Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 2
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
ATC Issue All Types
ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Procedure
The FWA-SBN shout line was OTS (Out of Service); and we were given a phone number to call FWA if we needed anything on a regular phone line. It was evening and the traffic was very very light; when all the sudden the shout line lit up and started spewing tones and random electronic sounds; totally masking the TED (Tower Display) and rendering it non-functional. I couldn't hear the aircraft and they couldn't hear me. The tones would stop and it would start to work again. While it was toning I had no indication that I was transmitting. I keyed up the PET2000 emergency transmitter and used that to talk to the plane I was working into SBN. As soon as I got them cleared and over to tower I called FWA on the land line; to tell them to stop whatever they were doing with the line. They told me they weren't doing anything at all; that it had been given up to the local phone company. I called [Maintenance Control] and told them what was happening; that it was preventing me from transmitting and receiving to/from aircraft and the activity on the line needed to cease right away. They called back later informing us that they were ceasing activity while SBN was open. Our facility is falling apart. We have STARS; but the comm gear; lines; radar; etc all are dated. They show their age and are always OTS. We need better equipment that will be reliable and not be broken at least 1 day a week; or the facility needs to be consolidated to a place where the equipment isn't falling apart due to old age. In addition; the person who gave up lines to a local phone company for god knows what they did to it can't even be held to account. We have no real procedures for handling this stuff; and we have no idea who released it; or who at the phone company started running stuff on the line.
SBN TRACON Controller reported malfunctioning shout line; as well as problems with old equipment and poor logistics.