Small Aircraft; High Wing; 1 Eng; Fixed Gear
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 12.0
Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Procedure
I noticed that Center was trying to handoff Aircraft X to me from the southeast. The radar track was flashing with an AMBQ. As the track approached our common boundary; I took the handoff. I know that we should not take an AMBQ handoff; but I thought Center was probably busy and did not have time to verbally handoff the aircraft; so I took the handoff prior to the track entering SAV airspace. Aircraft X called me level at 9000 feet; with the ATIS and was told which runway to expect. Several minutes later; the track dropped and I called Aircraft X to make certain he was still with me and all was okay. At about this time; I noticed another target at 9000 feet about NINETY miles northwest of Aircraft X squawking the same code. To shorten the story; the target to the northwest was the REAL Aircraft X. The target that I took the handoff on was a false target...not real. We have lots of duplicate beacon codes and false targets at SAV [TRACON]; we have simply learned to live with them. This one is much different and more dangerous. Unlike most other duplicate beacons; this one actually had a tag on it with a real call sign; aircraft type; altitude; and speed. And it actually flashed at me. I hate to think what would have happened if I descended him; thinking he was in my airspace; when he really 15 miles northwest of my boundary with Center. And maybe even still in the previous Centers' airspace when I took the handoff. The obvious answer is to verbally coordinate all AMBQ tags. We would not have to verbally coordinate these handoffs if we could get the radar fixed. The duplicate beacons and false targets are getting worse and our tech ops admit that they cannot fix the problem. We have a tremendous amount of flights going up and down the coast every day. We stay pretty busy calling traffic on VFR codes and primary targets. What we don't need is our radar creating false targets that appear very real. Sooner or later this is going to lead to a bad situation where someone gets hurt.
SAV TRACON Controller reported accepting an automated handoff of an aircraft with 'AMBQ' in the data tag. The actual position of the aircraft was ninety miles northwest of the position of the data tag the controller accepted for handoff.