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Bizarre Stratus ESG Behavior - not squawking ALT

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3 flights ago: Transponder was squawking ALT on the ground, and after takeoff it switched to GND (I noticed when ATC asked me to recycle my transponder). Button smashing the ALT button did nothing. Powering off and on did nothing. Cycling between STBY, GND, AND ALT got me to GND only. The transponder completely ignored the ALT button. Eventually, the transponder decided to squawk ALT on its own, and the transponder worked fine for the remainder of the flight. I thought it may have been a fluke.

2 flights ago: Upon takeoff, ATC asked me to recycle my transponder, but when I looked down it was already squawking ALT. After reporting this to ATC, they said it was out for a second but it looks good now. So, I continued to my destination without issue until on my base leg at about 800AGL when I saw it is again on GND mode.

Most recent flight: On startup and taxi, the unit was squawking ALT. At some point very soon after takeoff, it started squawking GND for about 7 minutes which felt like an eternity in class Bravo. The transponder switched to ALT on its own, then after a few minutes went back to GND for less than a minute or so, and then it switched back to ALT and stayed that way for about an hour and a half while enroute. Upon reaching the base leg at my destination, it switched to GND mode at about 500AGL.

This transponder has been working fine during my ownership of this aircraft. I did have the 2yr IFR check performed earlier this month. Could it be related? If not, I am afraid something is wrong with the transponder.

I did write Stratus after the 1st mishap, and the fellow that handled my question wrote back with a copy/paste of the FAQ section. I wrote him back asking for more ideas, but I’m wondering if anyone here has any thoughts.

Thanks in advance
 

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