On Aug 5, 3:43 pm, "Danny Deger" wrote:
In another thread I am in a discussion on radar capability for FAA
"Centers". My recollection is that they typically have no primary radar,
thus no capability to paint weather. Someone is telling me they do.
Anybody out there have the answer. Maybe some do and some don't, and the
ones I used in the past don't.

--
Danny Deger

NASA offered me $15,000 to take down my web site. Take a look and see why.www.dannydeger.net

Danny.

Center Radar is a L Band search APSR-4 with skin paint capability of 1
meter at I think 60 miles...at 100 it is less...

These are old radars dating back to the first go at a radar center
system. The moderinzation project for the actual radar (not the data
display) started in (if memory serves) 1989...the idea was to improve
the reciever/transmitter section and split off a feed for digital wx
data much as has been done for the ASR-9 and 11...this required a new
feed horn for the RX to allow reception of circularly polarized (good
for airplane tracking) and linear returns (good for WX)...

I know the one at the FAA HQ in OKC has been done (it is a hugh
monster) and I think that ATL, HOU and I want to say ABQ centers have
had all of their sites modernized...

But as it goes everything went over budget and by 2001 they are
thinking about not modernizing the system and just going to a
secondary (ie transponder system)...then 9/11 happened and that ended
all that discussion.

A trip to OKC is pretty good. When I was there for safety school I
took the ATC tour and part of it is that a knowledgable person takes
you "outside" and points out what all the radars (there are a lot of
them I counted over 18) do.

I had driven up for safety school (and am a amateur radio operator)
and had my portable specturm analyser...that was an eye opener.

Robert