Just wondering. When traveling to the UK can you take ham radio equipment with you without bothering with customs? Do you have to declare the equipment? Or is it enough to have receipts of the Trx with you? Any recent experiences?
73
Ingo
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Hello Ingo
Never been asked for receipts for radio equipment or been asked or needed to go through customs on the many trips I have undertaken into the EU or coming back. It has never been an issue before or after Brexit.
Returning from Munich to Manchester last Friday was the first time I have been asked to leave all electronics inside my carry on bag, including batteries (In the bag was KX3, HB1B, two LiFePo batteries, GPS and Satnav. I was admonished in a mild way for starting to remove the gear from my bag in fact!).
The only thing the security staff asked me to take out of its soft case was my Thinkpad laptop. I hope you aren’t travelling Lufthansa. 12 days after they lost my XYLs 20 Kgs full suitcase it is still lost. Its probably among the 12000 lost suitcases stored in containers at Munich (we were told) waiting to be sorted. If it hasn’t arrived by 14th September we will need to submit an itemised inventory for compensation.
73 Phil
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Ditto here. Not as many trips as Phil but I have done a few and some of those have been post “The Unpleasantness”.
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Yes indeed Gerald. My passport is unfortunately filling up with in and out border stamps from the 27 countries in which we had free movement until Farage’s Brexit…
73 Phil
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And his cohorts…
I have NEVER had any problems travelling through airports wth all my SOTA gear, only once was I asked specifically about the extra Lipo battery, but once I explained what it was there were no further issues.
73
Victor
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Hi Ingo,
similarly, I have travelled by air quite a bit since Brexit and have never been stopped with three radios and three separate LiPo batteries in my hand baggage. Security at Roland Garros airport last week looked at the batteries then waved me through. Radios are sometimes swabbed, but then so is my laptop and occasionally so are my hands!!!
I usually take the radios (FT817, KX2 and handie) and batteries out of the bag so if they need to be inspected then that is easier for the security.
No requirement to declare the radio equipment to customs in my experience.
73
MM0YCJ
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Just to add to and agree with what others have said. Customs do not appear to be interested in radio gear however the security checking teams can be - but I have never had an issue with them however - as long as any lithium batteries which are outside of equipment e.g. LIPO/LifePo batteries are below the Wh limits and the cables are taped up with electricians tape - all seems to be OK.
73 Ed.
UPDATE: Here are the current rules as applied by the Lufthansa group (I presume these are the same or similar to other airlines (as they will be from IATA), but check with your airline of choice):
Summary: If not inside a device (other restrictions are listed where the battery cant be removed) must be in your carry-on baggage. Maximum 100 wH (160 wH with special airline pre-approval).
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Any experience with homebrew LiIon batteries? I have a couple of 3S batteries made from old laptop 18650 cells in holders. They don’t have the Wh written on them. Plus I wonder if they look too much like explosives.
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For my last travel to Croatia in August with SOTA devices, French security checked my LiPo battery (4S 5A yes it’s heavy for my QCX but I didn’t want to take a charger for the trip…) Fortunately, it was clearly written 74Wh , so under the 100Wh limitation… If you make your own battery, I suggest you add a sticker and write the Wh …73
PS : I also took my small gas iron with me (as small as a big pen) … they rejected it … But as I had some time, I exited from the checkpoint, bought a stamper and an envelope, and sent it to me by mail …
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This is how I do 18650s on a plane. Note it’s Luc ON6DQ’s brilliant idea.
The USB pack is something security see hundreds of every day and has never raised an eyebrow even when I have 4 off them in my carry on. The holder and all the wires travel in the checked luggage.
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Thank you very much for the responses. Brilliant hint with the sticker!
Has anyone travelled with small 12v 1,2Ah Pb Batteries?
73
Ingo
If by Pb you are refering to Lead/Acid batteries, I think those come under the corrosive materials classification and are forbidden from carriage in both the cabin and the hold:
But call the airline you intend flying with and ask. Whether SLABs are considered “safe” where normat Lead Acid batteries are not?
73 Ed.
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Indeed, thats what I ment.
TU for the hint.
73
Ingo
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A quick Google suggests sealed lead acid batteries come under the same rules as lithium i.e. max 2, max 100Wh. But as Ed says, check with the airline.
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After Brexit I traveled by plaine to UK every year with radios. I had handheld AT787UV and HF mcHF including external batteries.
I had all equipment in my hand luggage and never had problems both ways in Luton, Leeds, Manchester and Doncaster-Shefield (now closed).
You should not have batteries in hold luggage but with you in the cabin luggage.
73 Marek
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Thank you very much Richard and Marek!
73
Ingo
Let me tell you about my experiences during my recent SOTA expedition to Canada (disguised as family vacation). I took my Xiegu G90 incl mike, Eremit LiFePo4 76.8Wh battery incl cables, BNC to banana plug and Laptop to my carry-on luggage and unpacked everything at airport security screening.
This went quite ok (cursory glance in Zürich, interested views in Frankfurt and quite a hubbub in Montreal - 1 agent, 2nd opinion, supervisor - “sorry, you know, we rarely have radio amateurs”).
Lessons learned:
- batteries must be in carry-on as per IATA regulations
- I secured the two leads and made sure they do not touch each other or any other metallic stuff (also as per IATA regulations). I pointed this out to the agents and my familiarity with the regulations was appreciated.
- I also put the LiFePo4 battery in a LiPo guard pouch. This impresses people (may be a disadvantage as you advertise the dangers of the stuff). Then again it is yet another safety measure.
- taking out everything up front is the way to go as you openly declare your stuff (to the dismay of passengers behind me as I used three containers
to put everything in). - I have fastened a cheap Casio watch set to UTC to the G90. This was eyed a little suspiciously in Frankfurt until the security person saw that there was no electrical connection to the radio, but led to discussions about logging etc in Montreal. In future, for flying I will have to take this away.
- all radio material is in an old laptop bag. Normally, this bag contains also other stuff such as a small transparent plastic bag for the paper logging should I be surprised by rain. It is better to take everything that you do not have to show out of your carry-on luggage (or at least out of the radio bag), because what you don’t have will not lead to questions.
- I had my license with me (Switzerland’s licenses are handy as they are in driver’s license credit-card style) as well as a copy of IATA regulations (which type of batteries, how to handle etc), a copy of CEPT TR-62 and my log-book. It is best to carry the license on person and maybe to give the papers to someone else, because when you are questioned, the security persons are naturally reluctant to touch anything and you may not touch anything yourself. You’ll have to explain everything (“in the bag, you’ll find in the inner compartment my license and my log-book”).
All in all, I can understand that traveling with such an amount of gear that doesn’t look ordinary leads to closer inspection. My gripe with airports is that although the regulations are the same everywhere, they are applied a little bit differently everywhere and you are reprimanded severely if you do the things at airport B like you were told to do at airport A. But this time all guards were very polite (not only the Canadians ) and expressed themselves very clearly (sometimes they mumble something and become very cross if you don’t immediately obey their requests).
Now back to the original question: customs was never a problem. I think we SOTA enthusiasts have an advantage, because the gear looks quite battered after several dozens of activations Again, showing all the papers should convince a customs agent that you are only pursuing your hobby.
Hope this helps.
73 de Martin / HB9GVW
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On the few trips I’ve been on abroad I have taken my radio out of the bag , plugged in the microphone so it’s obvious what it is and placed it in a tray with my CEPT document.
The only time I’ve had a problem is when I had an RH-770 antenna seperate in the tray and it got flagged because they thought it was a vape. Once I explained they sent it back through and it was fine. Now I attach the antenna to the HT before security.
Never been asked for anything by customs, but I’ve only been to a handful of countries.
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Thank you very much Martin and Pete!
Good point.
73
Ingo