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:
73's and Godspeed.