A B737 FLT CREW IS GIVEN THE WRONG ALT BY BNA TRACON WHICH RESULTS IN A TCASII RA.

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ANOTHER FEATHER IN TCASII'S HAT; AND WITH IT; A FEATHER IN THE HAT OF THE NEW TCASII RA PROCS. IT SAVED OUR NECKS! ON GHM4 ARR INTO BNA; INBOUND ON THE 066 DEG RADIAL FROM BNA. APCH CTL CLRED US TO DSND FROM 11000 FT MSL (AFTER GHM) TO 3000 FT MSL. THE FO FLYING; I ACKNOWLEDGED THE DSCNT CLRNC TO 3000 FT. THE OBSERVER ON THE JUMP SEAT (FO NAME) WAS ON HEADSET AND CONFIRMED OUR CLRNC TO DSND TO 3000 FT. PASSING APPROX 5500 FT; THE FO AND I BOTH HEARD BAD ENGLISH VOICE TRYING TO CHK-IN ON FREQ AS HE WAS DEPARTING BNA. APCH CTL DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE HIS CALL AND SIMULTANEOUSLY; WE BOTH OBSERVED A TARGET ON OUR TCASII ASCENDING FROM APPROX 1500 FT BELOW US AND DIRECTLY AT US. AS WE DISCUSSED THE NEED TO QUERY APCH CTL ABOUT THE TARGET; AND AS WE WERE DSNDING THROUGH 4800 FT; ANOTHER CARRIER ASKED ABOUT TFC DSNDING IN FRONT OF THEM (THEY WERE INQUIRING ABOUT US). IMMEDIATELY; 3 THINGS HAPPENED: 1) WE GOT A 'DSND' TCASII RA; 2) ATC CALLS US TO CLB IMMEDIATELY TO 6000 FT AND TURN TO A HDG OF 030 DEGS; AND 3) THE OTHER CARRIER XMITS THEY ARE TURNING L TO AVOID US. IMMEDIATELY; MYSELF; THE FO AND OBSERVER OBTAIN VISUAL CONTACT WITH THE OTHER CARRIER IN A TURN. THE FO TURNS TO 030 DEG HDG AND INITIALLY LEVELS; THEN CONTINUES TO DSND TO COMPLY WITH THE RA. I DIRECT A DSCNT WHILE TELLING APCH CTL THAT WE WILL NOT BE CLBING BUT DSNDING TO COMPLY WITH THE RA. IMMEDIATELY; NEXT; THE RA CLRS; A NEW CTLR IS HEARD AND WE TELL HIM WE ARE CONTINUING OUR CLRNC TO DSND TO 3000 FT. APCH CTL ASKS US IF WE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN CLRED TO 3000 FT AND WE AFFIRM IT. HE THEN CONFIRMS OUR DSCNT CLRNC TO 3000 FT AND CONTINUES TO CTL US TO AN UNEVENTFUL LNDG. THE OTHER CARRIER IS HEARD TO SAY THAT THEY WILL BE FILING AN INCIDENT RPT. UPON DISCUSSION WITH APCH CTL; SUPVR (NAME) AFTER LNDG; HE CONFIRMED THAT AFTER LISTENING TO THE TAPES; WE WERE INDEED CLRED TO 3000 FT AND APOLOGIZED FOR THIS CTLR. THE FO; OBSERVER AND I ALL AGREED THAT THE CTLR'S PREOCCUPATION WITH A SMALL VFR ACFT TRYING TO CHK-IN; PREEMPTED HIS ATTN TO 1) THE OTHER CARRIER WHO TRIED TO CHK-IN TWICE BEFORE THE INCIDENT; AND 2) US; WHICH HE HAD GIVEN A NON-STANDARD CLRNC TO. (I WAS TOLD SUBSEQUENT TO THE INCIDENT THAT THE INITIAL STANDARD DSCNT CLRNC ISSUED BY APCH CTL UPON CHK-IN ON ARR IS TO 6000 FT TO AVOID THE STANDARD DEP CLRNC OF 5000 FT.) I BELIEVE WE AS A CREW COULD REALLY HAVE DONE NOTHING MORE THAN WE DID AND WE APPRECIATE THE NEW TCASII RA PROCS FOR MAKING OUR DECISION NOT TO COMPLY WITH ATC A 'NO BRAINER.' KUDOS TO THE FO AND OBSERVER! MY ONLY RECOMMENDATION HERE WOULD BE THAT SINCE THE STANDARD DEP CLRNC IS 5000 FT; THEN IT WOULD BE PRUDENT TO PUT AN 'AT OR ABOVE 6000 FT' RESTR ON ALL THE ARRS UNTIL 10 DME. THIS WOULD ENSURE THE COMPLIANCE BY ALL ACFT INBOUND TO DECONFLICT WITH DEPS AND PUTS AN EXTRA REQUIREMENT TO CANCEL THE ALT RESTR TO APCH CTL IF THE TFC IS LIGHT. THIS WILL INSURE THAT IF APCH IS BUSY OR THERE IS A RADIO PROB; THERE STILL WILL BE DECONFLICTION. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 627524: AFTER RECEIVING RADIO AND RADAR CONTACT I DSNDED THE B737 FROM 11000 FT TO; WHAT I THOUGHT I SAID; 6000 FT. AFTER TALKING TO OTHER ACFT; AND WHILE THE B747 WAS TRYING TO CHK IN AFTER A FEW ATTEMPTS; THE DEP RADAR E CTLR HAD OBSERVED THE B737 DSNDING THROUGH 5900 FT AND ASKED ME IF HE HAD (B737) BROKEN HIS ALT. I OBSERVED THE 2 ACFT IN PROX AND ISSUED A TFC ALERT AND INSTRUCTED THE B737 TO CLB IMMEDIATELY TO 6000 FT AND CALLED TFC. THE B737 CREW ADVISED THAT THEY WERE RESPONDING TO AN RA AND WOULD DSND. AFTER THE ACFT DIVERGED I ASKED THE B737 CREW IF I HAD ASSIGNED 3000 FT INSTEAD OF 6000 FT. HE REPLIED TO THE AFFIRMATIVE. AFTER REVIEWING THE RECORDINGS IT WAS DETERMINED THAT I DID IN FACT ASSIGN 3000 FT.