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Becker BXP 6403 Mode S transponder

10 Posts

A friend of mine has one of these for sale. It appears to be KT76A tray (pin?) compatible, which is quite interesting for Mode S upgrades, but I have never seen one of these before. I didn’t think there were many options for that (i.e. without changing the tray) apart from the KT73.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I checked the manual, and found that, for KT76 mechanical compatibility, an adapter is required.
Strange also to learn the altitude encoder is NOT included, so it needs to be added externally.
Even so I might be interested, feel free to pm.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

Am I the only one who thinks this transponder needs one small accessory?

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

I checked the manual, and found that, for KT76 mechanical compatibility, an adapter is required.

Do note that KT-76 and KT-78 pinout is completely different from KT-76A / KT-76C / KT-78A. The rack size is the same, though there are locator pins which are located differently to prevent the installation of the transponder in a wrong rack.

On the rear side of the BXP6403 an adapter (RFA6403-1) can be installed to make it rack and pin compatable with the KT-76A / KT-76C / KT-78A.
This option is not available for the KT-76 / KT-78

I didn’t think there were many options for that (i.e. without changing the tray) apart from the KT73.

There are others as well such as well known and superb Trig TT-31 wich is pin compatible with the KT-76A / KT-76C / KT-78A and can use the orginal Bendix/King rack.

The Garrecht, who was the first to make the smart adapter device on the rear of the units. The Garrecht VT-02 and VT-2000 are depending on the adapter used pin compatable with KT-76 / KT-76A / KT-76C / KT-78 and KT-78A.

JP-Avionics
EHMZ

Strange also to learn the altitude encoder is NOT included, so it needs to be added externally.

Only the Garrecht VT-02 / VT-2000 and Funker / Filser / whatever they are called today TRT-800A have encoders installed, and have the same radio rack form factor.

Garmin GTX-328/GTX-330, Trig TT-31, Bendix/King KT-73, require an external encoder. Becker also has a mating 25DB shell encoder.
Most round transponders have internal encoder.

JP-Avionics
EHMZ

Funker / Filser / whatever they are called today TRT-800A have encoders installed

I have the Filser / Funkwerk / f.u.n.k.e TRT-800A which is a good device but it only has ETSO and no TSO and therefore one of the reasons I did not move my aircraft to the FAA register.

I have the Filser / Funkwerk / f.u.n.k.e TRT-800A which is a good device

It’s the only transponder I know that had a long standing NOTAM prohibiting its use throughout europe (AD)

LSZK, Switzerland

I do have the Becker transponder. It’s quite ok, especially for IFR, where you don’t change the code all that often. For VFR a transponder with digit keys might be more convenient.

Newer firmware versions seem to be able to do ADS-B out, but apparently only with NMEA input, so this cannot be a solution that fills any surveillance requirements, but can be useful only for traffic information. When I called them they apparently never heard about aviation data format, which is what certified GPS position sources tend to emit.

LSZK, Switzerland

I am glad Achima has such good results with it, the ones I did have ALL been back at least once, most two or three times. Their quality seems to be very poor, with several different failures.

Failures on side lobe suppresion and frequency way out of tolerance are very common on these.

I have to admit that quality seems to became better, but wouldn’t install one of them myself. After doing over 250 transponders, I have seen failures on all brands, Trig seems to do the best job by far, while also have a very good after sales support for dealers.

JP-Avionics
EHMZ

The TRT-800A was the only piece of avionics in my aircraft that was not original 1979 and the previous owner was very unhappy about that, because it ruined the whole cockpit layout

I wouldn’t buy the TRT-800A today or Becker because the companies are not committed to those low volume products. I’d buy the Trig or Garrecht. The latter I had in my C172 and it was problem free as well and the company very competent. They did offer a keypad retrofit at some point for the VT-02. I personally do not have a problem with having to use the turn knob for selecting a squawk. It only takes marginally more time and it’s not something you have to do every 3 minutes.

The best improvement to transponder usability for me was the addition of an air/ground switch. I can totally forget about the transponder and only have to look at it when ATC ask me for something. Countless times before that I had forgotten about the transponder mode.

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