TRANSPONDER required

[9121u]

HI does any know if it is required to have a transponder in a helicopter if it does what is a good kind and price ranges thanks... tom

[fixnfly]

Tom, It basically depends on the type of airspace your flying in, if your talking to ATC or requesting flight following (recommended on a cross country).I have a Garmin GTX320A in one and a Narco AT150 in the other bird. Both work great, The Garmin Used go for $1500 & the Narco for $750 - 1000.The Narco AT165R goes for about $1500 Transponder test are required every 24 calender month.

[Brad Bowles]

Depending on the airspace you will need an altitude encoder. Transponders and encoders are being updated to work with new style gps systems some avionics shops are sell older transponders and encoders cheap check salvage yards and ebay also some avionics shops sell on ebay guaranteed .

[Ron Spiker]

Also, your location is under the Pittsburgh Class B Mode C veil. So where you are, you do need a transponder with Mode C altitude encoding.

[9121u]

THANKS TO ALL i can get a transponder kt 76a and a encoder ak350 very reasonably with guarantee. does any one have one like this in there helicopter. or would this be a good choice

[Ron Spiker]

Hey Tom. I have the KT-76A in mine and you don't need anything else. It has the altitude encoding (Mode C) built into it.

[9121u]

I guess ill go a head and get the transponder thanks RON and all the replies for my question's. saw you flying at BC AIRPORT Friday looked pretty cool coming in i was up there working on that awos station.thanks again....tom

[seneca2e]

The kt76a is a pretty good transponder-much better than the straight kt76. But you will need a separate blind encoder or encoding altimeter as they do not have them built in.