An MD80 flight crew declared an emergency and returned to land overweight at their departure airport following receipt of a Tail Compartment Temp High warning.

Narrative

While on initial climbout after takeoff the 'Tail Compartment Temp Hi' light illuminated. I accomplished the memory items and the First Officer hacked his clock. I accomplished the QRH checklist. The light extinguished after about 20 seconds; but it illuminated again after another 20 seconds. This second illumination lasted about 40 seconds. We leveled at 10;000 FT; declared an emergency and requested vectors for landing and CFR response. I took control of the aircraft for the overweight landing and used most of the runway to stop so that I would not compound our emergency with hot brakes. CFR scanned the aircraft with heat detecting equipment and reported that no overheat existed. We then taxied to the gate with fire equipment following behind. At the gate the aft stairs were opened and CFR inspected the internal tail area. Brake temperatures peaked at 205 degrees. The aircraft was subsequently taken out of service by Maintenance for further inspection of a possible air conditioning duct leak.