TRACON controller cites radar scope failures that occurred during a 4 hour period on the day shift.

Attributes
ACN	384750
Time
Date	199710
Day	Fri
Local Time Of Day	0601 To 1200
Place
Locale Reference	atc facility : sju
State Reference	PR
Altitude	agl bound lower : 0 agl bound upper : 0
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Controlling Facilities	tower : roc
Person 1
Affiliation	government : faa
Function	controller : approach controller : departure
Qualification	controller : radar
Experience	controller military : 4 controller radar : 15
ASRS Report	384750
Events
Anomaly	other anomaly other
Independent Detector	other controllera
Resolutory Action	other other
Consequence	Other
Supplementary
Air Traffic Incident	other
Situations
ATC Facility	other physical facility

Narrative:

Several radar repeater consoles exhibit chronic malfunctions including essential keyboard functions and today there occurred a map outage on the ASR-8 sensor. During a 4 hour period 3 of the 4 approach/departure scopes exhibited serious malfunctions while engaged in the control of live traffic. The 'west' scope keyboard function 'slew enter' went OTS preventing handoffs and display of pertinent traffic. The 'north' scope was put into use and within mins completely malfunctioned causing necessity to reconfigure all traffic to the 'F' scope which in turn lost maps preventing ability to vector aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: TRACON CTLR CITES RADAR SCOPE FAILURES THAT OCCURRED DURING A 4 HR PERIOD ON THE DAY SHIFT.

Narrative: SEVERAL RADAR REPEATER CONSOLES EXHIBIT CHRONIC MALFUNCTIONS INCLUDING ESSENTIAL KEYBOARD FUNCTIONS AND TODAY THERE OCCURRED A MAP OUTAGE ON THE ASR-8 SENSOR. DURING A 4 HR PERIOD 3 OF THE 4 APCH/DEP SCOPES EXHIBITED SERIOUS MALFUNCTIONS WHILE ENGAGED IN THE CTL OF LIVE TFC. THE 'W' SCOPE KEYBOARD FUNCTION 'SLEW ENTER' WENT OTS PREVENTING HDOFS AND DISPLAY OF PERTINENT TFC. THE 'N' SCOPE WAS PUT INTO USE AND WITHIN MINS COMPLETELY MALFUNCTIONED CAUSING NECESSITY TO RECONFIGURE ALL TFC TO THE 'F' SCOPE WHICH IN TURN LOST MAPS PREVENTING ABILITY TO VECTOR ACFT.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2007 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.