[The image shows NSSL's 10cm Doppler radar antenna and pedestal on top an open platform as it was configured around 1968, before it was enclosed in a permanent structure with a radome]
Notes:
Kessler and Lhermitte realized early on that to observe severe storms, a
10 cm radar , even though it is much more expensive, was the radar of choice.
Lhermitte in his 1966 BAMS article laid down the desired parameters for
pulsed-Doppler radars to be used in the observation of severe thunderstorms
(3 cm for vertical soundings and 10 cm for surveillance over large ranges).
The box at the base of the tower housed the CPN-18 radar (Magnetron transmitter—I don’t believe it was used for Doppler measurements). During this time NSSL acquired the FPS-18 radar (i.e., a gap filler radar) and it had to be housed inside a building. This is likely one of the reasons that the NRO tower was acquired on surplus. See next slide. I don’t
recall seeing any data collected with this radar.