LOCAL OPERATING PROCEDURE MANUAL

TERRESTRIAL RADIO COMMUNICATION

SERVICES UNIT

NIGERIAN AIRSPACE MANAGEMENT AGENCY

TERRESTRIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT

MMIA
FIRST EDITION: JULY 2023

Prepared by: OGUNLOLA JOHN

AKOBUNDU GODSON
 APPROVAL PAGE

This do cumen t was app roved by the M an aging Dire ct or/C hief Exec utive of

N I G E R I A N A I RS PA C E M A N A G E M E N T A G E N C Y ( N A M A )

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Table of Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................4
2.0 ORGANIZATION ............................................................................................................4
3.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF KEY OFFICES IN TS DEPARTMENT ...............................................5
3.1 Head of Department .................................................................................................5
3.2 Head of Unit..............................................................................................................5
3.3 Watch Head ..............................................................................................................5
3.4 Duty Officers .............................................................................................................6
4.0 SERVICES PROVIDED BY TS RADIO COMMUNICATION UNIT .........................................6
5.0 CONTINGENCIES ...........................................................................................................7
6.0 STAFF DISPOSITION/SHIFT ADMINISTRATION ..............................................................7
7.0 DEFECTS AND EMERGENCY REPORTING .......................................................................8
8.0 REPORT, LOGGING AND RECORD KEEPING ...................................................................9
9.0 FACILITY LOCATIONS .....................................................................................................9
9.1 Equipment Room ......................................................................................................9
9.2 Control Tower ...........................................................................................................9
9.3 Aerocomms Center .................................................................................................10
9.4 AIS Office ................................................................................................................10
9.5 TRACON ..................................................................................................................10
10.0 ROUTINE CHECK PROCEDURE FOR SAFE TOWER EQUIPMENT ....................................10
10.1 VCCS ........................................................................................................................10
10.2 TMCS .......................................................................................................................10
10.3 TAPTOOLS SERVERS .................................................................................................11
10.4 DIVOS RECORDERS ..................................................................................................11
10.5 VHF RADIOS ............................................................................................................11
10.6 HF RADIOS ..............................................................................................................12
10.7 AERODROME DATA DISPLAY....................................................................................12
10.8 SMARTSTRIPS TERMINALS ......................................................................................12
10.9 FLIGHT PLAN TERMINAL..........................................................................................12
10.10 JOTRON HIGH-POWER LONG RANGE RADIO SYSTEM ..........................................13
10.11 CONTROL TOWER ................................................................................................13
10.12 OTHERS................................................................................................................13
11.0 BASIC OPERATIONS .....................................................................................................13
11.1 PLAYBACK RECORDINGS ..........................................................................................13

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11.2 SAVE VOICE RECORD FILE(S) ON STORAGE MEDIA (Cont’d from above) .................14

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The Terrestrial Services Department (TS) of Directorate of Safety Electronics and Engineering
Services (DSEES) is responsible for the provision and maintenance of ATC Radio Communication;
Air-Ground and Ground-Ground communication, and other ancillary services. The air safety-
critical services provided by the Department include:
 Controller-pilot VHF communication link for aerodrome and approach controls.
 HF radio telephony for ground-to—ground and air—to-ground communications.
 AFTN services using HF radios.
 Telephony services.
 Provision of automatic terminal information services (ATIS).
 Provision of crash alarm services.
 Voice archiving services for accident investigation purposes.
 Provision of binoculars to air traffic controllers.
 Provision of aerodrome signal guns.

This document seeks to provide Terrestrial Radio Communication unit personnel in MMIA with
the information, guidance and instructions that will enable them carry out their daily duties
uniformly and in accordance with the DSEES Manual of Operations and Standard Operating
Procedures and other applicable policy documents.

2.0 ORGANIZATION

AIRSPACE MANAGER
MMIA

HOD TS DEPT. MMIA

HOU TS RADIO
COMMS UNIT.

HEAD A-WATCH HEAD B-WATCH HEAD C-WATCH HEAD D-WATCH

UNIT OFFICERS UNIT OFFICERS UNIT OFFICERS UNIT OFFICERS

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3.0 RESPONSIBILITIES OF KEY OFFICES IN TS DEPARTMENT

3.1 Head of Department

 Responsible for preparing and approval of the duty rosters of the units under the TS
department.
 Responsible for carrying out feasibility studies for new projects as well as preparing
annual reports, estimates and budgets for the department.
 Responsible for ensuring the availability of spares and materials for operations of the
units under the department.
 Responsible for the co-ordination of licensing and training programmes at the
department level.
 Reports to the Airspace Manager (ASM) and assists him/her in the administration of the
station.

3.2 Head of Unit

 Responsible for the planning and formation of the unit’s duty roster and forwarding same
to the Head of Department (HOD) for onwards approval.
 Responsible for supervising the duties of the Shift Head and the duty officers as listed in
their respective sections.
 Prepares reports on the activities of the unit, facilities, system performance and staff
matter for the consumption of the HOD.
 Stands in and assumes the duties of the head of department in times when the HOD is
not available.
 Responsible for the requisition of spares and materials for the unit from the HOD.

3.3 Watch Head

In addition to the responsibilities of a duty officer stated below, the shift head have the following
extra responsibilities:
 Coordinates the affairs of his/her watch for efficient delivery of Terrestrial Services duties.
 Reports to the head of unit (HOU) of activities in his/her watch and also liaise with the
HOU in the diagnosis and resolution of some advanced faults.
 Participates in conducting On-The-Job Training (OJT) programmes for duty officers in
his/her watch and for licensing trainees at the unit.

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3.4 Duty Officers

 Responsible for carrying out daily routine inspections on all TS Radio Communication
facilities in accordance with the guidelines provided by the routine checks section of this
manual, DSEES MOP/SOP, equipment manuals and other applicable documents.
 Responsible for carrying out both corrective and preventive maintenance procedures,
diagnostics, and repairs on all TS Radio Communication facilities in accordance with the
guidelines provided by the DSEES MOP/SOP, equipment manuals and other applicable
documents.
 Responsible for maintaining a proper log of events in the unit in accordance with the
logging section of this manual, DSEES MOP/SOP, and other applicable documents.
 Responsible for maintaining proper archive of ATC voice records, labelling, and storing
them appropriately for easy availability.

4.0 SERVICES PROVIDED BY TS RADIO COMMUNICATION UNIT

The services provided by the terrestrial services Radio Communication Unit can be broadly
classified into voice and data services. The diagram below elaborates this classification.

TERRESTRIAL
SERVICES

Managed By DIVOS Managed By

TMCS SERVER
VOICE RECORDER
DATA TAPTOOL SERVER

FLIGHT PLAN
smartStrips

TELEPHONY RADIO smartLICOS

smartNASI
smartATIS

smartMET
HOTLINES, E&M

VHF HF
DIRECT LINE,
GSM LINES
INTERCOM
(PABX)

SMARTCLIENT (ADD)
HF VOICE

HF DATA

VOICE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

The data network consists of several clients served and managed by a duplicated server system.
The clients consist of Frequentis/Taptools smartProduct hardware which include smartstrips
clients, smartclients or Aerodrome Data Display (ADD) and also the flight Plan terminals. The
servers and clients are interconnected through a 10/100 MBit/s Ethernet LAN (Via a LAN Switch).

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The voice network consists of VHF radio communications system for air-ground control, HF radio
telephony for ground-to-ground communications and telephony/intercom services. It also
includes ancillary facilities like DIVOS voice recording system, Antennas, Operator Positions etc.
The entire voice network is controlled by the Voice Communication System (VCS) and managed
by a dedicated Technical Monitoring and Control System (TMCS) server.

5.0 CONTINGENCIES

Critical operational facilities in TS Radio Communication Unit are operated in the mains and
standby configuration with additional redundancy provided where possible. In the event of a
facility failure, operations are automatically transferred to standby. If both the mains and standby
are affected, necessary steps are taken to replace the faulty component while at the same time
activating additional redundancies.

The following are some of the contingency plans put in place in TS Radio Communication Unit to
ensure smooth and seamless operation:

 Park Air T6 Series transmitter and receiver radios in main and standby operations.
 Duplicated DIVOS voice recording system in parallel operation.
 Duplicated TAPTOOLS servers for TS data services in parallel operation.
 Flight strips handling application/terminal (smartstrips) in main and backup configuration.
 HF radios in frequency diversity configuration and in mains and backup operation.
 JOTRON high-power long-range radios in main and standby operation.
 Sufficient battery bank and UPS system as backup to mains utility power supply.
 Aerodrome control alternate frequency and standalone radio.
 ALDIS signal lamp in the event of radio communication failure.

6.0 STAFF DISPOSITION/SHIFT ADMINISTRATION

The unit operates a five-man watch (including E-Watch) roster pattern and each watch is headed
by a duty watch head whose responsibilities are as stated in the organization duties section of
this manual. The following rules shall be adhered to while administering shift in the unit:

 The HOD shall prepare a monthly Duty Roster not later than one week to the end of each
month showing clearly hours of duty required by personnel of the department.
 A Duty Watch shall be made up of a minimum of two personnel.
 All personnel shall adhere strictly to their duty schedules as displayed in the roster.
 The duty rosters shall be designed in a manner as to take due cognizance of requirements
for duty rest period.

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  No alternations are to be allowed to the watch rosters without the approval of the head
of department.
In addition to the above rules, all personnel shall resume in their duty post 30 minutes before the
commencement of their duties in order to be briefed/acquainted with the station’s status before
taking over duty. No officer shall leave his or her duty post until his or her relief comes.
Also, the unit shall maintain a leave roster for the year, prepared in advance before the year
commences. The roster shall be well distributed so that at any point in time, there should be
enough number of personnel to make up the minimum number required in a duty watch.

7.0 DEFECTS AND EMERGENCY REPORTING

 It is the responsibility of the duty officer to carry out inspection of facilities under his/her
watch after being aware of the current situation of the station. The personnel shall
document all observations noted during the inspection.

 In the event of pending failures or a failure occurrence the officer shall proceed to review,
analyse, and attend to such fault in accordance with the procedures stipulated in relevant
technical manuals.

 In the event that the officer is unable to resolve the problem, he shall immediately report
to the Head of Unit.

 The Head of Unit shall take necessary steps with his/her experience to resolve the fault in
accordance with procedures stipulated in relevant technical manuals. If the fault persists
thereafter, the HOU shall immediately report to the Head of Department.

 The Head of Department, upon the receipt of a report on the non-resolution of a fault,
shall proceed to take necessary actions towards ensuring the timely restoration of service.
He or she shall also be required to initiate NOTAM action, where applicable, on the status
of the facility.

 If a fault occurrence lingers for a reasonable period following the initiation of a NOTAM
action, where applicable, the Head of Department shall report to the Airspace Manager
and be required to request technical assistance at the headquarters level via the ASM.

 Following the resolution of any fault or defect for which a NOTAM has been earlier issued,
the Head of Department shall notify the appropriate department concerning service
restoration for the purpose of cancelling or amending the outage NOTAM earlier issued
in respect of the unserviceable equipment.

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8.0 REPORT, LOGGING AND RECORD KEEPING

The unit maintains a general logbook with the opening date and closing date clearly written on
the front page. In addition to the general logbook, the unit maintains some equipment specific
logbooks and other logbooks including UPS status logbook, DIVOS Recorder archive logbook,
external personnel movement logbook and the A/C status logbook. The following guidelines shall
be adhered to while administering the unit logbooks:
 The unit shall maintain a logbook with the name of the department, date of opening and
date of closing clearly written on the front page.
 Logbook maintained for a particular equipment shall, in addition to the requirement
stated above, bear the name of the equipment or facility.
 Log entries shall be made in indelible ink with no erasures and there shall be no line
spacing. No page of the logbook shall be removed for any reason whatsoever.
 All entries on the logbook shall be made in chronological order as the events occur. All
entries shall be made in UTC.
 All hard copies of completed Logbooks shall be stored for a minimum period of 180 days
in the department.
 The head of department shall inspect the logbook daily and take note of any significant
entries, including any areas that require immediate action. He or she shall, thereafter,
append his or her signature as appropriate.
In addition to the above-mentioned logs, the unit also maintains records of archived ATC voice
recordings. These voice records are archived on DVD-ROMs and stored for use when they are no
longer available in the voice recorder’s database (90 days).

9.0 FACILITY LOCATIONS

9.1 Equipment Room

 Safe tower VHF radios (Transmitters and Receivers)

 Voice Communication and Control System (VCCS)
 DIVOS Recording system (Server and Replay Client)
 TAPTOOLS Servers
 Aerodrome Data Display (ADD)
 TMCS Server

9.2 Control Tower

 Smartstrips Terminals
 Flight Plan Terminal
 Controller Working Position (CWP)
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  Aerodrome Data Displays (ADD)
 VHF Standalone Radios (Transceivers)
 ALDIS Lamp
 Icom Mobile Radios (Walkie-Talkie)

9.3 Aerocomms Center

 Flight Plan Terminal

 HF Voice radio
 HF Data Radio (Barrett)

9.4 AIS Office

 VHF Radio

9.5 TRACON

 Approach VHF Radios (Transmitter and Receiver)

 JOTRON High Power Long Range Radio
 Ricochet Recorder system
 DIVOS Recorder System
 Controller Working Positions (CWP – Frequentis & Jotron)
 Approach VHF Standalone Radio (Transceiver)

10.0 ROUTINE CHECK PROCEDURE FOR SAFE TOWER EQUIPMENT

- Check and Read through the logbook for updates from the preceding officer.
10.1 VCCS

 Check that all buttons on the phone and radio side are not showing red.
 Check that the six points connected on hotlines are Serviceable by making test calls
 View the LED display on the four GATE X, and master the status while in good working
condition.
 View the LED display on all the INTERFACE CARDS, and master the status while in good
working condition.

10.2 TMCS

 Check the TMCS SERVERS and be sure there is no alarm on the components displayed for
VCS sub-system.
 ERIF, BCA, BCB, GPIF and RSIF cards
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  Radio and phone line status
 Gate-X components
 Controller Working Positions
 Clear and acknowledge any pending alarms and system resets.
 Check that the time on the TMCS server synchronizes with the GPS clock.
 Check the TMCS server for any physical alarms.

10.3 TAPTOOLS SERVERS

 Check and inspect the TAPTOOLS servers for any alarm and also check the LED display for
any error messages e.g “ROMB battery error”.
 Check the TAP servers monitoring service for any alarm for each of the displayed
components.
 Check the memory and swap usage values to ensure is within range for smooth operations
 Check the CPU load value and confirm it is within range for a hitch-free operation.
 Check that the times on the servers are synchronized with the GPS clock.

10.4 DIVOS RECORDERS

 Check the DIVOS server LED display and the Hard Drives status displays for alarms.
 Login to the DIVOS servers and ensure they are serviceable.
 Check the client replay console to confirm two-way communications controller and pilot.
 Retrieve and playback any voice file from the available channels to ensure they are
recorded.
 Open ‘My computer’ Icon and confirm Drive X&Y display (INCD AUTOFORMATIABLE on
A&B respectively).
 Confirm seeing total and free space on the empty DVD plate.
 Check that the DIVOS Task Viewer does not display an alarm.
 Document/log any completed archive by properly recording the start and end date-time.
Store the DVD for future reference.

10.5 VHF RADIOS

 Check that all the radio transmitters (Main & Standby) have their power ON.
 Check that all the radio receivers (Main & Standby) have their power ON.
 Check that the READY indicator is lit for both the transmitter and receiver radios.
 Ensure that the “TRANSMIT” light is lit when the radios are transmitting.
 Ensure that the “RECEIVE” light is lit when the radios are receiving.

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  Listen to clear conversation on 118.1MHz, 121.9MHz, 121.7MHz, 124.7MHz,
127.3MHz, 120.9MHz, 121.5MHz, 123.8MHz, and other frequencies, and be sure of
no interference.

10.6 HF RADIOS

 Check for any ALARM in the radio front panel.

 Listen to transmit/receive audio level to ensure good for operation.
 Ensure that the radio is in SSB mode.
 Ensure a good VSWR value for the transceivers and not infinity.
 Check that the data transceiver radio is scanning.
 Check that the Barrett application is running on the PC.
 Check that the transceiver modem and the PC are communicating.

10.7 AERODROME DATA DISPLAY

 Check that there are NO alarms (i.e red rectangles) on the runway.
 Ensure that all meteorological information displayed on the infobar corresponds to the
information displayed.
 Ensure that the ATIS information displayed corresponds to the information being
broadcasted.
 Ensure that the ATIS information is the current one.
 Contact NIMET for any missing/incorrect meteorological data.
 Check that the information on the maintenance ADD in the equipment room corresponds
to the ADD's in the Tower, MET Office, and Approach.
 Ensure that the Runway is not blocked without reason(s).
 On the set up menu confirm that the active runway is selected.

10.8 SMARTSTRIPS TERMINALS

 Ensure the smartstrips application is running and responding to pen touch.

 Ensure that the pen and the application/screen are properly calibrated and well aligned.
 Check that the time on the terminals are synchronized with the GPS clock.
 Check that the terminals are mapped to the smartstrips directory of the TAP servers on
network drive Z. Ensure that archived strips get to the TAP server.
10.9 FLIGHT PLAN TERMINAL

 Ensure the flight plan application is up and running and populated with sent flight plans
 Ensure that the StripCreator (Browser) application is up and running and correctly pointing
to any of the following addresses:
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  http://10.17.3.10:8080/StripCreator/
 http://10.17.3.11:8080/StripCreator/
 http://10.17.3.12:8080/StripCreator/
 Ensure that sent flight plans get to tower

10.10 JOTRON HIGH-POWER LONG RANGE RADIO SYSTEM

 Check that there is no alarm indication on all the TX and RX radios.

 Ensure that the 200W power amplifiers for the TX radios are working with no alarms.
 Ensure that the Ricochet Recorder system is serviceable with all voice communication
being recorded.
 Check that there is no alarm on the Ricochet Recorder and clear all pending alarms.
 Ensure that all the components displayed in the RCMS server are serviceable with no
alarm and clear all pending alarms.
 Ensure that both JOTRON operator positions (CWP) are serviceable.
 Check that both the ELTEK 155AH and 190AH power systems are working without alarms
and clear any pending alarms.

10.11 CONTROL TOWER

 Check that all the terminals used by the controllers were correctly set for operation.
 Check that the ALDIS LAMP is serviceable and ensure the batteries are fully charged.
 Check that the Flight plan terminal is serviceable.
 Ensure that the mobile radios are serviceable and all required frequencies programmed.
 Ensure availability and serviceability of binoculars.

10.12 OTHERS

 Check the UPS status in the equipment room and ensure it is serviceable with no alarms.
 Ensure that the cooling is adequate in all facility locations.
 Check the serviceability of the ROTATING BEACON.

11.0 BASIC OPERATIONS

11.1 PLAYBACK RECORDINGS

 Log on to AdminDivos using the password.

 Launch the Divos Xpose application from the desktop.
 At the search window, select the intended start date, end date, and time.
 Click on "load sources", an empty page is displayed.
 Click on "Radio" icon and select the intended frequency from the list.
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  Click "ok".
 Click on "load results"
 Radio recording call can be expanded by clicking on '+' icon beside the radio call
 Select the files to play and click on the play icon at the top of the page to play.

11.2 SAVE VOICE RECORD FILE(S) ON STORAGE MEDIA (Cont’d from above)

 Select the required file(s) by clicking on their individual combo box, then right-click on any
of the selected files and click on "save as".
 On the "select the destination for the report", click the button with three dots and select
the DVD drive or any preferred destination or media, then click "ok".
 On "choose the options for audio", drop-down menu and select mp3 or any other
preferred format, then click "ok".

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