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White Detector Van
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Coming home from Croydon I passed the scene of last night's murder, still cordoned off with loads of police about. Maybe not connected, but a few yards away was a large unmarked white van with a large dish aerial on the roof which appeared to be scanning a block of flats. The side door was open and inside were 4 people, not in uniform, and loads and loads of electronic equipment. Being curious I asked if they were TV detectors, and got the reply, No, don't worry mate. I didn't have the cheek to ask any more.
Does anybody know what this van was?
Does anybody know what this van was?
Answers
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Leave off our beloved Whiffy!
Assuming that you'd like a serious answer, Whiffy, here it is:
The van probably belonged to a communications company which was contracted by one of the main broadcasters. (such as the BBC, ITV or Sky). Those vans use satellite uplinks. Just like the satellite dish on the side of your house, the uplink dish has to be carefully aligned. The van's onboard computer knows where it is because of the same type of satnav that you've got in the car. So it knows the possible directions it can use to line up the dish. However, it doesn't know about obstructions (such as blocks of flats) which might block a signal path . So when the operator presses the 'search' button, the dish will automatically try each of the possible alignments to see which offers the best path for the uplink signal. Sometimes this only takes a moment or two but, if there are lots of obstructions in the area, the computer will repeatedly try different positions for the dish.
Chris
Assuming that you'd like a serious answer, Whiffy, here it is:
The van probably belonged to a communications company which was contracted by one of the main broadcasters. (such as the BBC, ITV or Sky). Those vans use satellite uplinks. Just like the satellite dish on the side of your house, the uplink dish has to be carefully aligned. The van's onboard computer knows where it is because of the same type of satnav that you've got in the car. So it knows the possible directions it can use to line up the dish. However, it doesn't know about obstructions (such as blocks of flats) which might block a signal path . So when the operator presses the 'search' button, the dish will automatically try each of the possible alignments to see which offers the best path for the uplink signal. Sometimes this only takes a moment or two but, if there are lots of obstructions in the area, the computer will repeatedly try different positions for the dish.
Chris
-- answer removed --
-- answer removed --
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