D10 CTLR CONCERNED WITH A 3 YEAR; RECURRENT RADIO XMITTER INTERRUPT PROB.
Synopsis
D10 CTLR CONCERNED WITH A 3 YEAR; RECURRENT RADIO XMITTER INTERRUPT PROB.
Narrative
WE HAVE HAD PROBS WITH THE RDVS COMS EQUIP EVER SINCE MOVING INTO THE NEW TRACON 3 YEARS AGO. THE PROB I AM DESCRIBING TODAY IS ONLY ONE OF MANY. WE ARE HAVING PROBS WITH RECEIVING 'CLIPPED' XMISSIONS. THERE ARE 2 TYPES OF CLIPPING WE ARE RECEIVING. 1) THE XMISSION CUTS IN AND OUT AS IT IS BEING RECEIVED. 2) THE FIRST PART IS MISSING BUT THE REST IS CLR. I AM INCLUDING 2 FLOPPY DISKS WITH 2 .WAV FILES THAT DEMONSTRATE BOTH TYPES. IN THE WAVE FILE FOR THE FIRST TYPE; THE ACFT WAS AN MD80 LOCATED 10 MI NE OF MY RECEIVER'S ANTENNA AT 13000 FT; IN OTHER WORDS; WELL INSIDE MY RECEPTION AREA. THIS IS A FREQUENT OCCURRENCE; NOT JUST ONE ACFT'S BAD RADIO. IT DOES SEEM MORE PREVALENT IF THE PLT HAS A SOFT VOICE; BUT IT'S NOT LIMITED TO THIS. IN THE SECOND WAVE FILE I ISSUED AN ALT OF 'ONE SEVEN THOUSAND' TO AN ACFT. WHAT YOU WILL HEAR READ BACK IS 'SEVEN THOUSAND;' HOWEVER; THE ACFT CLBED TO 17000 FT. I HAVE CORRECTED PLTS ON THIS UP TO 5 TIMES IN A ROW AND GET THE SAME THING BACK EACH OF THE FIVE TIMES. EVENTUALLY I JUST HAVE TO GIVE UP SINCE ASKING FOR THE PLT TO CORRECT THE READBACK ISN'T SOLVING THE PROB. SINCE THE PLT IS READING BACK CORRECTLY; THEY GET REALLY AGGRAVATED AT HAVING TO KEEP REPEATING THEMSELVES. WHILE NOT THE CAUSE OF THE PROB; THE PROB IS EXACERBATED BY THE PLT'S IMPROPER RADIO TECHNIQUE -- NOT PLACING THE CALL SIGN FIRST. IF THEY WOULD PUT THE CALL SIGN FIRST; I WOULD HEAR '...OMPANY 123' INSTEAD OF 'COMPANY 123.' WHILE STILL NOT CORRECT; THIS WOULD BE TOLERABLE. THERE AREN'T THAT MANY CALL SIGNS THAT ARE SO CLOSE IN THE WAY THEY SOUND THAT THIS WOULD BE A BIG PROB. THE MAIN PROB IS THAT WE HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING FOR 3 YEARS NOW AND THE FAA STILL HASN'T FIXED THIS EQUIP. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATES THAT WHEN THE NEW TRACON FACILITY WAS OPENED; THE OLD FACILITY INTEGRATED COM SWITCHING SYS (ICSS) WAS REPLACED WITH THE NEW RAPID DATA AND VOICE SWITCHING (RDVS) SYS. THE RPTR STATED FROM DAY ONE; CTLRS HAVE HAD RECEIVER PROBS -- CLIPPED CALL SIGNS. ACFT DO NOT EXPERIENCE ANY CTLR XMISSION PROBS; ONLY CTLRS RECEIVING ACFT XMISSIONS PROCESSED BY RDVS. INITIALLY; CTLR'S HAD RDVS 'CALL FORWARD' MESSAGE INTERRUPTIONS; BUT THE PROB WAS EVENTUALLY CORRECTED BY A NEW PATH TRACING SIGNAL. THE RPTR STATED THAT THE TRACON RDVS HAS THREE XMITTER SITES: ONE AT DFW ARPT AND TWO ON EITHER SIDE OF DFW ARPT. ALL THREE SITES APPEAR TO HAVE THE SAME PROB. THE RPTR STATES THAT A CTLR MAY HAVE 30 TO 40 CLIPPED XMISSIONS A SHIFT; CAUSING MULTIPLE READBACKS TO THE SAME ACFT; WHICH ADDS TO FREQ CONGESTION AND PLT/CTLR AGGRAVATION -- HAVING TO RESPOND TO SO MANY INTERRUPTED XMISSION READBACKS.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.