Simon G4TJC had his LiFePO battery confiscated by Heathrow security as they misidentified as a SLAB over 12V. It was delivered to his home but it cost him £50.
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Nice of them to return the battery with a charge. But it’s an odd system. I mean you won’t be there to receive the item if you are flying away.
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All unknowns Richard and exactly why I said at the start, I was worried what might be changed at the airport.
I hope the effects of the Middle Eastern terror acts don’t affect my travel.
Sorry to hear about Simon’s experience Andy - My LifePO4 is clearly labeled with all required information (and is well under the WH size limits - as stated in the IATA documentation) but - as in Simon’s case, I guess if someone misunderstands what he is handling, mistakes can be made.
Well if you see a spot for me (as G8GLM) operating on G/CE-004 around midday tomorrow, you’ll know I got through (at least in one direction) without issues.
73 Ed.
UPDATE, Munich security while interested and swabbed the radio were happy and there were no issues. My planned activation on the other hand looks like it could easily be a wash out!
SECOND UPDATE: on the way back my bag got checked in BHX - no concern whatsoever about the radio, purely that the 4AH LifePO4 battery was larger than they normally see - all fine and didn’t even swab the radio.
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Looks like another airline has now banned radio devices, Qatar Airways. I’m unsure which routes though and am just going by what’s in the news.
I’ve packed my FT65E and 125 XLT plus the 770 and 779 antennas, plus my Comreg paperwork.
I’ll call the airline in the morning to double check. Other than that, not much more I can do. Still 50/50 about whether to take the radios or not. If i do, I’ll post about my experience here, though it’s obviously a fluid situation so whatever happens to me may not necessarily be what happens to someone else; ergo: don’t take my experience as gospel.
73
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ebay
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If it’s confiscated I think it’s just incinerated/destroyed. Other items, such as stolen property that isn’t claimed I think gets auctioned?
Not sure where funds go though. Charity or other good causes I hope.
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“Hello. Is that courierpost? Yes? Airport security here. We’ve got a suspicious package for you to collect and deliver back to its owner …”
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That appears to just be on flights from Beirut - is this the article you’ve seen?
Pager attacks: Qatar Airways bans passengers from carrying walkie-talkies in Lebanon flights amid explosion | Today News (livemint.com)
73 Ed.
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The announcement from Qatar I saw yesterday was the first such announcement that I saw, and mentioned only flights out of Beirut…
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Ah gotcha. Hopefully the political situation sorts itself out, in more positive ways than just “when can I take my radio abroad again”.
Might be worth editing my original post though to add airlines and routes where radios and pagers are banned - should this ban become more widespread or if anyone has new information. If a moderator wishes to do so, please do by all means.
73
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well, FWI Barcelona did not blink an eye at my kit.
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I’ll edit the original post to list it. I’ve decided to take my radios so will update here later today too.
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Can confirm. No issues going through security at Dublin. No questions asked, straight through in about 2 minutes flat.
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Lol. After all that stressing. Now you just have to get them back home…
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And I chickened out and left the Uniden as it cost more than the Yaesu! Cripes! 
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FYI the service used at LHR for sending on items rejected at security is Mail and Fly. This seems to be common to just a few G / EI / SM airports. My battery was sent on via DHL. Of course being a “dangerous” item there was a surcharge on top of the usual DHL fee and Mail-and-Fly’s cut, which is why it came to so much.
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Just to confirm, no issues at LHR but there was a short hold up while two staff discussed something but nothing was said to me directly.
Worth bringing the radio too as I got a couple of QSO’s on 2m and heard a good bit of chatter around 2m. Nothing on 70cm though (within legal band limits circa Charing Cross).
All good.
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The website says you can chose an address to send it to. So could you put in your destination address?
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Is there a general airport security thread for reporting experiences to help others?
I had the following in my carry on, all packed in almost the same way every time:
- FT891
- 2x 3s LiPO batteries (increased to 3 after W7) in a safe charging bag.
- Quansheng UV-K5 (last seen in VE6)
- Windows surface tablet
- Mini USB keyboard
MAN T2 (next gen scanners)
Was told not to take anything out of my bag.
Bag rejected and searched, apparently the plastic keyboard was obscuring the view of everything.
FT891 swabbed then told everything was ok.
RIC
Everything taken out of bag.
I think they just swabbed the FT891.
SEA
Everything taken out of bag.
No queries.
RDU T2 (next gen scanners)
Was told not to take anything out of my bag.
Bag rejected and asked if I had a games console in there so explained it was a radio set in a metal case and was told that was fine they just needed to swab it.
I looked on the monitor though and the corner of the bag with the radio in was circled and was red, presumably indicating something dense so I don’t think it’s a radio specific issue.
JFK T7
Everything taken out of bag and placed in separate trays.
The tray with the batteries was rejected twice at the scanner. Explained to TSA agent what they were and they were concerned about the wires they could see on the scanner. Taken out of bag and rescanned, she checked with a colleague if they were ok, came back and told me it was fine so I repacked everything.
Then, rather annoyingly after I’d packed everything, I was called back and the TSA agent asked a supervisor if he could check the batteries were ok. All he wanted to check was the capacity which he was happy with so I was allowed to go.
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Last week BHX (Birmingham UK) and MUC (Munich Germany) - I had a similar experience to your MAN T2 description.
73 Ed.
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