Date: 201308
Local time of day: 1801-2400
Location: ZAB.ARTCC, NM
Aircraft: Any Unknown or Unlisted Aircraft Manufacturer
ATC / advisory: Center ZAB
Reporter organization: Government
Reporter function: Enroute
Reporter qualification: Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Human factors: Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness
Anomaly: ATC Issue All Types
Detector: Person Air Traffic Control
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: ATC Equipment / Nav Facility / Buildings; Human Factors; Weather; Procedure
Primary problem: Human Factors

Narrative: I relived the controller who was working R38/39/50. It wasn't very busy at the time; but there was weather and the frequencies were acting up again. The weather was along both the arrivals and the departures in and out of Phoenix. A moderate arrival stream was coming in; 8 MIT and above FL360. I had the arrivals descending via and they weren't asking to deviate; so I thought they should be fine. I then had a D-Side sit down with me to help with the sector. The departures started coming out on the two streams out of Phoenix. They wanted to deviate immediately into each other out of Phoenix and then again though one hole about 80 east of Phoenix.  Meanwhile; the arrivals were asking to deviate. Some of them non-stop and that I was unable to communicate effectively with the aircraft for a couple of minutes due to the frequencies. A few of the aircraft were telling those aircraft to be quiet and to let me do my job. I thought they couldn't hear me due to my frequencies. I tried BUEC's and stand-by for my transmitter; but it did not help. Aircraft were now departing from another stream going north bound. My arrivals now wanted to deviate and go through the same area where those departures were heading. I had to force my arrivals down out of FL360 to get underneath those departures. It all worked out and every one was safe. It would have been easier if Tech Ops; Management; and the TMU; would have predicted what was going to happen and had done something. Tech Ops has known about this frequency problem for a long time. They can only fix the problem temporarily. The problem keeps coming back. This time was not the time for frequency problems! Management and the TMU both had to have seen this coming; way before I got to work. They knew there was weather building up and that the aircraft were going to be there. They have the power to only have one departure stream out of Phoenix Eastbound so they don't deviate into each other. They could have got the arrivals down to FL300 before my airspace; so the aircraft could have easily got below the departing aircraft to the North. They could have had the other sector give me 10 MIT instead of eight on the arrivals so the compression would have been less on the deviations into Phoenix. If they don't do there job; someone is going to have to; unfortunately; safety became an issue because people were not doing their job.




Synopsis: ZAB Controller described a very complex and heavy traffic period involving PHX arrivals and departures. Aircraft on both routes requested weather deviations which resulted in conflicts; the reporter lists TMU; supervisory and maintenance failures as causal factors.