Narrative:

I was working radar. Aircraft X checked on at 1;500 feet and was receiving radar advisories. The aircraft did acknowledge me on initial contact. Shortly after that the aircraft was transmitting but was unable to hear me. This occurred on both main and standby frequencies; approximately 35 miles northeast of the airport where the frequencies are located. The aircraft did receive one other transmission when he climbed to 2;000 feet. Otherwise; there was another aircraft approximately 40-50 miles southwest of aircraft X that was helping me relay information to aircraft X. Approximately 30 miles east of the airport I issued a traffic alert to aircraft X which he did not acknowledge. After this I tried to switch aircraft X to advisory frequency and he did not acknowledge that either. The aircraft ending up conflicting with traffic on the downwind to an uncontrolled field. Aircraft targets merged with only 100 feet of separation. This was absolutely a result of our limited frequency coverage. We have reported numerous frequency issues with all of our frequencies. The latest information we got is that our frequencies have a limited range of 30-40 miles; even though our airspace goes out to nearly 60 miles in some locations. We have been told by tech ops to not report any frequency issues since it is not an issue with our frequency but rather the range of our frequency.TRACON tech ops needs to cease and desist telling controllers to not report this issue. TRACON needs to encourage a safety culture on the tech ops side of the building. TRACON needs to install a repeater for our north frequencies and a repeater for our south frequency so that we have appropriate radio coverage.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: RSW TRACON Controller reported he lost radio contact with a VFR aircraft and observed the aircraft's target merge with another aircraft target 100 feet apart. The Controller reported facility radios do not provide radio coverage for all of their airspace.

Narrative: I was working Radar. Aircraft X checked on at 1;500 feet and was receiving radar advisories. The aircraft did acknowledge me on initial contact. Shortly after that the aircraft was transmitting but was unable to hear me. This occurred on both main and standby frequencies; approximately 35 miles NE of the airport where the frequencies are located. The aircraft did receive one other transmission when he climbed to 2;000 feet. Otherwise; there was another aircraft approximately 40-50 miles SW of Aircraft X that was helping me relay information to Aircraft X. Approximately 30 miles East of the airport I issued a traffic alert to Aircraft X which he did not acknowledge. After this I tried to switch Aircraft X to advisory frequency and he did not acknowledge that either. The aircraft ending up conflicting with traffic on the downwind to an uncontrolled field. Aircraft targets merged with only 100 feet of separation. This was absolutely a result of our limited frequency coverage. We have reported numerous frequency issues with all of our frequencies. The latest information we got is that our frequencies have a limited range of 30-40 miles; even though our airspace goes out to nearly 60 miles in some locations. We have been told by tech ops to not report any frequency issues since it is not an issue with our frequency but rather the range of our frequency.TRACON Tech Ops needs to cease and desist telling controllers to not report this issue. TRACON needs to encourage a safety culture on the Tech Ops side of the building. TRACON needs to install a repeater for our North Frequencies and a repeater for our South Frequency so that we have appropriate radio coverage.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.