Testing marker beacon and transponder

[flion]

I've been using my COMM for a while now but just tried my NAV and found that a female BNC connector had the center connector fail to seat properly (Anyone else hate that it's female because the center connector is female even though the connector body is male? Anyway ... ). So it occurs to me that I should check my other antenna runs. But how? How do I tell if the transponder is putting out and how to I simulate marker signals - at least well enough to tell if the antenna is ok? I'm more interested in the transponder as I want to get the pitot/static system certified and don't want to waste the tech's time if the system is not working.

 

[TSwezey]

I think the easiest way to check to see if your transoonder is working is to find someone with some type of traffic awareness system in their plane and see if they are picking you up. This is just a guess but I believe it should work.

 

[pczar3]

Not sure it would work

Most of the traffic systems we have are passive and rely on the transponder being interrogated by another system (ATC for example). If there is no interrogation then the system doesn't transmit and the passive system doesn't see anything. I think visual is all you could do. IMHO.

Paul
pczar3
N694BP reserved

 

[Jeff A]

If your transponder wasn't working, you'd probably hear from ATC. Any avionics shop capable of certifying your pitot/static system should have the ability to test your transponder and marker beacon. FYI, your transponder needs to be certified every two years regardless if it's used for IFR or VFR flight (FAR 91.413 and 91.215). The marker beacon receiver can be tested in a matter of minutes (seriously, like 2 minutes) typically with the same test set used for the transponder. Both are tested from outside of the airplane, so as to measure antenna and transceiver sensitivity and power.

 

[flion]

If your transponder wasn't working, you'd probably hear from ATC.

Sorry, I'm not flying yet, I doubt they care. And I know the tech can test the system but he's an hour away and I wanted to be sure it was working before calling him up here to do the checks. A friend of mine who had his propjet certified last year had the guy there most of the day chasing system leaks. It was a tradeoff between having him stay and trouble-shoot or pay him to come back. I'm confident of my P/S systems but after finding that bad antenna connector, I'd like to verify the antenna runs. However, looks like I'll just have to bite the bullet.