No 8's or 9's on a transponder

[subpilot]

yep, your right. I was only looking at the number of ones in the sequence and not the actually number of switching digits. Thanks, I learned something new today.

 

[n2o2diver]

Thanks guys, great discussion!

I'm a product of a Navy Education as well.

 

[Kingairer]

Why no 8s and 9s?

Dont know, dont care! And wont until ATC starts telling me to put in 8s when I cant.

 

[shooter13]

number systems UGGG

I have to disagree Rahga. Hex is much harder for me to use. Maybe it is just me. We use Octal all the time in our PLCs. Octal becomes almost second nature after a bit fo time. Maybe hex would be as well if I used it more.

Sad thing is, the fact that octal is used shows what really old school technology we use. Converting from decimal to binary is extremely easy to do now a days. A $2 calculator does it in fractions of a second. Unfortunately the FAA is so far behind that their computers would probably puke if we tried to shove a nine at them.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Pretty soon, everyone will have ADS-B and no need for a transponder code, octal or otherwise...

But until those days, we're stuck with what it is.

Actually, in the old days, there were only 32 transponder combinations!

 

[bluelake]

Umm....

Even though I was an ealry participant in this discussion, can we all agree that IF we were having this talk in public, that it would REPEL women????

Lets just agree to agree that there are no 8 or 9's cuz the freakin transponder box is old and the stuff that is inside of it is... OLD ALSO! It works in an OLD way!

 

[Ralgha]

I have to disagree Rahga. Hex is much harder for me to use. Maybe it is just me. We use Octal all the time in our PLCs. Octal becomes almost second nature after a bit fo time. Maybe hex would be as well if I used it more.

Sad thing is, the fact that octal is used shows what really old school technology we use. Converting from decimal to binary is extremely easy to do now a days. A $2 calculator does it in fractions of a second. Unfortunately the FAA is so far behind that their computers would probably puke if we tried to shove a nine at them.

Most things become second nature if used enough. Hex is far more widespread than octal is, but they both have their uses. I never said no one uses octal.

 

[MDPilot]

Here you go guys, all you ever wanted to know about transponders.

http://www.airsport-corp.com/modec.htm

 

[woodreau]

Pretty soon, everyone will have ADS-B and no need for a transponder code, octal or otherwise...

Nope, then we'll need PU/JU numbers, FUAJs, FUJAs, and gridlock.

At least that's the pain we have to deal with now using JTIDS/TADIL-J and TADIL-A datalinks. I'm hoping the experiment in Alaska has simplified the whole datalink so that it's transparent to the pilot, because it's very labor intensive trying to keep the datalinks up and running in the military.

 

[hattrick]

yeaaaaaah am i the only one or are there others that got lost after the first couple posts. id really hate to be the only stupid note. i heard a guy read back a transponder code with an 8 in it and the controller didnt say anything for a minute. when he did speak up he said "cessna abc, you still looking for that 8" anyway im slightly impressed ya'll knowledge but i must ask why and how did you learn that.

 

[Stone Cold]

Hattrick,

Pretty much anybody with electronics experience (I am also a former Navy computer geek) has learned Octal, Hex, and Binary.

For the rest of you...I hope you have girlfriends/ SO's because with this conversation you will never find anybody new.

TX