BN9 now has the most powerful broadcast weather radar

Monday, January 5, 2009

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Our Klystron 9 sits on a tower 100 feet in the air in Pinellas Park. (Installation slideshow)

Bay News 9 has made a huge leap forward in providing you with the most accurate weather forecasts in the Bay area.

On Monday, the station will unveil Klystron 9, the most advanced, most powerful, highest resolution broadcast weather radar in the world.

Bay News 9 chief meteorologist Mike Clay said Klystron 9 is more accurate than any other weather radar at any TV station anywhere.

"This is the biggest advance in radar since Doppler," Clay said. "Dual-pol Doppler, which we installed in October 2007, was the first step, but this was the full gamut of the radar we were after."

The most powerful television radar

"This is the most powerful radar that we've ever produced," said Robert Baron Sr., the president and CEO of Baron Services, which developed and built Klystron 9. "It's 1.25 million watts of power and it is the cleanest signal that we've ever produced."

Klystron 9 combines, for the first time in history, a dual Polarimetric radar, Klystron tube, Pulse Compression technology, and a 1.25 million watt transmitter.

Klystron 9 Video

That combination of technology enables Klystron 9 to see storms other radars can't see and see deeper into those storms. The Klystron 9's dual-pol technology even tells meteorologists the sizes and shape of raindrops and makes the distinction between rain and ice.

"It's one of the most powerful radars in the world," said Bill Walker, the vice president of the radar division at Baron Services. "It is absolutely the most powerful television radar that has ever been built and quite possibly the most powerful weather radar in the entire world."

Why Bay News 9?

Why did Your News Channel purchase the dual-pol/Klystron technology? Because we are committed to keeping up to date on the latest weather forecasting technology.

"People rely on us to give them accurate forecasts of severe weather," said Bay News 9 general manager Terry Dolan. "The Klystron 9 makes radar at every other TV station obsolete. We are very fortunate to work for a company that continually invests in new technology like this."

Bay News 9 is the only TV station in the world to have the dual pol/Klystron technology. Clay said usually only governments own radar like ours.

In fact, one reason Bay News 9 has the Klystron 9 is because Baron Services wanted to install the technology as a test model for foreign governments. The company has partnered with Bay News 9 to be the first recipient of the new technology.

But why Bay News 9, and not another TV station?

More About Klystron

Baron Services chose us not only because we are the only 24/7 TV news station in the Bay area, but because we are in the Bay area, and our summer storms make an excellent place to give the new technology a thorough workout.

Bay News 9 jumped at the chance to get the dual pol/Klystron technology, and the development of the product for our use and our purchase of it has been in the works for more than two years.

Our equipment and our resources are now arguably the best in the world to give you the most accurate and up-to-date weather forecasts anywhere.

What makes Klystron 9 different?

Bay News 9 news director Mike Gautreau said that although our old radar was top notch, the Klystron 9 is a huge advance. For a start, Klystron 9 is unique in that it's a combination of dual-pol technology and the Klystron tube.

"There's no other dual pol and Klystron radar out there," Gautreau said.

Bay News 9 On Demand

Learn more about Klystron 9 on Bay News 9 On Demand, including interviews with Klystron experts, 9 facts about Klystron 9 and much more

Another way our new technology helps provide the most accurate weather forecasts is through the power of its 1.25 million watt transmitter. Klystron 9's enormous power gives it a tremendous range, up to 300 miles, although the earth's curvature means the radar's best effective range is about 150 miles.

But Clay said that if a storm is big enough - that is, tall enough in the atmosphere - Klystron 9 can see farther than 150 miles.

Yet another advantage to the Klystron tube is its ability to always be on. Clay said that magnetron tubes can burn out if left on too long, but the Klystron tube can run 24 hours a day, seven days a week without harm.

The Klystron 9 also has pulse compression, which maximizes the sensitivity and resolution of radars.

And there's another aspect of Klystron 9 that gives our meteorologists an incredibly accurate view of Tampa Bay weather.

"We also have a new ground clutter suppression system that has never been used before," Clay said. "The system removes anything that doesn't move, so buildings, trees, etc. don't show on the radar."

The new ground clutter suppression system also reduces radar reflection that's not precipitation.

This table explains the difference between the Klystron 9, our former radar and the National Weather Services' radar in Ruskin.

	Klystron 9	Bay News 9's old radar	NWS radar
Watts	1.25 million	350,000	750,000
Tube	Klystron	Magnetron	Klystron
Operating time	24/7 as a Doppler radar	Limited because of tube life	24/7 as a Doppler radar
Pulse compression	Yes	No	No
Dual pol	Yes	No	No
Frequency	C-Band	C-Band	S-Band
Scanning strategy	Live or volume	Live only	Volume only

The Klystron 9, hurricanes and you

Critically for the Tampa Bay area, the Klystron 9 will help Bay News 9 provide a more accurate picture of what's going on inside hurricanes.

Clay explained that it's hard to see past the front wall of hurricanes because the storms are saturated with water. But the Klystron 9 penetrates a hurricane's wall to tell meteorologists what's inside the storm.

The Klystron 9 also provides better rainfall measurements and, if the storm is within 150 miles of the coast, gives live wind data.

Behind the radome

Like our previous radar, Klystron 9 is located 100 feet in the air behind the Bright House Sports Network building in Pinellas Park.

From the outside, the radome (where the Klystron 9 is housed) looks pretty much the same. But Clay said the housing is a new high tech radome, one of just a few in the world.

The radome's material ensures that the Klystron 9's signal isn't distorted as it passes through the housing.

"The radome was developed by the military with a new composite material to have better resistance to high winds, much less signal loss, and better passage of the dual pol signal through the radome material," Clay said.

The future of weather radar

Walker, the Baron Services engineer, said the technology contained in the Klystron 9 will someday be common, but that will not be anytime soon.

"This is the future," said Walker, who built the first television radar almost 40 years ago. "Thirty years from now, these may be common, will be common, but we're not there yet. You're stepping out one step further than anything we know of in the world today."

Klystron 9 definitions

Klystron
The term Klystron refers to the type of tube used by the radar. It uses power more efficiently by amplifying its signal so its output can be precisely controlled in amplitude, frequency and phase.

In contrast, traditional radars use an inefficient Magnetron tube, which requires more power. Translation: standard radars need more power and are still less accurate.

Pulse Compression
This is a signal processing technique designed to maximize the sensitivity and resolution of radars. Most traditional radars use very short pulses, but a short pulse doesn't allow for an efficient use of full transmitter power.

If a longer pulse is used, more power is transmitted, but the resolution is degraded since the signal is spread over a larger distance. So pulse compression provides a solution to the short vs. long pulse problem.

Dual Polarimetric
The NWS offers this explanation of Dual Polarimetric radars; "Most weather radars, such as the National Weather Service NEXRAD radar, transmit radio wave pulses that have a horizontal orientation.

"Polarimetric radars (also referred to as dual-polarization radars), transmit radio wave pulses that have both horizontal and vertical orientations. The horizontal pulses essentially give a measure of the horizontal dimension of cloud (cloud water and cloud ice) and precipitation (snow, ice pellets, hail, and rain) particles while the vertical pulses essentially give a measure of the vertical dimension."

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