THE BROADCAST'ING INDUSTRY AS THE IDEAL USER OF

WEATHER RADAR
by
Tony Sands
Chief Me'teorologist
Crosley Broadcasting Corporation
Clyde G. Haehnle
Technical Advisor
Crosley Broadcasting Corporation
September, 1961
Since the dawn of t ime, man has pitted his cast is issued not only for the sa'ke of
knowledge against the 'elements in a never- brevity, but forecast i-s real istic, conforming to
ending strugle for survival. His habitat th'e curr'ent limitations of the
was altered to suit the cli'mate and the' science of meteorology. With radar, a
abnormal eruptions of nature were accepted broadcasti'ng organization can pinpoint the
as having a religious connotation. With arrival of rain, snow and showers, both as
the passage of time, we have learned to' to ti-ming and speci fic location. Proper
understand and measure the elements and amplification of the weather forecasts is
with a reasonabble degree of accuracy, a good publ ic service. But, during severe
predict its motions and ascertain most of storm alerts, the public mental and physi-
its v-iolent erupti'ons. Despite the growth cal safety can be protected through the
of the science of meteorology, literally proper use of weather radar.
thousa'nds o'f people lost their lives
du r ing the f i rst ha If of the centu ry The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation has
duri ng severe and unexpected storms. been using a Decca Model 40 radar instal-
During the past decade, ele-ctronic de'vices lation for approximately 5 years in its
have been de've Ioped for the f i e Id of Cincinnati studios. Its staff of three
meteoroIo'gy that wi 1-1 eventuaI Iy' di'mi'ni'sh meteorologists, with a fully equipped
loss of li'fe due to storms to a negli'gible weather installation, service the area
factor. The tools for practically elimin- served by WLW radio and the tele Ivi s i on
ating loss of I i fe during severe storms statioTos in Indianapolis, Dayton
Columbus. The U. S. Weather Bureau in-
and
and flooding are now available to the
world. But, the weather warning systems stalled a long range radar about one year
have not kept stride wi th the forward ago, at the Greater Cincinnati Airport,
tOjrogress of the electronics field. but this has not diminished the value of
our 120 mile radar installation. Before
The UWnited 'States Weather 'Bureau is the the weather bureau obtained thei r own
finest and best equipped meteorological radar, WLW relayed the radar readings at
organizati-on' in the world. The fantastic given i ntervals to the local government
life saving evacuation o'f 'coastal areas o ff i ce . These radar reports were p laced
during Hurr'icane Carla was an ex'cellent on a national weather teletype network to
exa'mple of the value of large scale warn- be used by the severe warning fQrecast
ings and forecasts. But, even wi'th full center and the f iel d of meteo rology i n
covera'ge of this enormous storm, 'there was general. The U. 'S. Weather Bureau st,i I I
6ome preventable loss of life, due to a maintains a private telephone line to
time lag betwe'en the meteorological aware- WLW's weather stat'ion.
ness of danger and t'he recei'pt of warnings
by the publ ic. 'Five years ago when Crosley Broadcasti'ng
Corporati on purchased the Decca Type 40
The Uni'ted S'tates Weather Bureau i s weather radar system, th'e Engineering
charged by Congr'ess to make weather obser- Department made a site study and found
vations and forecasts in the publ ic inter- that the. roof of the transmitter building
est. A broadcasting organization cannot atop Mount Olympus gave us adequate ne
morally compete with the United States of site clearance in al l directions. The
Weather Bureau'. Radio and tel-evi'si on Type 40 radar operates in the "X" band on
sta-t'ions are actually the' only voice that 9 kmc with 20 kw peak power. The antenna
the Weather Bureau possesses and wi,t'h a has a horizontal beam width of l.20 and a
weather radar they can become an integral vertical beam width Qf 210 to the half
member of th'e meeteoro-logi'cal "co'm'munity. power points. Range scales of ;0, 30, 60
and -120 miles are.provided. The equipment
The weather bureau issues a forecast for is originally supplied with the range
a given location four times p'er day, under scales calibrated in nautical miles which
normal conditions, with little regard to must be 'converted to statute miles.
timing of weather ph'enomenon and usi ng the
most genera'l terms. A generalized fore- The transmitter, receiver. and power units

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are located in the penthouse immediately appraisal of li'mitation and capability
under the sc'anner. The PPI di'splay is could be made. The group of publ ic obser-
located in the transmitte r room behind the vers have continued to serve as a constant
transmitter console. The display tube is checking element for radar efficiency, as
a 12 inch long persi'stence with a P-7 our engineers conti'nue to improve the
o range phosphur. The PPI display is system.
picked up by a transistorized Videcon
camera and converted to a s'tandard vide-o The weather radar is just one of the
signal. Numerous probl ems were encount- functional tools that i's used in our fully
ered with the Videcon pick-up unti our equi'pped weather station. The six basic
engineers located a Videcon tube with a i nst rumen'ts for record i ng tempe ratu re,
sharp narrow-band spectra I sens i t i v i ty wind, pressure, humidity, and rainfal are
that matched the,P-7 phosphur of the mounted on a convenient panel for visual
display tube. An interesting po'int here effect on television and for constant use
is that the more, stickiness the Videcon by *the staff of WLW's weather station.
exhibits, the bette'r the picture. Three weather teletypes bring in a never
ending stream of weather data from weather
The sync generator at the transmitter site installations across the North American
is locked to t'he main studio sync'gener- continent and adjacent ocean areas. These
ator so that the radar di splay can appear data include statistical in-formation,
on the switcher as a video source avail- forecast discussions and observations for
able for direct take, lap dissolves or not on y the *surface *of the earth, but for
speci a I ef fects. levels up to 80,000 feet into the atmos-
phere. We prepare f ive complete maps
The weather radar has proven so successful daily for the entire continental United
in Cincinnati that we purchased a second States and each hour the maps are changed
Dec'ca Type 40 for installation at WLWA, over the Lakes area and Ohio Valley. The
Atlanta, Georgia. This presented a uniqu'e forecasts are kept up to the minute, coin-
problem since the studio location is sur- ciding with incoming weather reports and
rounded by trees. Our engineers felt that readings on our we-ather instruments.
the radar scanner could be mounted on the (including instantaneous radar observa-
inside of the 500 foot -self-supporting tiions). The weather st'ation also has a
tower at the 190 foot level. Since the facsimi le service for bringing in weather
antenna aperature is large compared to the maps f rom the U. S. Weather Bureau in
leg columns, it was felt that their shad- Washington (Suitland, Mary.land). The
owi'ng effect would not be serious. This master analysis center in Washington is
'typ'e installation has proven to be very staffed by Weather Bureau, Ai r Force and
s u c ce ss f u I a n d e co n om i ca s i n ce most Navy personnel using world-wide weather
broadcasters have a tower available. data, electronic computers and pictures
f rom the Ti ros satel i tes to prepare
We real ized at the beginning that an elec- charts, diagrams and pictures to be used
tronic device has a personality of its own by weather installations across the United
and the idiosyncrasi,es of the device must States. The WLW Weather Station is lo-
be assertained and ev'aluated to make it cated in the same room as the News Depart-
fully effective. When the radar was first ment, which proximity offers the meteor-
-install'ed, we informed the public of our ologist on duty, the advantages of inform-
installation, its capabi-lities and our ation from the press wire service and the
problems. We asked for public assistance physical assistance of experienced newsmen
in solving the evaluation problem. The
public reaction was so great that we were The WLW Weather Station i s also a broad-
able to select two observers in each cast studio, with a broadcast line leading
county co'vered by the radar sweep. to each of the control rooms of radio and
television. Weather programs are present-
The Crosley Broadcasting Corporation has ed over the facil ities of WLW with a reg-
its own airplane and pilot, and we instal- ularity, consistent with good programming.
led a direct air-to-ground communications There are 184 programs regularly on WLW
system between the plane and the weather Radio and 34 on Television weekly. During
station (weather reconnaisance). By a weather emergency a bul letin may be
'using the combined services of the public issued immediately and as often as it is
weather observers and the reconnaisance deemed necessary in the best public inter-
aircraft we were able to adjust the radar est. Bulleti'ns have been issued during
to establish true distance and bearing. h'eavy snows, floods and severe storms,
The tests also allowed the ev'aluation of during the past five years. Discounting
power return versus output and to develop snow bulletins', we have issued warnings
a linear evaluation of echo bril'liance of 312. severe weather occurrences, both of
versus quantities of moisture and turbu- localized storms and phenomenon influe'nc-
lence. The full scale testing extended ing the major portion of our service area.
o'ver a six month period, u'nti'l a full During the five years we have used weather

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radar, we issued only six we.ather bulle- than gratifying. During major floods over
tins in which no major property damage the past several years, the radar readings
or bod.ily inj.ury resulted. There we.re from WLW have been used as the final
nine severe local storms in which no a.d- authority-in evacuation of flood threat-
vance warnings were issued. Of these ened areas. We were asked by NBC to tell
storms, which were not covered by bu'lle- the story of our flood forecastli'ng on the
tins, five occurred when WLW meteorolo- "Today" program, during a major flood in
gists were not on duty; two were freak Cincinnati three years ago. It was during
disturbances that developed and disappear- th'is 'flood that we proved that a radar
ed in a few moments; two occurred during a operating on the "X" ban.d does have tre-
period of mechanical breakdown in the' mendous penetrating power. The Decca
radar system. A warni'ng system can be radar beam penetrated thirty miles of
completely ineffective i f needless wa'rn- dense rainfall, allowing us to follow a
ings are issued too often. Weather warn- storm center a.s it took an abrupt right
ings must also be issued factually and angle turn j:ust wes'tof Cincinnati. Dur-
with no ala.rm evident in the voice of the ing this major flood we were able to
broadcaster. Also', occasional mention of ascertain the exact rainfall, duration of
protective measures that s'hould be taken precipitation and the latent reaction of
by the endangere.d persons is a necessary the fallen water. Durin'g the peak of the
service. It is important to have warnings storm we were able to di'rect the police
of possible danger reach the affected helicopter aro-und st,orm cells, while the
people as soon as the da'nger is in evi- rescue and evacuation work was in progress.
dence, and it is equally important that Our meteorologists have made severe weath-
the public be informed as soon as the er broadcasts on other radio stations in
impending danger has been passed. the midwest from the WLW weath-er sta'tion.
40n one occasion, the sa.fety of fi.fteen
Broadcas.ti'ng of radar i'nf.ormation to the hundred people living in the flooded low-
public is straight-forward from the radio lying areas of Marion, Indiana, was en-
sta'ndpoint, but visual presentation re- trusted to the forecast prowess of our
quires the use of special techniques. The weather staff. The water level had reach-
most po,pular televisi'on presentati'on of ed the top of their levee an.d more rain
radar picture involves the placi;ng of -would have meant disaster. We presented
plastic overlays, wi'th an area map engrav- several broadcasts on WBAT in Marion, as-
ed upon them, over- the radar pi'cture tube suring the people that the rain was o'ver,
and placing this picture dir.ectly' on the despite the lighteni'ng flashes that were
air. T'he overlay method presents contrast visible on the horizon. The Civil Defense
of light problems and also precludes the officials that enlisted our assist'ance,
possibility of showing motion or develop- cou ld have used the weather bureau faci l -
m'ent through the use of art te.chniques. ities at Fort Wayne, Indianapol is, or
An effecti've method of presentation that Dayton, Ohio. These government instal-
we have used on the air, is placing the lations have radar equipment and are much
picture of the map of the local area on closer to Marion than WLW. The requests
one ca'mera and t'hen super-imposing the for private forecast services have grown
radar pictu're over that on the air. By steadi ly. We prepare special forecasts
watching a television monitor, the weath- for many of the bu il d i ng contractors, the
erman can point to the echoes and draw gas and electric companies, highway de-
arrows, etc.' This method is effective, .partments, pri-vate pilots and local in-
but keeping a proper alignment of the dustries. During the past two winters we
super-imposed p'ictures is a major problem. have been mak i ng the exc us i ve weathe r
The most effecti've.and fool-proo'f method forecasts for the Roadway Express Corpor-
.of radar presen.tation is that super-im- ation. Roadway is the third .largest.
posing the radar picture over a black trucking company in the nation and its
background and al-lowing the weatherman to trucks travel across the eas.tern two-
make the outlines of the geographica.l thirds of the country.
landmarks on.the background with chalk.
This method poses. no alignment problems, We are constantly striv ing to i-mprove our
and allows you to crea.te an illusion of service to the -public. Recently, a long
expanding' the size of the radar by using range Decca Type MK41-II-A radar system
a large black background. The methods of was pu rchased fo rep ace the Type 140 i n
presenting radar w.eather information can Cincinnati-. This was done because we were
vary greatly, but the presentation must be. faced with the problem of complete radar
simple and accurate in order to be effect- coverage of the combi.ned service area of
ive. our four television sta'tions in Ohio and
Indiana. The new rad'ar is now :beeing in-
We feel that WLW's radar weather service stalled which has an antenna approx i mately
is definitely a par't of the meteorolog.ical fourteen feet across with 0).60 horizontal
community and the public acceptance and beam width and 2.80 vertical beam width to
confidence in our service has been more th.e half power points. The antenna can be

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tilted to a vertical angle of 300. This
new system will pro'vide us with a tool to
see the weather conditions three hundred
miles arom Cincinnati and well beycnd the
combined service area of our four stations.
The WLW weather sta'tion has been in opera-
tion for seven years and its value to the
region has been established. There has
been c'ompl'ete cooperation between the
Federal Weather Bureau and WLW's weather
service. We actually have lessened the
public service burde'n on the U. S. Weather
Bureau by dispensing information, statis-
tics and forecasts that the government
would normally. be obligated to furnish.
Our meteorologists are professional mem-
bers of the American Meteorological Soci-
ety and are active in the local chapter of
the organization in order to promote and
improve the science.
A broadcasting organization with trained
and experienced meteorologists can render
invaluable rublic service through the use
of an effective weather radar. The radar
is an electronic device that can only be
kept at its peak efficiency by electronic
engineers. A breakdown of the equi'pment,
without instant and competent maintenance,
could cos't many lives. It would be im-
practical for each weather bureau instal-
lation to have an electronics engineer on
the payroll, but an engineer is always on
duty at any substantial broadcast station.
The weather bureau has no constant and
instant communication with the public, and
with delay and relay of information comes
th'e danger of misinterpretation and of
being too late. A meteorologist that
would be acceptable for air work by sta-
tion management and by the public would be
capable of conveying information and warn-
i'ngs instantly in terms that would be
understood by the general public. N'o one
would expect the local staff meteorologist
to compete with the Severe Warning Network
and its huge staff of special.ists in fore-
casting the possibility.of storms. But
once the storms have formed, the instant
taneous reporting of the severity and
movement of the storms in laymens language
should not be a breach of meteorological
ethics nor constitute a usurpment of the
weather bureau's legal responsibility.
Under the present weather.forecasting and
communications system, the Broadcasting
Industry is the only organization capable
of meetingall the requiremgents necessary
for the ideal severe weat'her warning sys-
tem.

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