[CQ-Contest] Travelling for Contests or Dxpeditions

[David Kozinn, K2DBK]

I'll reply to a couple of comments here. First, I have to assume that
simply turning the thing on should suffice. The guys isn't going to expect
you to work DX from the airport terminal. ("Hey, I don't know if that's
legit; 20 meters is open now and you can even work into Europe from Newark
Airport? Please come with me sir".)  And I'll bet that most agents will
have no clue about ham radio, although once I did have a guy who claimed to
be a ham, though he couldn't (wouldn't?) tell me his callsign. He asked
some questions that were a little "off" for anyone who has ever done much
on the air, but again, that's not their job.

As far as carrying around batteries, packs or otherwise, if it comes to
that, I guess I can deal with it, but having to carry around a bunch of
batteries just in case the guy decides to make me switch it on is annoying.
It's not like a phone that's got a built-in battery. On top of that, I'd
assume if you go the "unopened batteries" route you'd need to immediately
pick up more as soon as you landed, just to be on the safe side.

Finally ,as far as carrying a copy of QST with my radio in an ad, I'm still
using my trusty Icom MkIIG as my travel radio and that hasn't been in a
magazine for years. :-)

Anyone on the list know someone in the TSA that could answer a question
about how likely this is to be an issue?


73,
     David, K2DBK
     k2dbk.com
     k2dbk.blogspot.com
     twitter: @k2dbk

On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 3:21 PM, Jim Brown <k9yc at audiosystemsgroup.com>
wrote:

> On Mon,9/22/2014 10:11 AM, David Kozinn, K2DBK wrote:
>
>> The powering up things is of concern to me even for domestic travel.
>>
>
> Depending on the radio, the receivers in most 12V rigs will at least turn
> on and run from a fresh stack of 9 AA cells. A K3 draws only 1A in RX mode,
> +100mA with the 2nd RX. A KX3 draws a quarter of that. Another option is a
> low capacity LiIon battery pack. This 6Ah pack sells for about $65 prewired
> with Power Poles and weighs less than 2#. Note that it's current-limited at
> 2A by the protection circuitry.
>
> http://www.batteryspace.com/custom-lfp-18650-battery-12-
> 8v-6000-mah-77wh-2a-rate-w-pcb-7-2.aspx
>
> Or this one -- 5Ah, but output current limited to 10A, for $80, a few
> ounces lighter.
>
> http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo4-battery-12v-5ah-60wh-
> 10a-rate-with-led-indicator---replace-sla-12v-4-5ah-lighter-
> weight-and-higher-capacity----un38-3-passed.aspx
>
> Both of these batteries have passed the safety testing that makes it legal
> for them to be on an aircraft. There are many cheaper alternatives from the
> same vendor that have not passed that testing.
>
> 73, Jim K9YC
>
>
>
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