Report From Zion !

[weishaupt1776]

Yup, chalk one up for another state national

His email below:

Originally Posted by Arizona National

At Phoenix since I declared a weapon in my checked baggage the Delta Ticket Agent wanted to see my ID when I checked the bag.* Usually they don't ask for ID when you check a bag and their web site specifically states they do not need to ask for ID at anytime.* He didn't read it closely, but was trying to see where or how*it was somehow issued by a government agency.* He finally saw the notary stamp and said, "Maricopa County -*OK."* That is all there was to that.* Then when I went through security at Akron Canton Airport on the return flight the TSA agent asked me what the expiration date was and I said, "There is none," and that was that - no further discussion.



The*declaration of the weapon was interesting.* The reason I took it with me was two fold:* First, It had a jamming problem I wanted to work on in my spare time while I was in Ohio.* As it turned out I didn't have a lot of spare time, but I did manage to find time to fix*it.* Second, I saw the sign at the ticket counter, when I paid for my ticket three weeks earlier, stating it was necessary to declare a "Firearm" in checked baggage; and I had*just happened to receive some emails at around the same time addressing this issue and they basically said this is one way to guarantee your bags will not be opened for search after they went through TSA screening.



I checked the*Delta web*site concerning the weapon and the web site stated the*weapon had to be in an approved case within the luggage.* There was no further description as to what approved was so I used the factory case which was a soft zippered case.**The web site also stated*the*"Firearm"*had to be unloaded and any ammunition carried had*to be in the original box or one similar where*each cartridge is separated from the adjacent one.



Upon declaration of the weapon (not firearm) I*was asked*to sign a card stating*the*"firearm"*was unloaded and then put the card *inside the luggage with the weapon.* At this time I learned the "approved case" needed to be crush proof and lockable.* That sure would have been good information to have on the web site and that is what I told the Delta Supervisor when they were trying to figure out what to do.* It just happened that the carry-on bag I had was a hard case which was lockable, so Delta gave me a nice bag*for my*carry-on things, and then I put the weapon in the hard case and checked it as baggage.* That worked out well as I got a free $25.00 carry-on*bag.* When I got to Ohio I stopped into a gun store and they had just the type of hard lockable case I needed*for the return trip.



I may have some interesting health information for you in*the near future.* My dad is 91 years old and has diabetes, glaucoma, and some other problems.* I started him*doing some things which seemed to be beneficial to him in just the short time I was there, but I need to wait for a few weeks to see how they progress.* If all goes as planned I will be giving you some very important information, but I do not want to get too excited prematurely.



Another bit of information you might be interested in.* The cell phone calls from personal cell phones allegedly made on 9/11/2001 is pure bull ****.* I violated FAA regulations (like I really care) on all flights I was on by having my cell phone on during the flights and here is what I discovered.



My*cell phone displays signal strength received from the cell phone tower.* The indicator is a series of seven bars arranged vertically on the left side of the display* When there*are no bars showing, there is*no signal strength*and I am unable to make or receive calls.* Even when one bar is showing it is very difficult to make a call successfully.* During the first leg from Phoenix to Cincinnati I lost all signal about 30 seconds after lift-off.* I figure we were not*more that 3000 feet above ground at that time.* At no time while in flight to Cincinnati did I have a signal.* I turned the phone off on approach to Cincinnati since we were on instruments at the time.* On the Cincinnati to Akron/Canton leg I had the phone off most of the time since we were IFR on take-off and landing, but I had no signal at any time while in flight above the clouds which I estimated our altitude to be*between*10,000 and 23,000*feet.



On the return flight from Akron/Canton to*Phoenix the first leg was to Atlanta.* I left the Phone off until we started to let down into Atlanta.* Since the weather was good my phone was on from about 5000 feet above ground to touch down.* I had absolutely no signal until we were about*to an altitude of 500 feet AGL (Above Ground Level) then the signal strength went from one bar to seven bars in less than 10 seconds.* This was conclusive proof for me so on the last leg from Atlanta to Phoenix I left the phone off until touch down 'cause there is no way in hell you can make a call in an airplane from a personal cell phone if you are above 3000 feet.

[Judge Roy Bean]

"On the return flight from Akron/Canton to*Phoenix the first leg was to Atlanta.* I left the Phone off until we started to let down into Atlanta.* Since the weather was good my phone was on from about 5000 feet above ground to touch down.* I had absolutely no signal until we were about*to an altitude of 500 feet AGL (Above Ground Level) then the signal strength went from one bar to seven bars in less than 10 seconds.* This was conclusive proof for me so on the last leg from Atlanta to Phoenix I left the phone off until touch down 'cause there is no way in hell you can make a call in an airplane from a personal cell phone if you are above 3000 feet."

Mine works fine, but in the aircraft I normally fly in it's quite a bit lower and slower. What you're dealing with is line-of-sight distances with devices that "hunt" for the strongest signal to establish a realtionship. You can be several miles from a tower (just ask the guys who call to get rescued off mountains).

Depending on where you are, cell phones will work at higher altitudes and speeds, but in crowded municipal areas, the tower hand-offs are happening so fast that the network load would be a serious problem if they let thousands of people in airplanes make calls. And even having your phone on generates heartbeat traffic as it moves.

A CDMA system uses power-level adaptation, which means as the number of connections increases, the transmission power is decreased. If you've wondered about dropped calls, consider the concept that "only the strong survive." If you're in a very high traffic area, signal strength from inside an aircraft may be so weak that you won't get service at all.

What you're also confusing is the speed at which that rather crude "strength" display can convey what the constantly-changing signal strength is as you move rapidly from cell to cell in crowded areas.