Cabin or hold for radio, wires, battery packs etc

I’m flying to Lanzarote via easyjet soon with my son who is taking his bike (in a bike carrier which will also have my SOTA pole and kite) so I asked their customer service for guidance about the rest. They replied…

"I am pleased to hear that you will be travelling with us as planned.

I have included all the information in relation to the batteries of which you would like to take with you onboard. All the batteries below can be placed in to your cabin luggage.

Lithium battery powered electronic devices Lithium ion batteries for portable (including medical) electronic devices, a Wh rating exceeding 100 Wh but not exceeding 160 Wh. For portable medical electronic devices only, lithium metal batteries with a lithium content exceeding 2 g but not exceeding 8 g.
Spare Lithium batteries Lithium ion batteries for portable (including medical) electronic devices, a Wh rating exceeding 100Wh but not exceeding 160 Wh. For portable medical electronic devices only, lithium metal batteries with a lithium content exceeding 2 g but not exceeding 8 g. Maximum of two spare batteries in carry-on baggage only. These batteries must be individually protected to prevent short circuits.

Portable electronic devices (including medical devices) containing lithium metal or lithium ion cells or batteries such as watches, calculating machines, cameras, cellular phones, laptop computers, camcorders, etc., when carried by passengers or crew for personal use. Batteries must not exceed 2 g for lithium metal batteries and 100 Wh for lithium ion batteries.
All spare batteries, including lithium metal or lithium ion cells or batteries, for such portable electronic devices must be carried in carry-on baggage only. These batteries must be individually protected to prevent short circuit.

It doesn’t mention anything about the NIMH packs for my FT817, (one in it, one spare, both 2.6 A/Hr) but it does cover the Toshiba laptop battery packs that I use (8.2 A/Hr, 10.8 V, 98 W/Hr) which I use and charge via an adaptor plug I made. I’m also taking a brick SMPS (12 v 4 amp) and a multi-function charger for RC batteries, plus a T100 TU, SWR meter, Mini-60 aerial analyser, mini laptop/tablet, patch leads, 4:1 balun and linked dipole/coax feeder/sundry wires and a couple of Norcal doublets. All in all an X-ray machine operators nightmare… I will have a paper copy license with me, and a copy of the EJ email.

Anyone able to offer any other guidance, as I obviously don’t want to upset anyone and not be allowed to board with my gear…

Thanks
Gareth, G4XAT

Use the search facility and you will find War&Peace has been written on this subject.

There’s this too:

Hi Gareth,
I travelled easyJet to Spain from Bristol with 817, wire antenna, tuners etc and two 12v 7ah batteries, never even looked at the radio kit, just the batteries.
I had checked whether I could take them as carry on and had printed off battery specifications and the airline guide on batteries, also printed off easyJet email confirmation that I could take them along with an email from Bristol security that there would be no problem.
The reality was somewhat different, only after about 30 mins to ing and fro ing by the security supervisor was I able to take them. Both security and the airline desk refused permission for me to take them despite all of the documentation that I showed them.
But, this may have been an isolated case.
Andy

Thanks Andy, seems very hit or miss :frowning: If they didn’t allow you to take them, how did you deal with the problem? Does the airline have a keep safe facility I wonder?

Sorry, just re-read that theyDID allow you, after pontification…

Thanks
Gareth

If they take it off you then it’s gone.

Hi Gareth,
It turned out ok in the end.
I had the batteries taken off me and given a receipt that if I showed it on my return for £6 my batteries would be returned to me. As I had no choice despite all of the documentation I had I reluctantly handed them over.
Once in departures the security supervisor found me, he was carrying my two batteries, he said that because I had gone to the trouble of obtaining permission and hadn’t tried to smuggle them through in his opinion I should be allowed to take them. He then proceeded to phone the pilot and relayed questions to me, the batteries were handed back but I was told that the cabin crew would look at them and if they were happy with them the batteries would travel on the flight deck, if not happy then the £6 recovery was put back in place.
I was told to board the plane last, there were three cabin crew by my seat, they said “are you the one with the batteries? Are they taped and in separate bags?” I replied that they were, "ok then, put them under your seat."
And that was that, at the Spanish end no one was bothered about them.
So, be prepared and good luck, my 10m mast went in my partners case in the hold.
Andy