[Andy B]

It IS possible to detect wheter someone has a TV or not but only if it is switched on. A TV gives out a very specific sort of radiation. If you get the right equipment which is easily available from Maplins you can actually watch what someone is watching through a brick wall. It has to be facing the tv though and the picture quality isn't as good and it only works with CRT TVs.

These days however they don't bother with detector vans. They just assume every address has a tv and therefore it's up to you to prove you don't have one. Oh and many people have their ariel in the loft so it's not visible so that option is out as well.

I love spending a day at the beeb!

[Andy B]

You can buy portable aririels though. If it has a socket for one and most TV's still do then it's not proof. It's not that you don't watch live tv. It's that you can't watch live tv. It would have to have it removed and even then a VCR can receive as well so that's no good either really.

[S4B]

Probably too difficult to control.

How was the BBC funded before the TV appeared?

There was a Radio licence - god only knows how they enforced it though!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/keyfacts/stories/licencefee.shtml

[Sunny So Cal]

You can buy portable aririels though.

But why would someone want a portable aririel? What is a portable aririel? What does it do? Andy, I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and assume you're using your iPhone again?

[TIAL]

But why would someone want a portable aririel? What is a portable aririel? What does it do?

Some of the bedrooms in my house don't have aerial plugs*, and those that want to have a TV in their room have to get a portable aerial. It sits on top of the TV and gets a signal without having to do extravagant wiring from the roof to the room. Granted, they're not quite as good as the main aerial but it's better than nothing. The same applies for those in student halls of residence - when I was there none of the flats had access to any aerials so we had to get our own.

*Thankfully I do - that's one of the few advantages of living on the ground floor next to the toilets.

[Sunny So Cal]

No, no, TIAL. *sigh* Look at Andy's spelling.

[TIAL]

Oh bollocks.

I'll blame it on my flatmate giving me all his jelly vodkas. I forgot you lot were a bunch of pedants!

[Sunny So Cal]

Hang on! Now I'm lumped in with Topher and S4!

[foot-loose]

...which is really not a pretty picture.

[Andy B]

Depends what you're into! I just can't spell aeirierel. I use Persil you see.

[Munki Bhoy]

The TV detector van myth is quite good. What they actually do is assume everyone has a telly, then turn up a the door of people that don't have a licence at that address. A mate of mine has been visited by them on several occasions. Each time he invites them in and asks them to find a telly. He doesn't own one, so they leave happy.

Though they do find it odd that he doesn't have a telly. Then again, he has a ridiculously low energy bill, so maybe we're the fools...

[dimtimjim]

Oh you just make yourself a video of a chicken cooking in a microwave, then play it on a loop when the licence people turn up.... Claim dinner will be ready soon!!

[Nicola_Red]

A mate of mine has been visited by them on several occasions. Each time he invites them in and asks them to find a telly. He doesn't own one, so they leave happy.

Though they do find it odd that he doesn't have a telly. Then again, he has a ridiculously low energy bill, so maybe we're the fools...

Someone I know wrote to the licensing authorities as requested by them to explain he didn't own a TV, but carried on receiving warning letters and threats about his lack of license thru the post, including one memorable mailing which included a court plan layout illustrating where he would be sat during his trial for not having a license. Further evidence that they just won't accept that some people can live without TV.

[Yudster]

I know LOADS of people who don't have a telly. At least five families I can think of. I'm not aware that any of them have this trouble!

[S4B]

Hang on! Now I'm lumped in with Topher and S4!

And this is a problem because..............................?

[Sunny So Cal]

No reason. None at all.