight

Deleted User wrote: »

My understanding is that TV equipment providers are required by law to keep a list of all customers available for inspection by the authorities to investigate license evasion.

This was actually true, back in the days of RTV rentals

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

This was actually true, back in the days of RTV rentals

Does that still hold today?

Bruthal

tdv123 wrote: »

If you murder the TV inspector & hide his corpse really well you wont have to pay it.

The next inspector will just say he has heard all the excuses.......