No Aircraft
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Communication Breakdown
ATC Issue All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Human Factors; ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings
Working East RADAR with 4 to 5 aircraft on frequency and departures coming; Supervisor called and said he was going to CENRAP PLUS for maintenance. RADAR screen went blank with loss of primary and secondary and did not return. I called upstairs to see if coordination with System Engineer had taken place and also found out the RADAR control unit had been changed to CENRAP instead of being left on LIVE as needed for CENRAP PLUS. I had them return to normal RADAR which came back after a total of 2 to 3 minutes. After coordination had been done with the System Engineer and ensuring the control unit left on LIVE; I did the entrees to go to CENRAP PLUS which transitioned without incident. Before taking action to transition to CENRAP; personnel need to be aware of the proper procedure. Transition should be done during time of low traffic when able and not when departures are coming out. Maintenance should be done at times of lower traffic (preferably mid shift) not in the middle of the day.
TRACON Controller described a confused transition from normal operations to CENRAP resulting in RADAR data losses; noting the coordination between supervisors; controllers and maintenance personnel was lacking.