Radar and no transponder

N659HB

N659HB

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Lather, rinse repeat!
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The recent thread on flight following got me to wondering. Since I am one of "those guys" (no xponder), how would I appear to ATC? Just a return on primary radar? Not there at all?
 
Depends on your altitude and distance from the antenna but yeah, just a primary target (blip). AIM figure 4-5-2. has a pic. May or may not get FF depending on the controller and their ability to provide the service. I always did though. Just told them to report any altitude changes.
 
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N659HB said:
The recent thread on flight following got me to wondering. Since I am one of "those guys" (no xponder), how would I appear to ATC? Just a return on primary radar? Not there at all?
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Depends on what and where you are. Aluminum airplane will give a primary return if in a primary radar environment. Plastic airplane with a wood or plastic prop, not so much on the primary return.

Go up in the hills with WAM and nobody will have a clue about where you are.
 
30 miles out, 1000ish AGL (flat land) they don't see you. 20 miles out, they do. That's all I got.
 
N659HB said:
The recent thread on flight following got me to wondering. Since I am one of "those guys" (no xponder), how would I appear to ATC? Just a return on primary radar? Not there at all?
Click to expand...
As a blip or a digitized 'symbol.' Many of the newer Radars digitize Primary returns. That's the 'echo' the 'skin paint,' whatever you want to call it. It appears on the scope not as the traditional looking blip. Some of them make a very nice filled in rectangle that looks like a raw blip. Some show an x, + or o. There are probably other symbols that I haven't seen.
 
TB2,is it true that a steel tube aircraft like a cub,t craft,champ show up as a primary target farther,lower than other no tspd aircraft? also do most controlled airports have brights in the cab linked or otherwise?
 
Wow, you're showing your age. We stopped using brights and Dbrights many moons ago. We have STARS now. Standard Terminal Automation Replacement Systems. All class Bs and Cs use them and some of them are in Ds. They are linked or rather fused with multiple radar antenna. And to answer your question, one would have to know what type aircraft is out there in order to know if it shows up or not. If it doesn't show up, then how would we know it is out there? Kind of a catch 22 so I can't really answer your question.
 
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