Traveling to Nevada this weekend

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So, I was thinking of taking a couple HTs to show my family. Not taking the HF rig...not worth the hassle.

Anyway, has anyone ever packed a 2m antenna and magmount in luggage? I'm planning on checking that bag and not carrying on board.

Would you think the big magnet in the luggage would raise any flags let alone the 2m whip?

Worst case, I'll just take my roll up antenna.

Thanks in advance
 
LiON batteries must go in carry-on.

Precisely what are you planning to demonstrate with an H/T that can't be accomplished with the rubber duck?

The only thing worse than a bunch of wall warts and cables in carry-on triggering an explosive swab screening would be the same stuff in checked baggage making them tear everything apart away from your supervision and just throwing it back into the suitcase to be broken in transit.
 
Thanks for the reply. We will be doing a lot of driving and was wanting to hit some local repeaters to show my mom and brother what the hobby is about. Hence, the magmount option for the car. I' have some longer 1/4 wave whips that I'll use instead along with the roll-up.

Didn't know about the LiON battery part. So, I'll pack the antennas in the luggage and carry the radios in my backpack. Is that what you'd suggest? Or would you break the radios up and take the batteries off and carry those on and leave the radios in the luggage?

Thanks again
 
Thanks for the reply. We will be doing a lot of driving and was wanting to hit some local repeaters to show my mom and brother what the hobby is about. Hence, the magmount option for the car. I' have some longer 1/4 wave whips that I'll use instead along with the roll-up.

Does your family issue DX certificates? If not, I wouldn't worry about showing how far out you can hit a repeater.


Didn't know about the LiON battery part. So, I'll pack the antennas in the luggage and carry the radios in my backpack. Is that what you'd suggest? Or would you break the radios up and take the batteries off and carry those on and leave the radios in the luggage?

Airlines don't reimburse for "lost" (i.e., stolen by baggage handlers) electronics.

Anything in checked luggage that looks suspicious on X-ray can result in a hand search.

TSA screeners are well aware that all bombs are constructed with coiled wire.

We'll just ignore the fact that mag-mounts look like command-detonated limpet mines, because TSA screeners don't watch those movies. But if (say) the coax makes them open the suitcase, whatever they think, they are not going to think "oh, it's a mag-mount". And you're not there to correct them. (Unless they pull you off the plane and maybe make you miss your flight).

TSA checked luggage screeners historically have no qualms about throwing a half-zipped suitcase back onto a conveyor belt. Even if your mag-mount and coax stay inside, maybe you'll lose something else.


If you carry on a radio, security may demand you demonstrate that it works.
The security checkpoint is no place to try and get a radio check on a repeater.
Leave the radio locked on NOAA weather radio, so that there's a strong receive signal,
and they can't transmit even if they find the PTT.

You can't demo the radio if the rubber duck is in checked luggage.
But leave the rubber duck dismounted from the H/T,
so that it's not broken off in transit, and doesn't look suspicious.

LiON batteries are not allowed in checked luggage
because they may short out and burst into flame.
Your carry-on bag is not an insulated battery compartment.

You are more likely to short out a loose battery on a zipper
than by leaving it in your H/T (where no one will even realize that it is a LiON battery,
especially if you never refer to it that way).

Spare batteries in separate zip-locks are the way to go.

If you wrap any spare batteries like a block of C4,
security will treat you like you are carrying a block of C4.

As a matter of fact,
you're not carrying a "radio transmitter" -
you're carrying a "radio".

Let security assume you listened to a ball game
on the drive to the airport.

I once smuggled an H/T onto a gambling boat in Lynn chartered by WTKK/FM
(complete with magnetometer portal and bag search),
by telling security that it's a cell phone (point to DTMF keypad)
and it's a radio (turn on, listen to talk radio host blather).
I could see the bouncer's ears glaze over in real time...

If they had a clue, they sure wouldn't want it on the boat. I only wanted to monitor Marine VHF, but I could have been eavesdropping on the croupier/security channel.

My inspiration:

snl-109_4.jpg


73's and Godspeed.
 
So, the tl;dr version of this is.

TSA people are idiots (Duh)
Carry the radios on in my backpack with the antennas disconnected with the batteries attached.
Wrap everything else to look like C4! [rofl2] Just kidding.
 
mail your HF rig in a flat rate priority box ahead of you with some wire ant's.
i would visit my Mom in FL every Feb and have a ball working DX in the driveway hooked up to her car battery.
 
Just ship it ups or fedex to your destination and back. Problem solved.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
mail your HF rig in a flat rate priority box ahead of you with some wire ant's.
i would visit my Mom in FL every Feb and have a ball working DX in the driveway hooked up to her car battery.

Beat me to it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So, the tl;dr version of this is.

TSA people are idiots (Duh)
Carry the radios on in my backpack with the antennas disconnected with the batteries attached.
Wrap everything else to look like C4! [rofl2] Just kidding.

Howie Carr Chump Line Idea of the Day
(Not Mine)

"Can we call the Dallas Police Department robot R2-C4?"
 
So, the HTs worked well out there. Of course, NW Nevada (Fallon, NV specifically) is kind of a wasteland when it comes to 2m stuff. I did find 2 repeaters out there and was able to hit both fine with the HTs. Checked into a couple ARES nets and apparently missed a hamfest! Damn it!!!

The K5BLS repeater is really nice. The guy running it seems to be the repeater guru for the area and it shows. He's letting other clubs use his repeater for nets...which is very cool.

I did find it odd though...when the two clubs ran their nets, they did a roll call and then let guests come in afterwards. That isn't the weird part...the netops both called QST before starting the net. Haven't heard any nets here do this...2m or HF. Just found it interesting.

The HTs worked well when there are no freakin' hills in the way. Got almost 3 miles between two Baofeng UV82s at 5W. I was in Hawthorne, NV. One radio was at my mom's house and the other was at the landfill outside of town. Google shows that it is just under 3 miles line of site.

In Fallon, I was able to talk about a mile and a half in town with tons of houses and businesses between the two radios. Nice to know what the radios will do in the real world.
 
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So, the HTs worked well out there.

Good, good.


I did find it odd though...when the two clubs ran their nets, they did a roll call and then let guests come in afterwards. That isn't the weird part...the netops both called QST before starting the net. Haven't heard any nets here do this...2m or HF. Just found it interesting.

The only place I'm sure I recall hearing it used is not a net per-se: W1AW code practice. The broadcast preamble and the 10 minute interval idents are something like "V V V QST QST QST DE W1AW W1AW W1AW" repeated a few times.
 
Airlines don't reimburse for "lost" (i.e., stolen by baggage handlers) electronics.
Unless its declared medical equipment, in which cast the airline is liable for the full original or replacement cost without limit.
 
I'm sitting on a redeye flight back to Boston from Vegas as we speak. I can't sleep on these damn things.

There was some sort of basketball tournament in Vegas and a bunch of players are on this flight. These guys are HUGE and in the regular leg room seats. That there is cruel and unusual punishment.

Soon, one guy tried to carry on a large beach umbrella for his wife/girlfriend. We're talking about 6 footer. Hilarity ensued. The wife/girlfriend could not understand the idea that it could not be carried on. That carry on items are limited in size.

Traveling sucks...
 
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I'm sitting on a redeye flight back to Boston from Vegas as we speak. I can't sleep on these damn things.

There was some sort of basketball tournament in Vegas and a bunch of players are on this flight. These guys are HUGE and in the regular leg room seats. That there is cruel and unusual punishment.

Soon, one guy tried to carry on a large beach umbrella for his wife/girlfriend. We're talking about 6 footer. Hilarity ensued. The wife/girlfriend could not understand the idea that it could not be carried on. That carry on items are limited in size.

Traveling sucks...
Jesus...what part of "it must be able to fit in the overhead bins to people not get? Hell, they even put bins by the gate so you can test to see if you shit will fit. Yeah...traveling sucks.
 
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