Can I bring my scanner onboard?
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Can I bring my scanner onboard?
Hi everybody,
I'll soon be traveling on 2 Air France flights. Both will be on the A340. I have an Icom Scanner that i'd like to bring on my 2 flights to listen to the ATC. I'm in Canada and I'm afraid the security agents will take it from me when my bag will go thru the X-Ray...
Am I allowed to bring that device onboard? Is it legal?
Also, does anybody know if Air France A340s have the Exterior Camera?
Thanks
I'll soon be traveling on 2 Air France flights. Both will be on the A340. I have an Icom Scanner that i'd like to bring on my 2 flights to listen to the ATC. I'm in Canada and I'm afraid the security agents will take it from me when my bag will go thru the X-Ray...
Am I allowed to bring that device onboard? Is it legal?
Also, does anybody know if Air France A340s have the Exterior Camera?
Thanks
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Jumbo,
there is no restriction on bringing the scanner through security. I live in Toronto and regulary take my scanner on board. They sometimes see the antenna on the xray and want to see what it is, but once they see it they are OK with it. I had i swabed once or twice. That is the good news. The bad news is that the scanner is totally uselless inside the airport and inside the aircraft. I have the Icom IC2 unit and it works great with a bigger antenna on my balcony, but even with the antenna on the balcony, it does not work well when the unit is indoors. I turned it on inside Pearson terminal 2 and it works, marginally if you take it near the window. Once inside the aircraft there is no sign of life. I am ocourse talking about air frequencies only. I haven't tried cell or police frequencies. Let us know how it works out. What unit are you using?
there is no restriction on bringing the scanner through security. I live in Toronto and regulary take my scanner on board. They sometimes see the antenna on the xray and want to see what it is, but once they see it they are OK with it. I had i swabed once or twice. That is the good news. The bad news is that the scanner is totally uselless inside the airport and inside the aircraft. I have the Icom IC2 unit and it works great with a bigger antenna on my balcony, but even with the antenna on the balcony, it does not work well when the unit is indoors. I turned it on inside Pearson terminal 2 and it works, marginally if you take it near the window. Once inside the aircraft there is no sign of life. I am ocourse talking about air frequencies only. I haven't tried cell or police frequencies. Let us know how it works out. What unit are you using?
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Jumbo,
I forgot to answer on the camera question. I've been on AF359/358 (YYZ-CDG) many times in all 3 cabins and don't recall any video from outside. You can see the hoky route map, which I am convinced is just a tape they put in when they take off and it plays for 6-7 hours pretending to give you a "position". I bring my own GPS to know where I am. However it has been over a year now that I've been on one of the AF A340s so who knows maybe they have it now. I am more interested in the fois gras and some sleep.
I forgot to answer on the camera question. I've been on AF359/358 (YYZ-CDG) many times in all 3 cabins and don't recall any video from outside. You can see the hoky route map, which I am convinced is just a tape they put in when they take off and it plays for 6-7 hours pretending to give you a "position". I bring my own GPS to know where I am. However it has been over a year now that I've been on one of the AF A340s so who knows maybe they have it now. I am more interested in the fois gras and some sleep.
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Hello Dushan,
thanks a lot for the answer!
The unit I have is the IC-A24. I live in an appartment complex and I am located 16km from the airport. I can hear very clearly from the inside of my appartment almost all the frequencies (only aeronautics frequencies), from the ramp to the ground, tower, dep, app, center.
I'm surprised that it is useless inside the aircraft? i thought it was going to be crystal clear. I'll try it and give you a feedback (my flight is the 4th of May).
thanks a lot for the answer!
The unit I have is the IC-A24. I live in an appartment complex and I am located 16km from the airport. I can hear very clearly from the inside of my appartment almost all the frequencies (only aeronautics frequencies), from the ramp to the ground, tower, dep, app, center.
I'm surprised that it is useless inside the aircraft? i thought it was going to be crystal clear. I'll try it and give you a feedback (my flight is the 4th of May).
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LOL
I just saw your 2nd message. Thanks for the info. It's been 13 years since I haven't taken any Air France flight! I booked with them because it was supposed to be a 777 for the flight to CDG but now they changed it.
Thanks again
I just saw your 2nd message. Thanks for the info. It's been 13 years since I haven't taken any Air France flight! I booked with them because it was supposed to be a 777 for the flight to CDG but now they changed it.
Thanks again
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I am on the 20th floor in downtown Toronto. I see the planes line up to land 24L/R and can see the tower from my place. When I aattach the external antenna with a ground plane (an old cookie sheet) it works great, but as I said when I take the scanner indoors, and leave antenna outside a big fat zero. Could be the unit. I also have the SONY 2010 and it works fine indoors with an outside antenna, but it is not a scanner so pick a frequency and switch manually. Let me know how your scanner works inside the building and inside the aircraft. Maybe it's time for a change...
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oh ok I see. I think the problem is the cable running from your unit to the antenna. That kills the signal as it is a huge loss for the signal. What you need to correct this, is a High Gain antenna to compensate the loss.
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I can't comment on the techie stuff, but if your question is can you use the scanner on board to listen to ATC then you will not be able to do that legally. If you want to listen to ATC throughout a flight then you should fly United, they have it on Channel 9. Only once have I heard them leave it on 123.45 across the Atlantic, and that was by far the best part 
So any United captains out there, thanks for turning it on in the first place, and listening to the baseball/cricket chat is very entertaining
So any United captains out there, thanks for turning it on in the first place, and listening to the baseball/cricket chat is very entertaining
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It is very possible that my antenna setup is bad. It is a cheap one given to mey by the people at RadioWorld when I bought the scanner. Will try with the better setup, the one I use for the SONY. BTW I lokked up your model on the ICOM site and realized that is a transreceiver. That may be a problem with our friends at Pearson. I have taken wlkie-talkies and marine hand-held transreceivers but never an air frquency transreveiver. I would not say anything to them, and if they ask say it is a walkie-talkie. It might be wise to disconnect the antenna so when they see a "spike" on the xray they would look at it alone, without the radio. The less opportunity for them to handle it the better.
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Yeah my unit being a transceiver can be a problem for them. I think I won't take the risk because I paid 300$ for it and I don't want to lose it 
I don't think you did anything wrong with your setup but it is just a general rule in wireless networks, and it applies to radiowaves probably: You can have the best quality cable, there will always be some loss. But for sure if you get a more powerful antenna, it will improve the signal.
Slim, LOL @ the baseball/cricket chat
I don't think you did anything wrong with your setup but it is just a general rule in wireless networks, and it applies to radiowaves probably: You can have the best quality cable, there will always be some loss. But for sure if you get a more powerful antenna, it will improve the signal.
Slim, LOL @ the baseball/cricket chat
