Most "smuggle-able" radio?

There's a KX2 in that camera bag.

I know you can see it...but the only thing airport agents see is camera gear.

Nikon, Canon, Olympus...they all make camera gear - nothing to see here.

After my trip to Ecuador last year, several people emailed to ask me about getting my gear through customs. Any problems?

Ditto with a recent Caribbean cruise and a trip to Nova Scotia.

My radio at the time was either an IC-705. It looks like a radio, not a camera.

I had permission from the relevant entities to bring a radio on all three trips and that was good enough for me. I didn't go out of my way to prove that I had permission, nor did I do anything that would cause a customs official to ask if I had it.

If they'd asked, I would have answered honestly - my job was to cause them to not ask.

To do this, I placed the radio in plain sight - right in my camera bag, which was hand-searched at my request.

"Sir, are you bringing any radio equipment?" was never asked. So I didn't "declare" it any more than I declared my wristwatch or my electric razor.

The KX2 is a more smuggle-able radio than the IC-705 since the battery is built-in. The antenna was in my luggage - a telescoping 17-ft whip that fit diagonally within my suitcase (barely).

I can see the attraction of the KH1 - everything is built-in: radio, antenna, battery and ATU. Elecraft won't be touting this politically-incorrect advantage of the KH1 but my devious mind is already imagining border crossings like when I went to Laos on the down-low, (thanks to a Thai boat owner) in 1990 for a quick lunch in Vientiane.

Yeah, I've still got my eye on the KH1...just need that 8-week delay to go away. Smugglers aren't known for their patience.

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