Narrative:

I was working at the ultra high position. The event was a loss of separation between two aircraft. Previous to this event; I believe the transmitters were struck by lighting; causing tremendous static and a loss of the frequencies. At this point in the day there were numerous cells of weather leading to aircraft on many abnormal routes and requiring diversions around weather. With assistance from my d-side the radar team informed the surrounding sector to use the workload frequency. This increased the workload and complexity during this outage. The radar team had to identify which aircraft were on the incorrect frequency and place them on the correct one. Simultaneously; the radar team had to keep up with route/altitude requests and keep the computer entries updated in the machine. When a C550 made is request to FL390 he was in a climb profile to FL360 above FL350 in my judgment at the time of the request the aircraft had enough time to clear the airbus with a standard rate of climb. When I observed the rate of climb was less than standard; I ask the pilot to report leaving FL380. At this point the aircraft's histories were not converging; but a loss in minimums occurred. I recommend during thunderstorms; always use altitude to separate aircraft until a safe lateral distance is established. Do not hesitate to ask for another set of eyes after a major unusual event such as emergency situations; loss of frequencies; loss of radar; or immediately following a session of large volume for an extended length of time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Enroute Controller experienced a loss of separation event during a weather deviation period with several equipment complications; the reporter noting that reliance on lateral separation in this case was flawed.

Narrative: I was working at the Ultra High position. The event was a loss of separation between two aircraft. Previous to this event; I believe the transmitters were struck by lighting; causing tremendous static and a loss of the frequencies. At this point in the day there were numerous cells of weather leading to aircraft on many abnormal routes and requiring diversions around weather. With assistance from my D-Side the RADAR team informed the surrounding sector to use the workload frequency. This increased the workload and complexity during this outage. The RADAR team had to identify which aircraft were on the incorrect frequency and place them on the correct one. Simultaneously; the RADAR team had to keep up with route/altitude requests and keep the computer entries updated in the machine. When a C550 made is request to FL390 he was in a climb profile to FL360 above FL350 in my judgment at the time of the request the aircraft had enough time to clear the Airbus with a standard rate of climb. When I observed the rate of climb was less than standard; I ask the pilot to report leaving FL380. At this point the aircraft's histories were not converging; but a loss in minimums occurred. I recommend during thunderstorms; always use altitude to separate aircraft until a safe lateral distance is established. Do not hesitate to ask for another set of eyes after a major unusual event such as emergency situations; loss of frequencies; loss of RADAR; or immediately following a session of large volume for an extended length of time.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.