How to Travel Commercial Airlines with USRP

Hello:

Quick question: I’m flying commercial for a work-trip, American Airlines
from Los A. to Dallas, and I need to bring my USRP N200. How can I
bring it with me? Does anyone have any experience flying commercial
airlines with USRPs? Should I put it into my checked-in luggage? I’m
afraid it would get flagged as something dangerous, and they’d rip open
my luggage. Do you think I could carry it on-board the plane, after
security makes me open it and they look inside it? Or is it just going
to create too many problems, and would I be better off just mailing it
to Dallas ahead of my trip?

Any thoughts, advice, experiences would be much appreciated!!
Thanks for your help!!

Best Regards,
Bruce P.

These days you will have more trouble with a screwdriver than with the
usrp. We fly with them all the time.

Matt

Absolutely don’t worry about carrying it on. Describe it exactly as it
is, if questioned: Expensive electronic test equipment, with no internal
batteries.
Folks have to travel with test equipment and electronic prototypes that
look plain weird all the time, I certainly have.

On Sun, Jun 9, 2013 at 3:26 PM, Bruce P.
[email protected]wrote:

Quick question: I’m flying commercial for a work-trip, American Airlines
from Los A. to Dallas, and I need to bring my USRP N200. How can I
bring it with me? Does anyone have any experience flying commercial
airlines with USRPs?

I recommend you put it in your checked luggage, with appropriate
padding.
I’ve flown many, many times this way, both domestically and
internationally, with no issues.

When I’ve tried to carry them in my carry-on luggage, I sometimes get my
bag re-run through the machine after having to take them out, but never
any
real issues, just annoyance. When asked, I’ve described them as test
equipment, with no further questions.

I’ve had more problems with a screwdriver and SMA wrench than with
USRPs.

Agreed. I’ve always checked mine - no problems. But I carry on my
satellites. EVERYONE wants to get a look at that at the security
checkpoint. :slight_smile:

On Sunday, June 9, 2013, Johnathan C. wrote:

I recommend you put it in your checked luggage, with appropriate padding.

Johnathan C.
Corgan Labs - SDR Training and Development Services
http://corganlabs.com


Very Respectfully,

Dan CaJacob

This is also my experience with even more strange electronic devices.
Just
carrying a bunch of handheld two-way radios rose some eyebrows, they had
to
go through a test for hidden explosives, and that was all.

Ralph.

From: discuss-gnuradio-bounces+ralph=removed_email_address@domain.invalid
[mailto:discuss-gnuradio-bounces+ralph=removed_email_address@domain.invalid] On Behalf Of
Matt
Ettus
Sent: Sunday, 09 June, 2013 21:42
To: Bruce P.
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] [USRP-users] How to Travel Commercial
Airlines with USRP

These days you will have more trouble with a screwdriver than with the
usrp.
We fly with them all the time.

Matt

On Jun 9, 2013 12:27 PM, “Bruce P.” [email protected]
wrote:

Hello:

Quick question: I’m flying commercial for a work-trip, American Airlines
from Los A. to Dallas, and I need to bring my USRP N200. How can I
bring it with me? Does anyone have any experience flying commercial
airlines
with USRPs? Should I put it into my checked-in luggage? I’m afraid it
would
get flagged as something dangerous, and they’d rip open my luggage. Do
you
think I could carry it on-board the plane, after security makes me open
it
and they look inside it? Or is it just going to create too many
problems,
and would I be better off just mailing it to Dallas ahead of my trip?

Any thoughts, advice, experiences would be much appreciated!!

Thanks for your help!!

Best Regards,

Bruce P.