Portable Radio onboard Commercial Flight

There is no problem carrying the deactivated device on a commercial flight, it is not a prohibited item. However, some countries have strict rules on VHF transmitters and receivers. I wouldn’t expect any problems in the EU but would be very careful outside. For example in Egypt, it’s a criminal offence to possess a VHF transmitter without license and when you have one in your luggage, they will assume you are planning to command a terrorist group with it.

In my experience Greece is about twice as African as Egypt… I’d be careful!

I’ve heard you need a license for the radio itself. In Switzerland I think the model needs to be certified and the one I have as a backup was too new when I bought it, so it wasn’t. I never checked if it did get certified later because that’s the last thing I am going to bother about if I have an emergency on board.

What do you mean by “deactivated”? Taking out the battery is usually not a good idea, since it is prohibited to carry Li-Ion batteries which are not inside a device in the checked luggage. So your only option would be to put the battery in your hand luggage as well, but then you could just as well put it inside the radio because it will be much safer. I know of a case where an airline passenger had a battery pack from her phone in her handbag which she had just had replaced in some repair shop. It caught fire in flight due to a short circuit, and probably only because of the good reaction of the cabin crew this turned out well.

I just asked myself the same questions when I took my portable radio on a flying vacation in the US. I chose to put it into my checked bag, but with the battery installed.

I’ve often taken radios with me (two handhelds, 2m/70cm band transceiver and an airband transceiver) and security hasn’t even asked to look at them. This is in western Europe and the United States, though.

I did get stopped by the Police (plain clothes) at a railway station in Manchester because the antenna of my Yaesu 2m/70cm transceiver was sticking out of my bag (it’s an aftermarket Nagoya antenna which is too long to fit) and he thought I might be a terrorist…it had been sticking out my bag through the last two airports I had been through and no one in the airport cared!

I flew yesterday with Ryanair from Bucharest to Brussels – with my airband handheld in my carry-on. I had unclipped the battery (so that it wouldn’t accidentally flatten itself during travel) but that was it. No problems and have never had any.

In Europe you can own/have lots of high-powered RF gear – you only need paperwork if you intend to transmit…

Cheers, Sam.

I’ve brought a handled in the past in hand luggage, but carried my pilots licence too to prove a legitimate use.

But I’d be a bit more reluctant these days where learning to fly is seen as a potential terroist activity needing TSA clearance in advance!

Most of the time such electrical items don’t cause any issue on the scanner, and they never ask you to open your bag, so they don’t know if it’s a radio, walkie talkie or airband transceiver.

My big fear would be some security agent taking issue with it, and saying you can’t bring it on board. Now you’re left with a difficult decision of binning the expensive radio, or skipping the flight.

If you do decide to carry it, make sure to arrive very early, so that if you’re not allowed to carry it, you can at least have time to try and post it home to yourself, or perhaps buy another bag and get it checked in.

Also be cautious about the local laws before using it abroad. I seem to remember 10-15 years ago some UK spotters going on holidays to (Greece or Turkey I think it was?) and being arrested on suspission of terrorism activities because they were using equipment to listen into aircraft transmissions. It took a few weeks and diplomatic intervention before they were released. What’s normal at home, might not be seen that way in other places.