A CESSNA 182 PLT WAS MISTAKEN FOR A HELI BY SLC APCH CTL. ERROR ADMITTED BY TELECON WITH APCH CTL. NMAC.

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APCHING SLC FROM THE S; I IDENTED MYSELF AS; 'SKYLANE X WITH ATIS INBOUND FOR SALT LAKE;' I RECEIVED A SQUAWK; WHICH I SET AND ACKNOWLEDGED. NO FURTHER REPLY RECEIVED; SO I ORBITED SE OF 'POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN;' AND CALLED 'SKYLANE X ORBITING SE OF POINT OF THE MOUNTAIN; 'SQUAWKING WXYZ.' REPLY WAS 'X NOT RECEIVING YOUR XPONDER; PROCEED NBOUND E OF THE FREEWAY; REMAIN CLR OF CLASS B.' I RECYCLED MY XPONDER AND WAS SEEING INTERROGATION LIGHT. ALL THIS TIME THERE WAS A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT 'HELI HOVERING OVER SALT LAKE INTL; SAY IDENT AND INTENTIONS.' THEY TOLD ME THEY WERE NOT EVEN GETTING A PRIMARY RETURN ON ME AND ASKED IF I COULD SEE AN ARPT 'ABOUT 3 MI AHEAD.' I TOLD THEM NO; BUT MY GPS WAS SHOWING SALT LAKE INTL AT 17 MI. THEY RESPONDED; CALLING ME 'HELI X.' I ACKNOWLEDGED; 'SKYLANE; CESSNA 182; X.' SUDDENLY THEY SEEMED TO HAVE MY XPONDER AND HANDED ME OVER TO TWR; STILL CALLING ME A HELI. TWR RESPONDED TO MY CALL AS 'HELI X' WHICH I IMMEDIATELY CORRECTED. TWR SAID SOMETHING ABOUT 'THAT MUST BE THE SOURCE OF THE PROB.' CLRED ME FOR 'IMMEDIATE L TURN FOR A R BASE; RWY 35. TFC IS A HELI HOVERING DEAD AHEAD.' I HAD ALREADY SEEN IT; AND I WAS STARTING EVASIVE ACTION. I DON'T RECALL BEING SPECIFICALLY CLRED TO ENTER CLASS B. AFTER LNDG; I WAS ASKED TO CALL APCH CTL ON PHONE. THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT WAS THEIR PROB AND THAT THEY NEEDED TO TALK TO THE HELI PLT.