[CQ-Contest] Travelling for Contests or Dxpeditions

[Kelly Taylor]

Dave,

I think you misunderstood my point: Carry a copy of QST to show the guy it's
a legit hobby and not some hopped-up excuse to board a plane with dangerous
goods. IF it has an ad for your radio, even better.

I've had many, many conversations with many people from all lines of work,
including airport security staff, who don't have the faintest flippin' idea
there even IS a hobby involving radio, let alone know what ham radio is.

Unfortunately, it all comes down to the little warning we see at Canadian
airports: You have the right to refuse inspection if you choose not to fly.

Sadly, it doesn't matter whether you find the new rules to be annoying. I
find almost all of the security charade to be meaningless, but I do have to
get where I'm going and submitting is the only way to do that.

The opinion of a TSA agent would be almost meaningless. I've seen so many
variations in opinion and procedures that it seems some agents make up their
reaction to a situation on the fly.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

73, kelly
ve4xt



On 9/22/14 4:49 PM, "David Kozinn, K2DBK" <dkozinn at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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