A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/645606
Language document wasn ' t pr oduced explaining the changes. Actually, the changes came from the SEOSF being mandated to make these changes, not the lack of a Plain Language document. Coordination is being done to find out who or what mandated these changes and set the adaptation back to the expected functionality F11 had before the last system upg rade. o CMH : Early MDM equipment delivery an d install set to begin on 3/6 . On the 2/15 meeting, AT was not present while decisions were being made on install dates, tim es, and AT Coach rescheduling. Jill Carr (TPA) and I were on the telcon to remind the program, AT has final say with regards to equipment installation as to n ot disrupt the live operation. After a follow up with NATCA and the ATM, there will be another meeting on 2/23 to make ch anges to the install schedule. o Testing: S6R4 testing will begin on 3/1. This is merge software that begins the process of combining all STARS/ ARTS platforms into one build. S6R4 testing will last four weeks, because of the many items associated with combining multiple platforms. Normal testing is usually a week or two. o Track ball prototype Key Site : PHL and TPA are Key Sites for the protot ype track ball. TPA has received the equipment, but will not install the trackballs until after a facility evaluation, a pproximately a week from 2/22. PHL installed the trackb alls on 2/14. Of the two prototype track balls installed, one was declared unusab le 7 days into a 90 - day test cycle. The removed track ball made a distracting clicking/tapping sound when being moved in all directions. The complaints drove a facility decision to replace the prot otype with a legacy trackball. TLSE will retrieve the proto type, see if any corrections can be made , or develop another prototype , whic h can take a couple of months. Expect an update on prototype trackballs in the next report. • Surveillance update submitted by Joe Yannone - Surveillance Engineer Region X. o Removal of the "Terra Fix" at two Radars feeding C90 : There are numerous false beacon targets generated at two radar feeds into C90 that cannot be eliminated other than implementing the Terra Fix R emoval change at those radars. These false targets are currently being mas ked by the C90 CARTS system. STARS has a higher standard for radar performance compared to CARTS. OR9 and DPA are the two C90 - fed radars where the most amount of beaco n false targets are generated. Removing the terra fix at these two radars would elimi nate a very large percentage of the false targets, which would provide a HUGE bene fit to the transition to TAMR. HOWEVER, when operating in FMA mode, single sensor operation is currently the only allowed configuration and OR9 is the preferred feed for FMA. IF the terra fix were removed from OR9 AND a non - compliant transponder were to fly into FMA coverage while operating in FMA with OR9 selected, aircraft would be presented as search - only and would have to be taken out of sequence. Thus ORN was recommended to be used for FMA instead of OR9 should the terra fix be removed from OR9. However, an issue was identified when using ORN in FMA - targets off the center lin e and coming close to the NTZ. Until the apparent offset at ORN was resolved, C90 did not want to use ORN for FMA. A range bias was found and corrected in the ORN rad ar, which