I once checked a 125 lb table saw (without legs and packaged in cardboard)
as baggage on Continental back in the late 70's. They didn't even charge me
for over weight. Unfortunately, that was only from Texas to Seattle. In
Seattle I had to change to Alaska Airlines (and re-check the baggage) where
I ended up paying more than I paid for the saw when new ten years earlier.
It was that or walk off and leave it in front of the baggage counter.
Believe me - I was tempted.
Roger, KL7Q
"Terry" wrote in message
. ..

"Robert Bonomi" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Richard Steinfeld wrote:

"Robert Bonomi" wrote in message
...
| In article ,
| Phil Nelson wrote:
| I just got email from a guy who checked a 90+ pound military
boatanchor as a
| piece of LUGGAGE on a flight from the UK to the US. This was
some time ago,
| so apparently he wasn't charged for the extra weight.
|
Not quite: It was a nine tube 1942 British R107. 24 by 17 by 13 inches,
originally weighing 92 pounds, which had included a sheet metal cover. It
had a reputation for ruggedness.
This was before 9/11!
Mine was missing the cover so it weighed in at about 88-90 lbs.
On a trip to visit relatives in the UK I took one check-in suitcase and a
carry on.
A good friend had purchased the R107 for me and brought it to me during my
visit.
Preparing for the return trip; on my sister's dining room table and using
bathroom scales I stripped the R107 of it's power supply chassis, thinking
that would get the weight down to the airline limit.
It did not. Ended up removing other pieces including the non original
audio
output transformer (to any UK readers I'm still looking for a Transformer
Telephone , No 13, ZA3135, btw!), the 1940 'heavy magnet style' speaker,
the
BPO style 'muting' relay etc. and some steel brackets.
The thing is built like a Sherman tank and there was a, perhaps mythical,
story about one being pulled off the back of a truck by its power cable
and
'It kept working'.
The Mullard style glass tubes were packed into my underwear, the power
supply was hand carried in a canvas bag.
I had taken care to have exchanged emails about a month before with the
one
and only airline I would be flying, about the unit, carried full
documentation, pictures of the unit and the purchase receipt. It weighed
in
at a little over the limit of 66 lbs and they didn't even check that as I
handed it over as my second item of check-in baggage for the return trip!
It's own steel case was strong and the front panel was protected with a
layer of foam insulation and a piece of thin plywood along with the units
two strong handles and two projecting and protecting metal posts. All
taped
into a big cardboard box.
No problems; the only question was when the hand carried bag with the
power
supply went through the X.ray scanner. I happened to have picked an
inspection team that was 'training'. The man viewing the scanner wearing a
great big turban had his assistant ask what the unit was and when I
described that I was bringing back a vintage 1942 WWII radio became
personally quite interested!
Oh yes; my hernia was worse after lifting it onto the bench to reassemble
it.
Why all the trouble? Well, nostalgia! I had a war surplus R107 over 50
years
ago as a teenager in the late 1940s!
Ah memories; of listening to Radio Luxembourg on 208 metres, the lovely
voice of Pat Gates on VOA, and much else; in those less QRN'd days of
fewer
appliances, TV buzzes, computer emanations and generally less non-radio
interference. 'Jamming' from the USSR was common; SSB was just making an
appearance etc. etc.
have fun. I did.
Terry.
PS. The R107 resides a few miles from where on Dec 12th 1901 Marconi
received the first Transatlantic wireless telegraph signal at St. John's
Newfoundland, now part of Canada, from Poldhu, Cornwall England. Marconi
immediately chased away by lawyers representing the Anglo-American
Transatlantic cable company who felt they had the exclusive right to all
telegraph communications! So the first 'commercial' two way Transatlantic
wireless telegraph station was set up near Glace bay Nova Scotia, Canada
the
following year, 1902.