RPTR ALLEGES THERE WAS NO PRIOR NOTIFICATION TO A SCHEDULED CTR RADAR OUTAGE UNTIL THE DAY OF THE OUTAGE. OUTAGE AFFECTED TRACON ARTCC PROCS.

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THE ANSON RADAR; LOCATED APPROX 19 MI NW OF ABILENE PROVIDES LONG RANGE RADAR COVERAGE FOR ZFW. ON OCT/XX/97; IT WENT OTS FOR A 3 WK PERIOD. THIS WAS A SCHEDULED OUTAGE. THE OUTAGE AFFECTS RADAR PROCS BTWN ABILENE APCH AND ZFW. THE LIMITED TO NON EXISTENT LOW LEVEL RADAR COVERAGE OF ZFW REQUIRES THE USE OF NON RADAR PROCS AND ADDITIONAL MANUAL COORD BY BOTH FACILITIES. THE ABILENE CTLRS WERE NOT AWARE OF THE OUTAGE PRIOR TO THE ANSON RADAR GOING DOWN. EVEN AFTER SOME QUESTIONING BY CTLRS THE DAY OF THE OUTAGE; A BRIEFING ITEM WAS NOT PUT OUT UNTIL EARLY THE NEXT DAY. THIS BRIEFING ITEM ONLY NOTED THE OUTAGE AND THE DATES. LACK OF COM HAS BECOME COMMON PLACE IN THE WORK ENVIRONMENT. THIS APPEARS ACCEPTABLE TO MGMNT LEVELS SINCE IT CONTINUES TO HAPPEN; NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE CTL FORCE COMPLAINS; RPTS AND WRITE UP THESE INCIDENTS. ON THIS PARTICULAR OUTAGE WITH PRIOR NOTIFICATION; MORE SPECIFIC PROCS COULD HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED AND THE CTL STAFF BRIEFED ON THEM. THIS WOULD HAVE ENABLED A MUCH SMOOTHER TRANSITION; LESS CONFUSION; LESS ACFT DELAYS; LESS MANUAL COORD AND OVERALL BETTER SAFETY.