I Saw a Real Surveillance Van! (got a pic too)

It looks to me like there are two antennas here..the picture is somewhat blurry.

The folded down square type parabolic dish in white and then one underneath it more rounded disk or dish like a radar dish on a boat.

Anyone else notice it??

Also antennas can be tuned for different purposes. I have antennas which can be tuned to totally different frequencys by a tuning gadget than that for which the antenna is naturally tuned without this gadget. In this manner it becomes a multipurpose antenna. Parabolic means it is highly directional. You can screen out somewhat unwanted signals...and tune in what you want. THE rest is done with filtering circuitry. This is Ideal for monitoring and transmitting if you have trained skilled operators. More than news networks can use this equipment but yes...mostly we see the media use this gear..no doubt.

Thanks,
Orangetom

There is no secret stuff here. This is just an ENG microwave vehicle commonly used for news gathering. It is not a satellite vehicle as suggested. This is a line of sight technology used to beam video and audio from a remote site back to a central receive site typically found on a tower or high rooftop. There are several thousand of these trucks in the USA, Canada and the UK, they are very common. In some cities, like New York, they have few markings in order to avoid damage and assault from the public. News is best gathered discretely if possible else the media taints the message by their presence - IE: Marshall McLuhan - "the media is the message".

So, there is little to get excited about here.

It is possible to be used by police and many forces own these ENG trucks too. But, that is again common and is not at all covert. If it was meant to be covert, then you would not know about it, trust me on that point.

So I just spotted this pic on this site and can't believe the number of responses it caught! I used to ride in this truck and actually I did a lot of the wiring of these antennas.

So what is it????

It's and ENG (Electronic News Gathering) truck for Multi Media Network News, hence the "MM"...

The "police plates" are NYP (NEW YORK PRESS) plates, issued to all news personnel by DMV and has a corresponding NYPD Press Placard in the dash, also standard issue to press vehicles...

ANTENNAS - There are two - one is a standard Mobile TV reception antenna so that live TV can be viewed on the tuner inside. The second is a 2GHz Microwave Parabolic Antenna shown in the STOW position (facing down). When in use the antenna is raised on a 40 foot pneumatic mast and can be pan/tilt controlled from inside the truck.

Here in NY we aim the antennas to hit the Empire State Bldg with the microwave transmission. At the Empire State Bldg there are receivers which pick up our video/audio and re-transmit it to the TV station assignment editor. Simple operation, alighn and maximize signal, we press 'Play' in the street (or send live from camera through radio), they press 'Record' in the studio... PRESTO! It's magic!

The way to spot a surveillance van in NYC is its usually a construction type van with few or no windows and most have a video periscope which is part of a roof vent in the rear. Plates are normal. Occasionally there is a PVC pipe attached along the roof.

Originally posted by whatukno

Originally posted by Shadowflux
Edit: Anyone have any idea what kind of stuff they can pick up or transmit with equipment like that? Maybe cell phone calls, wifi internet activity, something like that?

The telescopic satellite antenna on top is used for sending and receiving data from a source. A normal news van uses this exact gear to transmit footage from the field.

Do you have any idea what the person in the house got "pinched" for? m&m media is a media company in england.

Now what I am wondering is what is the licensing laws for vehicles in the UK?

Im with you wuk. Any news station will have similar vans/suv's with telescopic satelite antenna's

Here is a picture of a close up of the telescopic satelitte antenna also found in the OP's picture.




Here is a pic of a similar news van with the sattelite extended.



Lets be honest here. If it was any type of survellance truck, do you not think it would be a little more...inconspicuous?

As for it having police license plates I really dont find it that much of a stretch to say that they may have a similar truck. Hey law enforcement has to send communications back and forth too. Not just the media.

As for the OP's pic, it almost looks like the sattelite is actually attached to a car behind it. It somehow doesnt look like it goes to the SUV in the pic. Im not saying that is the case, but it does have that appearance.

Dust

[edit on 10-11-2008 by gimme_some_truth]