anyone carrying this expensive radiation detector as part of their PSK?

http://www.nuk-alert.com/

... or tried to get one through airport security? :-)

the manufacturer told me in an email to carry the instruction book with me when I go through security and said they would not confiscate the item, but I have not tried it yet -- I think the average TSA employee would think it was a small nuke and confiscate it and have you arrested. As expensive as it is, I don't want to lose it to some government yo-yo who doesn't have a clue -- besides, that assumes the TSA employee can read as well!

I wonder if you could just paint over the (very obvious) yellow label and tell 'em it's a car remote...

Edit:

Huh. It doesn't appear to have an "off" switch (this is supposedly a "feature"). Hopefully, the
lowest alert level is still well above background so you aren't being bugged with random beeps.

I don't really want to try it -- with my luck, swat teams would descend from the ceiling, alarms would be going off everywhere and I would spend my vacation in airport jail or worse -- I don't think it's worth the chance

Didja notice the thing triggers with some X rays too? Something that beeps while in the x ray machine probably wouldn't go over too well. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Would I use one? No.

Practical equipment should be useful in many different situations, portable and cost effective.

Radiation is very, very low on my list of worries. So, I'd rather buy store and carry things that will help in more likely events.

Teacher RO

My whole kit is less than the cost of one of these...

For this thing to be useful, you'd have to believe there was a reasonable chance you could be exposed to radioactive substances without knowing it. Dirty bomb, powder in a package, pellets hidden in the walls, etc. Most people probably won't need one.

I'd love to buy one and carry it, for the conversational value alone. No I wouldn't take one to the airport. Those things are expensive and the advice is, don't take anything to the airport you can't afford to have confiscated by security.

If something frightens or confuses them, why should they bother figuring it out? They declare it a weapon. They demand you turn it over. You protest. They have you busted and hauled away in cuffs. Then someone else in another uniform gets to figure out your little gizmo.

-- Craig

I wonder what security does with all the stuff they confiscate?

And I wonder if what they do with what they confiscate has anything to do with what they confiscate?

I wonder what airport security is paid these days? Do you think it went up at least fifty cents since 9/11?

Sue

They sell it on e-bay, didn't you ever see the auctions for "50 Swiss Army Knives" or "20 Leatherman Multi-tools". It is well known that that is what they do.

Keep it. Sell it on eBay. I know there are rules, but the enforcement is lax because of a lack of funding and staffing.

It's the whole "Who Is Watching The Watchers?" thing.

-- Craig

Yep, that's what happens ... and where do you think the money made from that goes? To the U.S. Treasury??? Right ... it goes to morale-boosing parties and off-the-boosk incentives for the poor, overworked, misunderstood and roundly hated TSA screeners.

Know who loves the TSA? The good old United States Postal Service. Before 9/11, the USPS was the poster child for everything wrong with the Fed. The phrase "going postal" entered the popular culture and was scattered about liberally in conversation. Then came Columbine and 9/11.

Compared to the TSA, the USPS is a beacon of shining light now. The USPS might lose some mail once in a while and get every day off known to the civilized world, but they don't routinely make us feel like criminals or have the power to make us spread 'em and bend over.

-- Craig