Question:
>> Airport xrays can affect film (especially in your camera) and several > times I have had to get new ATM cards because the damm machines in > Frankfurt rendered my card unusable after I came back from a trip. > Is this true, folks…???
X-rays don’t affect ATM cards but inductive-loop metal detectors might. I last went through Frankfurt a long time ago, but then they supplemented the whole-body loop with a handheld frisbee- sized one they would run over you if they got a bleep first time; this could well have produced a higher local field. Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975 stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557
Response:
My current credit cards have been x-rayed in U.S. airport security x-ray machines more than all of yours combined. I repair a specific brand of x-ray machines for a living and was a factory trained engineer for a competing brand. I use my briefcase (with my wallet in it) as a test object. X-rays don’t affect the mag stripes. LH – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Airport xrays can affect film (especially in your camera) and several > times I have had to get new ATM cards because the damm machines in > Frankfurt rendered my card unusable after I came back from a trip. > Is this true, folks…??? > — > Best > Greg > Re: Oliver Stone: "The X-Ray Machine Ate My Movie" > x-no-archive: yes > i thought airport xrays didnt affect film? > or did they make this excuse, as original takes were so poor…?
Response:
> the actual cause of magnetic media degradation: large magnets. In a > poorly designed and/or old airport conveyor system, the motors could > have a sufficient magnetic field to induce undesired effects. There are
I think I might’ve been a victim of this. Few times (twic or so, not many, but still seems like a lot to be a coincidence), after I’ve travelled with a hard drive in my carryon, it has had bad sectors in it. Obviously, they did not have them before. But this has never happened when I’ve put the hard drives in the checked luggage. I don’t know what caused thos bad sectors, but considering they were wrapped in anti-static bag and cushioned in the carryon, it seems unlikely that other factors could’ve caused it. — Mikko Peltoniemi Film & Video Editor, Avid Technician at large. http://www.discountcadavers.com
Response:
Gregory Morrow says… > Airport xrays can affect film (especially in your camera) and several > times I have had to get new ATM cards because the damm machines in > Frankfurt rendered my card unusable after I came back from a trip. > Is this true, folks…???
I’ve often returned from a trip with all the credit bits wiped right off my cards.
Response:
>> > Airport xrays can affect film (especially in your camera) and several > > times I have had to get new ATM cards because the damm machines > > in Frankfurt rendered my card unusable after I came back from a trip. > Is this true, folks…??? > I’ve often returned from a trip with all the credit bits wiped right off > my cards.
X-rays definitely can affect film. However, x-rays cannot affect magnetic media like floppies, VHS tapes, and credit cards. This was verified many years ago in government testing. This urban myth will not die because of the actual cause of magnetic media degradation: large magnets. In a poorly designed and/or old airport conveyor system, the motors could have a sufficient magnetic field to induce undesired effects. There are also unusual sources of degradation like poorly designed access cards. Many years ago I worked at a facility where the security personnel would tell new access cardholders that placing the company access card next to a credit card would result in a wiped credit card. Some bozo is now going to try to impress us with his intelligence and tell us that all conveyor systems were designed so that the magnetic field of the motors does not extend beyond the physical boundaries of the motor housing. This is only true of current designs. Eastern European and other airports may have Soviet and/or old conveyor systems. Casey
Response:
> Airport xrays can affect film (especially in your camera) and several > times I have had to get new ATM cards because the damm machines in > Frankfurt rendered my card unusable after I came back from a trip.
Is this true, folks…??? — Best Greg – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> Re: Oliver Stone: "The X-Ray Machine Ate My Movie" > x-no-archive: yes > i thought airport xrays didnt affect film? > or did they make this excuse, as original takes were so poor…?