the fuction of transponder's ident button

[thread creep]
I know we've had this conversation, but I don't understand why, on a 1.5 hr flight, ATC will have me change squawk codes 15 minutes from my destination.

[/thread creep]
 
inigo88 said:
While flying a C172 I had the ident button of the original POS 1970s transponder get stuck in the "ON" position for a good five minutes or so. Similarly entertaining conversations with ATC ensued.
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On my first solo into the practice area I -errr- the airport moved. Called up tower thinking I was 10 north of the field. Asked to ident. Didn't know how to. I guess in all my prior flights my CFI hit the button. I knew it was something to do with the transponder but after fliping from On/Off/stby etc never saw the ident button. It wasn't until I saw Hanger 1 on Lakehurst that I knew where I -err the airport- was north of me. Was glad I had spent plenty of time there as a kid.
 
msmspilot said:
[thread creep]
I know we've had this conversation, but I don't understand why, on a 1.5 hr flight, ATC will have me change squawk codes 15 minutes from my destination.

[/thread creep]
Click to expand...

You were probably going into a new Center's jurisdiction. The code you had before was assigned to someone else in that area already.
 
ATC RET 2003 said:
For those of us that are older than petrified dinosaur turds, it would cause the beacon targets to "blossom." I don't know if there are any facilities like that left.
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My old facility had a 10 channel decoder that would allow that operation. Turn the Spare video all the way up. Everyone is represented by a certain number of hashes depending on what they're squawking. The IDENT filled the space between the hashes. No alpha numerics (data tags). My instructor was well versed in its operation but I never had to actually use it. I think if stuff started failing that badly, the plan was to let Center have the airspace.
inigo88 said:
May I ask what "ring around" was?
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Because of the way some radar interprets the return off aircraft, if your azimuth to the antenna isn't changing much (for example, you're travelling directly toward or away from the radar site), it will sometimes generate a false target that's exactly opposite your position on the scope. It's a beacon target generation, so it'll have Mode C and a code if your aircraft has such. That false target will cause Collision Alerts if it's close to another aircraft at the same altitude.

It's usually obvious when it happens. For one, the false target doesn't have a "primary" associated with it, meaning no real return of radar off the physical aircraft itself. Plus, it's a transponder code that matches an aircraft you're working, so it causes the real tag to display "DB" for Duplicate Beacon. Plus, it's the same altitude and exactly opposite an identical looking aircraft on the scope.

Also, many facilities still use ARTS IIe, which are the old green/yellow scopes with the Radar Sweep you'd expect to see in old Sci-Fi movies. Waco Regional and Austin Bergstrom among them. The ident function on those scopes just makes the code blink along with the letters "ID" next to the tag.
 
msmspilot said:
[thread creep]
I know we've had this conversation, but I don't understand why, on a 1.5 hr flight, ATC will have me change squawk codes 15 minutes from my destination.

[/thread creep]
Click to expand...

boondr said:
You were probably going into a new Center's jurisdiction. The code you had before was assigned to someone else in that area already.
Click to expand...

Aw, c'mon boondr... you've been FFAing long enough to know that the truth only serves to cloud the issue. You have to make something up, write it down and show it to 'em. :)

bcn codes.png
 
surreal1221 said:
I must say, that in very random instances...

I get a kick out of squawking IDENT...

;)
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I might (a time or two or three) hit ident when I can't get a word in to check in.

I also do it after being given a new squawk code but my understanding is that the target flashes automatically when it retags up so I may not actually need to do that.
 
I'm the IDENT bandit...IDENT'ing just for the hell of it.

Maybe it happens multiple times a day, multiple times during a four day, or only once every few months...;)
 
Well to the OP, it doesn't get much better than that. He made you an animated GIF of exactly what it looks like. All I want to know is how come Surreal gets to fly the Concorde? :)
 
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