Transponder quit

[Amelia]

Hi. File this under "exciting women are expensive."

On the way to visit me dear siblings, the transponder quit responding. Now what? I believe I can replace this one with another King of similar vintage for $675, or I can buy some fancy or semi-fancy ADS-b out-compliant for 7x to 10x that much. which I will have to do anyway in five years. Assuming my family hasn't moved me to a senior-care facility by then. So, what do you think is the best bang for the avionics buck these days?

[Danb]

Amelia. Just leave one of the senior rooms for me I hear there going fast..good luck in your decision

[N201MKTurbo]

My KT76A went south recently. I got a good one on EBAY for $250. Plus $100 for a re-cert.

I would let an avionics tech have a crack at it first.

[ArtVandelay]

I have a KT76A in my hanger, was working when I removed it, if you wanna go cheap route

[Amelia]

That might be just the thing, TeeJay! Where in Florida are you? I'm in Pensacola til Wednesday. What do you want for it?

[ArtVandelay]

That might be just the thing, TeeJay! Where in Florida are you? I'm in Pensacola til Wednesday. What do you want for it?

Call it $200 for me, $50 donated to Monneyspace. I'm at KFPR.

[Amelia]

that sounds good. I need to talk to the avionics guy I will get back to you. Thanks!,

[bonal]

Not sure this applies to your model but did you try removing from the tray and cleaning the contacts with some contact cleaner.

[Andy95W]

If you don't need the ADS-B out, or don't want to pay for it yet, check out the Sandia STX-165:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/avpages/sandiastx165m.php

Built in encoder, so the fastest and easiest installation, doesn't have to be done by an avionics shop. Great company, nice folks, and a really good product.

If you're going to need ADS-B Out in 2020, you should probably consider a self-contained Mode S transponder with Extended Squitter (ES).

[rbridges]

Do you have a KT76A right now?  If so, sounds like you can get back in the game for $250.  I went ahead and got the 74, but you're right about it costing more to go that route.  If teejay weren't getting you on your feet for so cheap, I'd recommend the 74 option; he's charging you less than BK's trade value.

 

btw, I've flown into Williamston to take my son hunting.  I have cousins in Windsor and Edenton.

[tony]

Amelia, do you have a 3/16 Allen wrench? You don't need to talk to the avionic's guy, the hanger fairies should take car of it......

[kerry]

Flight Control Services can repair it for Around $200.  You have to ship it to them in Florida.  For and extra $25 they can do your 2 year Transponder Certification.  Their ph# is 805 665 2130.  Look them up online to follow how to ship.  I highly recommend them.  They've repair 2 of my Narco AT50's with no issues at all. 

[kerry]

http://www.transponderrepair.com/  Here's their website.  Pretty easy to follow for your model transponder.  It tells you the fees and you send them a pre paid check.

[kerry]

http://www.transponderrepair.com/

[Bob - S50]

If you have a KT76A, I would buy and install the Trig TT31.  Under $2500, slide in replacement unless you want ADS-B in which case you'll have to run a wire for the position information.  No new tray needed.

 

If you don't care about ADS-B right now, installation cost should be almost $0, you end up with a new mode S transponder, and it is 1090ES ADS-B ready when you want to hook it up.

 

Bob

[chrisk]

If your going to be spending more than a few $100, I would look at the Trig TT-31 or the King KT-74.  With the proper source, they will output ADS-B. An instal without ADS-B should be very simple. They should slide into the same tray.

[Parker_Woodruff]

Hi Amelia,

I don't remember the specifics on the KT-76A, but just be sure there isn't a remote encoder outside of the transponder unit that needs to be replaced. Otherwise you've just swapped boxes but the transponder isn't the problem.

I think they call it a "blind encoder"

[Amelia]

Great guy near where I am has offered to deliver it to the local avionics shop, and let him check it out and install it. And I don't have to make a really expensive decision...yet.

[DXB]

KT-74 is around 2500, and is plug and play for KT76A,  plus 1 extra connection to existing GPS gives ADS-b out (could skip the connection for now but be set up to take care of ADS-b compliance easily later) .  Might be an opportunity to kill a couple birds with one stone.

[Amelia]

The saga continues.

A dear fellow Mooniac came to my rescue, even flying his KT76A to KPNS for me. It checked out perfectly, and the nice avionics man there installed it. He went to do the IFR cert, though, and couldn't get the altimeter to behave itself. He didn't have a shelf full of replacement parts, though, being a fairly new branch, so referred me over to Mobile, to guys who had done excellent work for me before. The Mobile guys then spent several hours checking things out, all bench-tested fine, so clutching my log book stickies, I launched toward home. ATC happy, Grandmama happy...for about 45 minutes. Then about every other controller would tell me they were getting altitude nonsense. Like 9000 feet low nonsense. The others were seeing the same 11,000 feet I was. So the next morning I called the lovely Mobile shop and asked permission to cry on their shoulders. "Yeah, we know. We were watching you on Flightaware."

So, while I would love another excuse to visit the Gulf Coast, it is not practical this week, and I NEED a working encoder by next week. Sigh.

The encoding altimeter, if I understood them, is an all-in-one thing made of pure Unobtainium, and now I may need to replace the current altimeter with separate altimeter and blind encoder, at quite a steep price. Or something like that.

More thoughts, y'all? Anybody got a working one for sale?

[Hank]

I think my mechanic swapped out just the encoder bit on mine three or four years ago.

Last week ATC told me they lost my altitude, so I went to Standby then back to Alt with no improvement, so I turned it Off, On and Alt and they were happy. Took a minute to reboot as I was flying towards the Charlie for an outlying field.

[Amelia]

Recycling didn't reliably help. The replacement transponder itself seems ok, but seems to be getting bad information. I am sure hoping I can just buy a new bit rather than the whole shebang. Have looked at the Trig/King slide-in units, seem to have merit, but hoping to kick that ADS-B can down the road just a little longer, hoping new and much cheaper/better is just around the corner, of course.

[carusoam]

Since it worked during parts of the flight...

Would it be wise to have the local shop check/clean the connections and look for bare or broken wires?

Or is this the type of failure of worn out equipment?

Eternal Optimist,

-a-

[LANCECASPER]

http://www.centuryinstruments.net/Price_List-July-2014/Price_List-July_2014.pdf

Go to the 3rd page on the pdf and look under "Altitude Reporting Altimeters"

 

$595 to Overhaul and Certify your encoding altimeter. $645 to exchange.

[Amelia]

Thanks! These nice people told me the same thing about the scarcity of encoding altimeters and parts to repair same. I think new altimeter/blind encoder combo is in my immediate future. They assured me that if it turns out to be a bit of stray corrosion, when the nearest avionics guy sees it on Monday, they'd take their box back. One thing about all this inconvenient avionics stuff is that I am sure meeting some good folk.