APCH CTLR LOST ALL COM CAPABILITY FOR APPROX 5 MINS.

Narrative

WHILE WORKING APCH TO EL PASO INTL; I LOST ALL COM FREQS. I WAS SEQUENCING 2 ACFT TO FINAL; ONE FROM THE E AND THE OTHER FROM THE W. ACFT WERE APPROX 10 MI APART WITHOUT EACH OTHER IN SIGHT WHEN ALL COM WAS LOST. APPROX 2 MINS LATER; THE TWR LOST ALL COM FREQS. DEPS WERE STOPPED AND ARRS HELD IN CTR'S AIRSPACE. THE BACKUP RADIOS ARE UNRELIABLE AND IN A POS NOT EASILY ACCESSIBLE TO THE APCH CTLR. THE PLTS INVOLVED VISUALLY ACQUIRED EACH OTHER AND SEQUENCED THEMSELVES. THERE WAS NO LOSS OF SEPARATION THANKS TO THE PLTS. THEY CONTACTED THE TWR AND WERE CLRED TO LAND. WE HAVE ICSS; THE MOST MODERN SYS THE FAA HAS. THE TECHNICIANS SAID THE FAILURE WAS CAUSED BY THE FAILURE OF A SINGLE CIRCUIT BOARD. THIS OBVIOUSLY IS A POOR DESIGN. IN ADDITION; THIS WAS NOT CLASSIFIED A MAJOR OUTAGE BECAUSE THE TELEPHONE LINES WERE WORKING. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: ALL COM WAS LOST IN BOTH THE TRACON AND THE TWR FOR ABOUT 5 MINS. TECHNICIANS FOUND A BAD CIRCUIT BOARD IN THE ICSS EQUIP. RPTR STATES THAT THIS IS AN ISOLATED INCIDENT. GENERALLY; THE EQUIP WORKS GOOD WITHOUT ANY COM INTERRUPTIONS. NO LTSS WAS RPTED. THE REAL PROBLEM APPEARS TO BE THE BACKUP TRANSCEIVERS. RPTR SAID THAT THEY ONLY HAVE 2 IN THE CTL ROOM AND THEY ARE LOCATED AWAY FROM POS OF OPS. IN ADDITION HE STATED THAT THEY ARE GOOD UP TO APPROX 20 MI. NO UCR FILED. TELCO LINES WERE NOT IMPACTED.