[South Florida DX Association] Interesting Story -

[Adam Farson]

Moral of the story: In these times, don't schlepp radio equipment around the
world by air. 

Cheers for now, 73,
Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ
 

-----Original Message-----
From: sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:sfdxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of NPAlex at aol.com
Sent: 08 December 2005 05:01
To: SFDXA at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [South Florida DX Association] Interesting Story -


This is a story worth reading - your government in action.  I'm for
profiling- =======================================================


I got this from Vince, K5VT earlier today:

>Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 03:39:42 -0500 (EST)
>Subject: Post Timbuktu amazing events!!
>To:  mcgirr at interaccess.com
>
>I got off from Bamako without a hitch.  Developed violent diarrhea 
>shortly after boarding the plane to Paris.  This continued even after I 
>got home.  Landed in Houston and cleared customs without any problems, 
>found my gate for the Houston/Phoenix trip and found some Imodium for 
>the diarrhea and sat to wait for my final flight to home and my own 
>bathroom to suffer in!  After clearing customs I had about a 2 hour 
>wait, my flight due out at 5:30 local time and arrive Phoenix around 
>7:30.  About an hour before my flight was due to leave there was an 
>overhead page for me to report to the ticket counter.  It was outside 
>security check point and a long walk.  I went to the service counter 
>across from my gate and ask them to call and see what they wanted.  Of 
>course they couldn't get thru so off I go out to the counter.  When I 
>get there a lady tells me there is a problem with my luggage.  I tell 
>her the combinations to the locks on my suitcases but a moment a 
>Houston Police Officer comes up and starts asking me questions and 
>wants my drivers license etc etc.  Then he tells me that I won't be 
>able to make my flight home because the TSA people believe there is a 
>bomb with a detonator, not in my suitcases, but in the big box 
>(amplifier)!!!  They are considering evacuating the airport because of 
>it and the bomb squad is on their way!!  They then take all my carry-on 
>baggage from me and a policeman stays with me for the next two hours.  
>I was basically under house arrest until the bomb squad finished with 
>my box!  I told them they were over reacting, that the box in question 
>had been screened multiple times on the trip to and from Mali and if 
>they evacuated the airport they were going to have egg on their face 
>over it after I wrote my Senator McCain, the mayor of Houston, the Air 
>Port management, and the Houston Newspapers with my story.  They 
>decided not to evacuate until the bomb squad got there.  They came in a 
>SUV with a trailer behind it with a huge vault on it that had walls 
>about 2 feet thick!  The TCA people had already taken the amp out of 
>the box and looked at it.  I told them they could clear the area and 
>I'd take the cover off my self and if it blew up it would save the 
>public money for my jail, and if it didn't blow up they could see for 
>themselves their machines were screwy!  They didn't take that too well 
>and had the police take me back to the outside of the building.
>A guy from Continental Airlines Security showed up....looked at it and 
>told the TSA guy "It's a fucking amplifier!  I've seen them before!" 
>But the TSA guy just looked at him and waited for the bomb squad.
>
>They took the amp in the big vault out to the far end of the runway and 
>there the bomb guys got the top off the amp without it blowing up.  I 
>didn't get to go out there so I don't now how they took the top off it.  
>I haven't reopened the box as yet!  After a 3 hour house arrest they 
>finally brought my carry on luggage back, told me it was a false alarm 
>and they were sorry that they had inconvenienced me but they "had to do 
>what we had to do"!  I ran to get the last flight out to Phoenix at 
>9:30 or I would have had to spend the night there!  I had 3 surgery 
>cases and would have had to cancel them.  But my box and my two suit 
>cases didn't make the flight and didn't come in until this morning.  
>Now I'm probably on the TSA list as suspicious individual and every 
>time I try to check in early it will deny me and I'll have to petition 
>TSA to take me off the list.  I can just see the headlines in the 
>Houston paper...
>"Air port evacuated because of bomb in Phoenix physicians luggage"
>I got home finally at 1am...then had to go to the office and pick up 
>the patients charts for the surgeries on Tuesday and then dictate the 
>history and physical exams before I finally got to bed at 3am, just to 
>get back up at 6 for work!  God, what a day
>
>
>This amp deserves a full chapter in Roger's next book!!
>
>73/vt
>
>Life is not measured in the number of breaths we take, but in the 
>moments that take our breath away!

Regards,
Norm W4QN
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