PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Other / Unknown
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
While working ACKAR/ACKDE position the HYA/PYM asked me if I had RADAR contact on a PA28. He had apparently lost RADAR on the target while vectoring for an approach into HYA from the west. I said yes and tagged up the target and started a hand off so that he could see where the aircraft was. The target was lost off the FMH ASR-8 for about 2 minutes when the HYA/PYM Controller informed me that he had an acceptable RADAR return and I could stop the hand off flash. The FMH ASR-8 has had known issues in the past and was recently digitized. This procedure has stopped the occurrence of RADAR reflections that we were experiencing. However; the amount of lost targets appears to be increasing. The performance of the FMH RADAR needs to be critically analyzed and controllers need to be briefed on what limitations exist.
K90 Controller voiced concerns regarding the FMH ASR-8 RADAR equipment.