Morgans wrote:
"R. Lee Jarvis" wrote

I fly a Luscombe 8A with no electrical system, thus of course without
lights or transponder. I must land before sundown, but other than that I
have no problem.

On the whole, I enjoy flying the Luscombe. It's a real low-tech,
low-stress, low-cost, fun-flying machine that draws an admiring and
reminiscing crowd wherever it goes, and I rarely find the lack of
transponder to be a serious drawback.

Have you ever considered a small jell-cell lead-acid battery, and second
hand transponder, along with you handheld radio, to make life easier when
you want to go to the class C airports, or traverse their airspace?

You would not have to use it all the time, but for those times you needed
it, it could be worth the cost and weight, I would think.

I've never seen a hand held transponder since Terra went out of
business. They used to make a balloon pack (essentially the TRT250
and a battery) as you suggest.

I was never sure of the legality of this especially once you get
to the point of needing mode C (which the Terra didn't address,
mind you back in the day, unless you were very high or near one
of the busier TCA's you didn't need mode C).