User talk:Jamieja11979

November 2019
Hello, I'm Andy Dingley. I noticed that you added or changed content in an article, TV detector van, but you didn't provide a reliable source. It's been removed and archived in the page history for now, but if you'd like to include a citation and re-add it, please do so. You can have a look at the tutorial on citing sources, or if you think I made a mistake, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. Andy Dingley (talk) 18:06, 2 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I know this isn't WP:RS sourcing, but I worked for BT in the '80s. As an apprentice, I spent a week or two with the RFI people, those who drove the TV detectors. Yes, they're real. Although we did also do a lot of driving around in obviously marked vans, just as a discouragement. They've been through several generations. At one time, when TVs were rare, they were effective. Once TVs became ubiquitous, it was easier to search the licensing database and look for the few addresses where there wasn't a licence registered. Also the equipment was down to being handheld by then. As always, most detection was done by looking through the windows when the news was on. Around that time (2000) I worked next door to the licensing database people and we drank in the same pub, comparing software database developer stories.
 * But none of this is any sort of indication (because it would be untrue) that TV detector vans weren't real, or in widespread use in the '70s.
 * You might also dig through Facebook where one of the old ex-BT history groups has just been discussing a lot about this, including technical details of three generations of vans and completely different aerials. Yes, the first ones did detect the line-scan signal (news to me, as I only knew the later approach of detecting the local oscillator or IF signal). Andy Dingley (talk) 18:14, 2 November 2019 (UTC)