ARTCC RADAR CTLR WORKING A COMBINED SECTOR CONFIGN FORGOT TO MAKE A HDOF TO APCH CTL ON AN F18. ACFT ENTERED APCH AIRSPACE AND RPTR BLAMES THE LACK OF HDOF ON THE AUTO HDOF FEATURE AT THE ARTCC.

Narrative

WHILE WORKING R78/R79 COMBINED; AN F18 ENTERED JAX APCH AIRSPACE WITHOUT A HDOF. I MISSED HDOF TO JAX APCH FOR 2 REASONS: 1) WAS BUSY ON S SECTOR WORKING GNV APCH AREA. (IF WE HAD ENOUGH CTLRS TO HAVE BOTH SECTORS OPEN AND 'D' SIDE AT ALL SECTORS; THIS PROBABLY WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED; BUT OUR NUMBERS ARE POLITICALLY DECIDED; NO REALITY TO IT.) THEY TELL US WE HAVE PLENTY OF PEOPLE YET WE CONSTANTLY JEOPARDIZE SAFETY BY LEAVING SECTORS COMBINED SO WE CAN GET BREAKS. (BREAKS ARE NEEDED TO RELIEVE CONCENTRATION LEVELS.) 2) OUR COMPUTER HAS AN AUTO HDOF SYS. IT DIDN'T WORK. I THOUGHT IT WOULD. I WAS TOLD IT HAS TO BE IN FLAT-TRACK AND ACFT WAS IN FREE- TRACK. I WAS NEVER TRAINED THAT THE TRACK OF ACFT MADE A DIFFERENCE ON AUTO HDOF SYS. SINCE SYS ONLY WORKS IF WE HAVE ACFT IN A CERTAIN TRACK AND YOU HAVE TO LOOK TO SEE IF IT'S IN THE RIGHT TRACK; IT IS OF NO ADVANTAGE. THE AUTO HDOF WAS FOR WHEN YOU'RE BUSY AND DON'T HAVE TIME TO LOOK AT ACFT. SO THE SYS GIVES YOU A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. IT'S DANGEROUS. NEEDS TO BE FIXED TO WORK ALL TIMES OR TURNED OFF!