ATCT CTLR AT AGC STATES RADIO FREQS AND LANDLINES ARE FREQUENTLY UNUSABLE; UNREADABLE OR GARBLED.

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ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS; ANY TIME; ACFT WILL RPT 121.1 MAIN XMITTER 'WEAK; GARBLED AND/OR UNREADABLE.' SOMETIMES SWITCHING TO BACKUP WILL RECTIFY THE PROB TEMPORARILY. HOWEVER; PERMANENT FIXES; SUCH AS 'CHANGING THE CARD' OR REPLACING THE ENTIRE ICSS CONSOLE COMPLETELY ONLY SERVE AS AN IMMEDIATE YET TEMPORARY SOLUTION. THE ELECTRICAL AND COM WIRING IN THE TWR HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE SUBSTANDARD IN THAT THERE IS INEFFECTIVE GNDING. THIS PROB HAS BEEN KNOWN AND RPTED TO FAA MGMNT IN BOTH THE AIR TFC AND AIRWAYS FACILITIES DIVISION AT ALLEGHENY TWR. IT HAS BEEN COMMON KNOWLEDGE FOR AT LEAST 6 MONTHS. IN ADDITION TO THE INTERRUPTION OF AIR TFC SVCS DUE TO COM FAILURE/BREAKDOWN; ELECTRICAL 'ARCS' HAVE BEEN OBSERVED AND RPTED TO AIR TFC MGMNT AND COUNTY OPS. THESE 'ARCS' HAVE OCCURRED ON LIGHTING PANELS LOCATED ON THE TWR CONSOLE. THE LOCATION OF THE LIGHTING PANELS ARE IMMEDIATE TO THE FAA COM EQUIP. WIRING; INCLUDING PWR; SHARE JOINT ACCESS FROM BELOW THE TWR CAB INTO THE CONSOLE AREA. INSPECTION OF TWR LIGHTING PANELS BY COUNTY ELECTRICAL PERSONNEL ALSO REVEALED AND CONFIRMED A GNDING DEFICIENCY. THEREFORE; I FEEL THAT UNTIL THE GNDING IS CORRECTED AND/OR PWR AND COMS WIRING IS REPLACED; THE SAFETY OF AIR TFC PERSONNEL; DUE TO POSSIBLE ELECTRICAL SHOCK; AND AIR TFC SVC INTERRUPTION; DUE TO COM FAILURE; IS AT AN UNACCEPTABLE HIGH RISK. ALL OF THIS IN FULL KNOWLEDGE OF AIR TFC MGMNT; AIRWAYS FACILITIES MGMNT; AND COUNTY ARPT MGMNT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE RPTR STATED THAT THE TWR IS VERY OLD AND OVER THE PAST 8 YRS ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC EQUIP HAS BEEN ADDED AND CONNECTED TO OLD WIRING WHICH IN SOME CASES IS NOT GNDED. SOME OF THE EQUIP IN THE TWR BELONGS TO THE ARPT; SUCH AS LIGHTING CTLS AND SOME EQUIP IS FAA OWNED. BOTH RADIO AND RADAR OUTAGES OCCUR FREQUENTLY. MAINT PROBS ARE RARELY SOLVED BY THE TECHNICIANS. WHEN SOMETHING IS FIXED; CTLRS VIEW THE REPAIR AS TEMPORARY. AT THE PRESENT TIME AN EVALUATION TEAM FROM THE FAA REGIONAL OFFICE IS LOOKING AT THE OVERALL PROB. THE TEAM ALLEGEDLY ACKNOWLEDGE THERE IS A PROB AND HAVE STATED IT WILL TAKE UP TO 18 MONTHS TO FIX. THE TWR CONSTANTLY RECEIVES COMPLAINTS FROM PLTS AND SEVERAL UCR'S FILED BY CTLRS HAS FAILED TO GET RESULTS.