![]() If they did this, centers would no longer be able to"see" any aircraft that were not transponder-equipped or whose transponderfailed. However, the FAA is threatening to decomission primary radarfrom its enroute facilities. Today, virtually all ATC radar installations are equipped with both primary andsecondary radar capability. Transponders are also sometimes referred to as "beacons", and another namefor secondary radar is "ATC Radar Beacon System" or ATCRBS (pronounced"at-crabs"). Depending on the type of interrogation, the transponder sends back anidentification code (Mode A) or altitude information (Mode C). It depends on a"transponder" in the aircraft to respond to interrogations from the groundstation. Secondary radar was invented to overcome these limitations. And it only reportsa target’s azimuth and range, not its altitude. ![]() It’s ratherindiscriminite about what it detects: airplanes, trucks, hills, trees. (There’s some debate as to how well it works trackingflying saucers.) Its range is limited by terrain and precipitation. It works best with large all-metal aircraft, notso well on small, composite aircraft, and not at all with some of the new"stealth" technology. It’s the samesort of radar that was used in World War II to detect enemy aircraft. Primaryradar (sometimes called "skin paint") works on the principle of bouncinghigh-powered microwave pulses off objects and detecting the reflected echo. ATC radar facilities presently have both both primary and secondary radar.
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