ZME CTLR VOICED CONCERN REGARDING FREQUENT QNM RADAR OUTAGES RESULTING IN LIMITED ATC SVCS.

Narrative

THE QNM (NEWPORT) RADAR SITE HAS BEEN TAKEN OTS NUMEROUS TIMES OVER THE PAST YR. WHEN THIS SITE IS OTS; THERE IS LIMITED OR NO RADAR SVCS AVAILABLE IN THE JACKSON; MS; VICINITY. THERE ARE MANY MIL LOW ALT TRAINING RTES IN THIS AREA. SOME ARE IFR. WITHOUT THIS RADAR AVAILABLE; WE CANNOT PROVIDE RADAR ADVISORIES AND ASSISTANCE. WITH THE VOLUME OF VFR TFC; WE CANNOT SAFELY PROVIDE TA'S INTO THE TRAINING RTES. DUE TO NON RADAR REQUIREMENTS; WE MUST RERTE IFR ACFT ON LENGTHY FLT PLAN AMENDMENTS. WE ARE USUALLY WORKING A RADAR SECTOR WITH ONLY 1 CTLR; INSTEAD OF 2 CTLRS AS THE SECTORS WERE BUILT TO PROVIDE. WE CANNOT OFFER EXPEDITIOUS HANDLING OF ACFT WISHING A RADAR VECTOR FOR APCHS. THERE ARE NO NON-RADAR PROCS ESTABLISHED WITH ADJACENT FACILITIES. MCB (MCCOMB); MS; VOR HAS BEEN OTS FOR OVER 1 MONTH. THERE IS NO ALTERNATE MSA FOR THE AIRWAYS OVERFLYING MCB. SINCE THERE IS NO NAVAID AND NO RADAR BTWN JACKSON AND MCCOMB; WE CANNOT SAFELY ALLOW AN ACFT TO FLY ON V9 OR 1 OF THE 2 ALTERNATE AIRWAYS BTWN THESE NAVAIDS. THE SAME APPLIES TO ACFT BTWN MEI (MERIDIAN); MS; AND MCB. IN ANOTHER CENTER WE HAD POST CARDS WITH ALTERNATE ALTS FOR THE AIRWAYS WHEN ANY NAVAID WAS OTS. THERE IS NO SUCH INFO AT ZME. NAVAID AND RADAR OUTAGES SHOULD NOT BE OVERLAPPED UNLESS THEY FAIL DUE TO MECHANICAL PROBS. THE FAA NEEDS TO TAKE AN AGGRESSIVE APCH TO PROVIDE A TRUE REDUNDANT SYS IN THE EVENT THE PRIMARY SYS FAILS.