Transponder code switching

Teacherjh,

AIM is not gospel, and although it represents distilled (good) judgement, it
should not =replace= judgement.


Of course not. But there was no judgement in your post.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

No, I only squawk on the ground. That way no one knows where I am ;-).

Guess it is old age catching up with me, huh?

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote:

"Ray Andraka" wrote in message
...

I put mine in the alt position after clearing the runway. That way, next
time I turn on the avionics I'm not squawking an IFR code that might be in
use.


I assume you meant to write "stby" in place of "alt".

--
--Ray Andraka, P.E.
President, the Andraka Consulting Group, Inc.
401/884-7930 Fax 401/884-7950
email
http://www.andraka.com

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little
temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, 1759

But there was no judgement in your post.

Sure there was. I made the judgement that it was better for me to briefly not
reply to a ping than to reply inappropriately as I was switching numbers.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

Ray Andraka wrote:
I put mine in the alt position after clearing the runway. That way, next
time I turn on the avionics I'm not squawking an IFR code that might be in
use.


Doesn't matter as the software in the radar is calibrated so as not to
display a code on the airport. We have ours set so no transponder
returns show until you get more than 1/2 mile away from the antenna,
otherwise the airport would be a clogged mess of returns. And you're
not worried about a code that is in use but one that is not yet in use.

Teacherjh wrote:

But there was no judgement in your post.


Sure there was. I made the judgement that it was better for me to briefly not
reply to a ping than to reply inappropriately as I was switching numbers.

It takes at least two sweeps and sometimes as many as 5 sweeps before
the radar will tag you up on a code you're squawking.

Newps writes:

It takes at least two sweeps and sometimes as many as 5 sweeps before
the radar will tag you up on a code you're squawking.

Is that true of all radar equipment? I've sometimes been assigned a
new squawk code then heard "radar contact" within a couple of seconds
(usually, though, it's more like 20-30 seconds, which would agree with
what Newps writes).


All the best,


David

Dark lonely night and you are the only airplane in the airspace
squawking VFR. You call up for service I'll give you a code and radar
contact in the same breath.

David Megginson wrote:
Newps writes:


It takes at least two sweeps and sometimes as many as 5 sweeps before
the radar will tag you up on a code you're squawking.


Is that true of all radar equipment? I've sometimes been assigned a
new squawk code then heard "radar contact" within a couple of seconds
(usually, though, it's more like 20-30 seconds, which would agree with
what Newps writes).


All the best,


David

"Thomas Borchert" wrote in message
...
Ken,

leave it on while switching. The AIM says so.


This is a really silly argument. Does the AIM say when you can pick your
nose or scratch your ass? Guess you better not then! What the heck are you
guys getting all worked up about? It's people who rely on a book to do all
their thinking that scare me....no ability to use common sense in an
emergency, they'll be sitting there thumbing through the AIM or the FARs
wondering what to do.....

Its too bad there's not a way to test for the ability to differentiate
between what is important and what is not. Wow....

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

"unknown" wrote:
Its too bad there's not a way to test for the ability to differentiate
between what is important and what is not. Wow....

There is. Look at the age on death certificates.

"Mike Beede" wrote in message
...

The only time it really makes a difference is if you accidentally
switch it to the 7500+ neighborhood. A good rule of thumb is to roll in
the first number (which at least in the Minneapolis area is never 7) and
then do the rest.

Do people get 7xxx codes elsewhere in the United States?

FWIW, in most of the rest of the world the conspicuity code ("VFR", in
effect) is 7000 rather than 1200. There's rather more room for error of the
sort you're thinking of.

Moreover, when the question is asked on forums in Europe, controllers
suggest that *any* random code can cause problems because if you happen upon
one that has been assigned to IFR traffic, the radar system picks up the
squawk and labels you as that airways flight, which is time-consuming for
ATC to fix. Is there no similar issue in the US because of different ATC
systems? The issue is less about momentary selection as you pass through the
digits and more about cockpit distraction meaning that the wrong code gets
left on for a while.

Julian Scarfe