Eh, it is possible that the air cartridges used in those lifejackets may have/have had more stringent safety requirements than random commercial items. That said, the IATA has allowed various things with air cartridges (like avalanche airbags and lifejackets) for a few years now, and any airline that still refuses them is a little bit backward, to say the least (or subject to the whims of the TSA).
as my unvalidated CO2 cartridge isntā¦
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I activated three SOTA summits in the Algarve, Portugal at Easter time in April this year using an FT-817ND and one of these HobbyKing batteries.
I wasnāt stopped or questioned about the battery.
I flew Manchester-Faro-Manchester with Jet2, and it was the first time I had activated abroad.
The battery was a lot less than 100Wh (obviously), was carried as hand luggage, and met all the other criteria apart from the following which was specified on the Civilian Aviation Authority (CAA) website.
QUOTE Batteries and cells must be of a type which meets the requirements of each test in the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria, Part III, subsection 38.3. It may be necessary to contact the manufacturer to confirm that they have complied with the requirements. UNQUOTE
The product info/spec on the Hobbyking website is fairly rudimentary, so I contacted Hobbyking and asked if their product met this CAA requirement. I got nice reply saying they were working working on this and would let me know when it was ready. I havenāt received anything yet.
I was ready for questions should they be asked at the airport, but none were asked. I did see the man on the scanner run my bag back and forward once or twice in Manchester.
Had I been asked if the battery met this test, I would have had to say that I didnāt have a confirmation e-mail, and I may have lost the battery, but luckily that didnāt happen.
I have had the battery a few months and am very happy with it.
So, thinking about how to keep my pack weight down for the 1-kg HF Challenge I started looking at non-rechargeable PP3-size lithium batteries like this one:
(quite expensive compared with an alkaline PP3)
You can also get AA-size lithium iron disulphide cells:
A set of these (2-off 4-packs) to fill the FT-817 dry-cell tray would be about a tenner. But at 3Ah that should do for a couple of good activations. Whilst the battery waste is undesirable for a flying visit it surely has a lot going for it, with more than twice the capacity of the NiMH internal pack?
You can get rechargeable AA batteries around 2800mah mark which would power the ft817 and no wastage
https://www.7dayshop.com/batteries-power-chargers/7dayshop-aa-ni-mh-high-performance-rechargeable-batteries-2900-8-pack-2x4
Just found these.
Yes, good point. But am I wrong to be a teeny bit sceptical about the claimed capacity for these, especially from the seller you cite? To be fair I did find RS selling some at 2.85Ah but not a brand Iāve heard of. Iām just used to NiMH disappointing I suppose. Besides, starting from a nominal 12V you have more in hand compared with 9.6V with NiMH. Thatās well onto the downward slope (power vs. V) and the power symbol on the 817 will be blinking away. .
It just struck me as a sure-fire (no pun intended!) way of getting a respectable number of kJ past security at the airport - another option to keep in mind.
Anyway, I think I will try the PP3 for my MTR as my normal pack will put me over the 1kg.
And yet the 817 is designed to run on 8 X 1.2 volts and the voltage from the power socket is dropped.
Brian
Yes, youāre right Brian and that link makes the point for you. I mostly run mine with a switcher that I set to around 10 or 10.5V. I could probably set it lower. And of course whilst external 8-off LiFeS2 + switcher could be workable it doesnāt have the utility of an entirely internal setup. I need to find a discharge curve for these to be sure. And the point KE0OEI makes about the horrible spring contacts is something to remember. But one other good thing about the LiFeS2 is they have a very long shelf life (much longer than alkaline, and presumably way longer than NiMH).
Finally found the graph I was after:
This video uses those exact batteries with no issues. I havenāt used any personally and nor do I have an ft817 but my parents used to use 7dayshop batteries all the time in their cameras.
Hi Peter,
I flew to Sydney on the Saturday to have a bit of RnR there and avoid a 3 AM start on the Monday. I was carrying a similar LiFe battery plus a similar sized LiPo but no one asked me anything about my SOTA backpack contents. I was asked to partly unpack it at Melbourne on my initial domestic flight, but only so they could see more clearly what was in the pack. Surprisingly they were content to talk among themselves about my antenna, batteries and rig and did not ask me anything about them. My policy is to speak when spoken to and be co-operative but not make oral declarations.
I was carrying a copy of the policy on batteries for both airlines (Qantas and Air NZ) plus a copy of my licence.
Biosecurity.
Before departing the Norfolk Island hotel I cleaned my boots of all soil. I then declared I had been in a wilderness area on the arrivals entry card and on arrival at Sydney was sent to the side where they asked about my shoes. I said I had cleaned them that morning and they waved me through. Others in our group had to surrender their footwear for cleaning. Maybe next time Iāll opt for the free thorough and quick cleaning service and spend an extra 15 minutes in bed!
73
Ron
VK3AFW
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Another pair of flights, more to report on airport security.
This time I was flying Manchester<>Basel/Mulhouse. My carryon luggage contained, 1x 4AH LiPo in LiPo bag, 1x 817, 1x VX1r + spare battery, 1x Win10 laptop, 1x camera, 1x diabetes monitoring meter, 1x diabetes pre-filled syringe pen + tips, 817 rubber duck, 1x 50ml suncreme and assorted papers and passport, driving licence.
#Manchester Airport
Manchester was a nightmare as it was very busy. I had 2 trays in the scanner, electronics + battery in one and bag in the other. Both trays were singled out which I expected but there were 5 people in front of me so it took a long time to get to me. The security guy wanted to look at everything and when I asked was there anything in particular bothering him he gave me a hard stare. So he set up 2 more trays and spread out my stuff further and round it went again. This time he wanted to know about the syringe pen (itās in a cool pack) and also the VX1r was a problem. Not the radio, not the spare LiION battery, bot the high gain antenna but the standard rubber duck. Trying to explain it was the antenna was hard. It snapped a few years back and now is covered with heatshrink and that concerned him. āCan this extend? Is it a battery? Why have you so much electronics?ā etc. etc. Only when I said I canāt see why he has such a problem as there was another in the bag he wasnāt concerned about and my mate Geoff G6MZX had gone through in front of me with a similar item did his attitude change and he pushed all my stuff towards me and said āOKā. I did say I thought he had a thankless job and no matter what he did someone would moan and he was pleased to see someone understood the issues they have. But it took 25mins to get through but no problems with 817, 1x LiPO, VX1r, 2x LiION, 2 mobile phones, 1x laptop.
#Basel/Mulhouse Aeroport
No queues here at security in the Swiss side of the airport. Geoff didnāt see the nice man who wanted to see Geoffās passport and he just walked on. He didnāt hear the guy call out in German and French and I thought āah theyāll shoot him now!ā but he smiled when I caught Geoff and pointed at the guy. The usual put stuff into 2 trays etc. and it went through because nobody was looking at the scanner! Nobody noticed I had liquids in my bag or enough electronics and batteries to start a shop. Effortless!
So this is confirming that Iām more likely to have issues getting stuff onto a plane in the UK than in Europe. Unlike the girl at Edinburgh who didnāt like my LiPO, it was the tiny stubby rubber duck causing grief.
Of course, YMMV 
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Just made it to France from Tokyo via Helsinki.
I had a 817 with internal battery, a small 1.2ah external gel-cell, 5 various HTs with chargers and batteries + spares, some extra spare batteries (2) for an ID-51 to bring back for mates back in France, GPS with batteries, Spot Locator with batteries, T1 with battery, and a couple more items with batteriesā¦
Everything was taped cleanly where necessary and/orin zip loc bags or inside the equipment or in their purchase box.
Going through Tokyo was tough. Prior to them asking me to take everything out, I spread everything nicely on multiple trays to make their job easier (they always ask me to take everything out anyway). They scanned everything singled me out on a sorting table and proceeded to asking me what kind of batteries I had. When I started listing everything out I could the guy thought I was some kind of nut but as long as I could articulate clearly what each piece of equipment was for he was ok. He did do a double take on the gel-cell, checked the specs but was eventually ok with it.
Now, going through Helsinkiā¦ Spread everything out nicely again and they let me through without a single question being asked. It does show your mileage will vary based on who ends-up looking at your stuff. Maybe it was dumb luck but Helsinki was a breeze. I saw Saku had a very tough time so I feel lucky I went through without a hitch (it was the transfer desk though so maybe they are not as tough as they assume that somebody would have done their due diligence on my stuff already somewhere upstream, Tokyo in this case).
Anyway, āsafe and soundā in France with all my gear/batteries! QRV soon hopefully.
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Letās keep this thread aliveā¦
Just copied and pasted this in from the Jet2 website, whilst checking in for my next SOTA Tour in Europe. Good to see such clear information for activators travelling on the Yorkshire based airline Jet2:
_Batteries: _
Permitted in hand baggage only NOT in checked baggage
Batteries can short circuit and catch fire if they are carried loose in your bag. They must be protected against contact with other metal items (e.g. by being in their original packaging or own protective case) and carried in your hand baggage.
Equipment containing correctly installed batteries can be packed in your checked baggage.Further information can be found at the following Civil Aviation Authority website.
ā¢ Batteries
Please confirm you have read and understood the above information
73 de Phil
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Thatās an improvement on the first time I took the 817 and LiPOs to Portugal. Jet2 hadnāt got a clue about the rules at the time and it took almost half an hour and me giving them an extract from the regulations to get through check-in. Carrying loose Lithium batteries must be getting more of a regular occurrence. Roll on the day when they all know the rules.
73, Gerald G4OIG
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Iāll let you know how I get on after Thursday morningā¦ Jet2, Manchester, Venice. Fingers crossed (but taking no chances with all the documentation I can find printed and with me!)
Weāre flying with Jet2 to EA8 in September. I did contact the airline a few months ago and received the following information:
its fine to go but please ensure it canāt accidently be activated, batteries are in the cabin and the terminals protected.
(sic)
āItā being the inventory of equipment I had included in my original email. Given the information quoted by Phil from the Jet2 website, I think I will simply pack everything into checked baggage like I did last time. The radios/batteries being taken are the HB1B with internal lithium battery and FT-817 with rechargeable AAs in the battery tray, installed.
So it would seem fine to bury the two radios in amongst the clothes with the batteries installed inside. Iāll probably have them both accompanied by print-outs of Jet2ās own regulations and our AR licences.
Since the manufacturer explicitly says that you should not do that, citing absence of āprotection circuitryā (page 8 of the manual), they are arguably not ācorrectly installed batteriesā.
Martyn
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You may find that the case(s) may arrive ālateā after being opened by āsomeoneā and rummaged through, as mine did earlier in the year. I didnāt mind, as I was coming home, and at least it showed that āsomeoneā was at least investigating things hidden in cases that they didnāt easily recognise
As Paul Horner (Manager, Dangerous Goods Standards) at IATA said in an email to me:
āIt should be noted that the preferred location for electronic devices is also in carry-on baggage.
If you have concerns in future, I would recommend you contact the carrying airline in advance.ā
Have fun in EA8 
Don
m0hcu
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OK, thanks for this gents.
So weāll have four radios - VX7, VX110, FT-817 & HB1B. Probably take all on as carry-on baggage, with batteries separate (not installed), but with terminals taped up.
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