[Elecraft] Airport security.

[lhlousek]

I've taken at least 20 round trips on commercial airlines since Sep 11 carrying
aboard my K1, 14' fishing pole, antennas wires, etc.. Never once did anybody
question the ham stuff, even when singled out for random searches... until last
Wed.

As my bag was going through the X-ray machine the attendant asked if I had
electronic equipment in my bag.  I said yes and she call for a hand search of
the bag.  A woman went through my bag thoroughly (as opposed to the extremely
cursory searches on previous trips) although she carefully avoided my underwear
and socks.  She opened the small camera bag that contained my portable station.
I said nothing just to see what would happen.  She pulled out the baggie with my
RG174 feedline and bead balun, antenna wires, ground wires, lead fishing
weights, pushpins, and BNC adapter and studied it for about 10 seconds before
calling over a supervisor and asked him what it was. He said, "Looks like wires
to me".  She briefly poked around in the compartment containing my K1, palm
paddles, wall wart, and electrical tape and zipped it backed up.  She found the
fishing pole in its case and asked me what it was and if she could examine it.
I said it's a fishing pole and yes, she could examine it.  She slid it half way
out of it's case, slid it back in, and that was that.

I've taken two trips to Europe too but the schedules were so demanding that I
didn't bother bringing a rig.  I did ask the security attendants, both here and
in Europe, about bringing ham gear and they acted as if it was a common thing
and said that there would be no problem as long as I had a copy of my license.
I guess terrorist radio ops don't bother to get licensed (although with current
5 WPM standard I don't see why). Anyway, I have a slightly longer trip to HB
land coming up and plan to bring my K1...or maybe my SST.

Lou W7DZN