ZJX controller described a conflict event when climbing an aircraft through the altitude of another....

Narrative:

A B737 was handed off to me at FL340 requesting FL400; there were two northbound tracks at FL350. After the B737 passed the first aircraft at FL350; I did a quick traffic search and climbed the B737 up to FL380. After reviewing the incident on falcon; it appears that the target jumped slightly east and possibly the track had a 'bad hit.' the vector lines looked good when I initially climbed the B737. Conflict alert when off when the B737 was abeam a A320 at that point I put a j-ring up and the target was on the edge of the j-ring. I didn't do a traffic call at that point because the aircraft were already passed and assumed initially the separation was exactly 5 miles based on the j-ring. If there is a way to prevent the track jumping due to the radar sort box that would be helpful. In the future; I'll be more cautious especially in that particular area.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZJX Controller described a conflict event when climbing an aircraft through the altitude of another. A track jump due to a RADAR sort box anomaly may have contributed to the event.

Narrative: A B737 was handed off to me at FL340 requesting FL400; there were two northbound tracks at FL350. After the B737 passed the first aircraft at FL350; I did a quick traffic search and climbed the B737 up to FL380. After reviewing the incident on Falcon; it appears that the target jumped slightly east and possibly the track had a 'bad hit.' The vector lines looked good when I initially climbed the B737. Conflict Alert when off when the B737 was abeam a A320 at that point I put a J-Ring up and the target was on the edge of the J-Ring. I didn't do a traffic call at that point because the aircraft were already passed and assumed initially the separation was exactly 5 miles based on the J-Ring. If there is a way to prevent the track jumping due to the RADAR sort box that would be helpful. In the future; I'll be more cautious especially in that particular area.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	945629
Time
Date	201104
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZJX.ARTCC
State Reference	FL
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Aircraft 2
Make Model Name	B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Enroute
Qualification	Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

ZJX controller described a conflict event when climbing an aircraft through the altitude of another. A track jump due to a radar sort box anomaly may have contributed to the event.