Technicians were contacted by Sequoia dispatch and notified of intermittent radio problems over the Memorial Day weekend. Troubleshooting began upon technicians returning to work Tuesday 5/27 after the Monday holiday. Technicians quickly determined microwave system was the source of the problem and observed consistent failures daily between 0700-0900 in the system error log. Technicians were able to reduce daily outage duration by rebooting microwave radio at dispatch while in a failed state.
Week of 5/27-5/30 technicians spent their days on the road travelling to microwave sites obtaining system data files for manufacturer technical support to provide troubleshooting assistance. Technicians were notified by Sequoia dispatch again on Saturday 5/31 of a radio outage but before technicians could respond the issue resolved itself.
Sunday 6/1, technician responded to restore service after being notified of another radio outage, ticket# INC000008880083 was opened later that day for the event.
Week of 6/2-6/6, technicians; in coordination with microwave manufacturer, have traveled to microwave sites performing recommended troubleshooting steps. This has been a slow process as technicians are not always able to troubleshoot the microwave system while on site- 6/4 technicians spent 6 hours travelling roundtrip to a microwave site and after an additional 2 hours of site standby, were unable to gain dispatch authorization to take the radio site temporarily offline for troubleshooting due to aircraft operations on the forest.
As of 6/5 communications have remained reliably online. Technicians continue work with microwave manufacturer to perform updates and configuration changes to prevent future outages. This microwave system has been problematic in years past and attempts to resolve the outages failed even with support from the manufacturer- outages ceased over time.
Technicians have prior microwave experience with different manufacturers products, training for this microwave system was scheduled in early 2024 but had to be cancelled due to budget constraints. Training funds have not been available until recently and an upcoming training is scheduled with the manufacturer.
For ALL USDA/Forest Service IT-related issues/outages:
The most efficient means of obtaining assistance with IT difficulties is by opening a ticket with the Forest Service Customer Help Desk (CHD) at 1-866-945-1354 (TTY: 1-800-877-8339). The user/customer should request a ticket be opened, reporting as specifically as possible WHAT system(s) or capabilities were affected, the date and time WHEN they were impacted, WHERE the impact occurred, and WHO can provide additional information that may be required. Please include the ticket number in ALL correspondence related to the issue/outage, including SAFENET if one is initiated.
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