A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/1016075
Grand Rapids Tower/TRACON (GRR) is reporting multiple issues with their aging voice switch. There's one outstanding issue where a RADAR site is causing interference in the t ower c ab. That issue continues to be worked. The Tone Mitigation National Workgrou p met in September 2017 to discuss potential mitigations to the number and severity of tone/noise events across the NAS. This workgroup kicked off largely because of the number of tone/noise events occurring at PCT. One of the outcomes from these meetings was explori ng the use of new headset bases, which incorporate an active limiter. D10/DFW successfully accepted the ir new IVSR on July 20 . TERMINAL AUTOMATION MOD ERNIZATION REPLACEMENT (TAMR) Aaron Rose (NCT) is the TAMR Article 114 Representative for NA TCA. His report to the membership is below. Congratulations goes to the NATCA TAMR team on another successful de ployment to Jackson, Miss., on July 30 . I w ould also like to thank all the controllers at Jackson for their efforts to ensure a smooth transition. Welcome to the STARS family. Mr. Rose traveled to Camarillo, Calif. (CMA), Washington D.C., and Atlant ic City this reporting period. Naval Air Statio n Point Mugu (NTD) will be transitioning to STARS ELITE next year and CMA is a stand - alone tower serviced by the DOD. A m eeting between the DOD and FAA took place with NATCA involvement on July 18 and involved future software builds and the upgrade to S TARS ELITE. A TAMR meeting was held on July 19 with CMA management, CMA FacRep Lisa Schaefer, and Mr. Rose. CMA advised how the DOD has informed CMA of so ftware and adaptation changes, in addition to what requirements are needed to ensure a smooth transit ion to ELITE. More meetings are being scheduled between Point Mugu and CMA to address the lack of coordination to ensure the controllers are trained prior to ad aptation and software changes. CMA is in good hands with Lisa Schaefer at the NATCA helm. A tri p to Washington D.C. involved a TAMR all hands meeting, meeting with TAMR PM, and a half da y with AJV - 7 FAA Requirements. Chris Hilbert from PHL received the "Star of STARS" award for the effort he puts forth every day to ensure the bargaining unit members have what they need with STARS and his deployment work. Thanks Chris Hilbert. I m et with the TAMR PM to ensure we start talking about STARS sustainment after the deployment phase is completed. I m et with AJV - 7 FAA requirements division, the approving a uthority for new software and hardware throughout STARS. Discussions centered around software build time tables and color usage on the main display monitor. While in D.C. , Mr. Rose met with Doug Church (NATCA Public Affair s) about Chris Hilbert and a co uple more ideas for NATCA Insider. Mr. Rose also attended software testing at the William J. Hughes Technical Cent er (WJHTC) the week of July 30. This softwa re build is needed for Aspen, Colo. So far so good.