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Ralph Parker

C6AKQ

>I'll be headed for Freeport, Grand Bahama again this Thursday, Jan 28...

If you're taking a commercial flight with your K3 as carry-on baggage,
let us know how you make out with TSA security.
Many of us are anxious to know if things have changed since Xmas.

VE7XF

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Ken Kopp-3

OT: Radios and the TSA

One of Rose's customers who's just returned from an overseas
trip commented that the TSA folks showed little interest in his
K3, and that this may have been due to it being hand-carried
in an obviously made-for-the radio brand-labeled carry case.

73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
[hidden email]

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Brett Howard

Re: OT: Radios and the TSA

I just got back from a "send an engineer to appease a loud customer by
sending an engineer" trip... Now if you ever want a guy why looked like
he was doing something weird it was me!!!

I took two bags. A barely qualifies for carry on sized suit case with a
single change of clothing and an Agilent MSO6104 oscilloscope in it.
Then a bag full of all my spare cables and random electronics parts and
a laptop.

About the only thing that was going for me was that I had a round trip
ticket and I was only "staying" at my final destination for about 5
hours. Ended up being a 2.5 day period with no sleep so I'm sure I
looked a bit haggard going through security too but I was given little
resistance. The worst thing was that someone asked if I had a computer
in the suitcase. I said no its an oscilloscope. I could see them
say... (a what?). They then said we're going to have to open it up and
take a look. I said certainly let me help you with that. They then
backed it up and looked at it in the X-Ray again and decided they didn't
really need to look inside and they let me go on my merry way.

TSA is actually pretty darned reasonable from my experience.

~Brett (KC7OTG)

On Thu, 2010-01-28 at 04:55 +0000, Ken Kopp wrote:

> One of Rose's customers who's just returned from an overseas
> trip commented that the TSA folks showed little interest in his
> K3, and that this may have been due to it being hand-carried
> in an obviously made-for-the radio brand-labeled carry case.
>
> 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
> [hidden email]
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
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> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
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Doug Turnbull

Re: OT: Radios and the TSA

People,
Two years ago I flew from JFK to Dublin with an Icom 7400 in my checked
suitcase and there was absolutely no issue in either JFK or Dublin. I have
even flown back to Ireland from JFK with a chainsaw in my luggage and there
was no problem. In this latter case I told them at check in that there was
a chain saw which was completely dry in the suitcase. I know TSA inspected
the bag with the chainsaw as the ty-wraps I use to seal the bag were cut but
nothing was disturbed inside the bag or these people were very careful.
The bags with the undeclared (to TSA) radios were never opened. Perhaps it
is a bit more problematic with carry on luggage which seems to be what Brett
is referring to.

As to theft I have taken other radios, tools and goodies many many times on
this route and never had any difficulty; knock on wood.

73 Doug EI2CN

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Brett Howard
Sent: 28 January 2010 06:15
To: Ken Kopp
Cc: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: Radios and the TSA

I just got back from a "send an engineer to appease a loud customer by
sending an engineer" trip... Now if you ever want a guy why looked like
he was doing something weird it was me!!!

I took two bags. A barely qualifies for carry on sized suit case with a
single change of clothing and an Agilent MSO6104 oscilloscope in it.
Then a bag full of all my spare cables and random electronics parts and
a laptop.

About the only thing that was going for me was that I had a round trip
ticket and I was only "staying" at my final destination for about 5
hours. Ended up being a 2.5 day period with no sleep so I'm sure I
looked a bit haggard going through security too but I was given little
resistance. The worst thing was that someone asked if I had a computer
in the suitcase. I said no its an oscilloscope. I could see them
say... (a what?). They then said we're going to have to open it up and
take a look. I said certainly let me help you with that. They then
backed it up and looked at it in the X-Ray again and decided they didn't
really need to look inside and they let me go on my merry way.

TSA is actually pretty darned reasonable from my experience.

~Brett (KC7OTG)

On Thu, 2010-01-28 at 04:55 +0000, Ken Kopp wrote:

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Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ

Re: OT: Radios and the TSA

Administrator

I carry-on two K3's to ham shows and talks as in an over the shoulder
bag made by Rose's Covers. (It's actually two independent K3 carry bags
that Velcro together and share the same shoulder strap rings. )

I fly a lot each year and I have never had any problem with the TSA
security inspection. They do ask that the radios be taken out of the
bags for scanning, just like laptop computers. If you put them through
the scanner inside the carry bags, about 70% of the time they then have
to take them out of the bag and re-scan them - adding more time to the
process. They occasionally will also swab them and do a spectral check
for explosives.

Most of the time they are just curious about ham radio and are very
friendly. The less apprehensive you are the better they treat you. :-)

My other rule is -always- show up 30 minutes earlier than you think you
need to. I plan to arrive at the airport parking lot 2 hrs before the
flight. Its much more relaxing not to rush. Plus I get time to catch up
on email! ;-)

73, Eric WA6HHQ

>
> On Thu, 2010-01-28 at 04:55 +0000, Ken Kopp wrote:
>
>> One of Rose's customers who's just returned from an overseas
>> trip commented that the TSA folks showed little interest in his
>> K3, and that this may have been due to it being hand-carried
>> in an obviously made-for-the radio brand-labeled carry case.
>>
>> 73! Ken Kopp - K0PP
>> [hidden email]
>>
>>