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The transmitter and electrical power distribution sea containers from NASA's N-Pol transportable research weather radar system were unloaded at the CSU-CHILL site on 17 October 2008.  N-Pol is currently undergoing a series of technical evaluations and upgrades.  In the course of these activities, it was desired to test the operation of N-Pol's electronics in isolation from the standard N-Pol antenna.

==Waveguide Switch==
To allow both radars to attach to the CHILL antenna, the existing CSU-CHILL waveguide system was modified to allow the antenna to be connected either the CHILL or N-Pol radars. The details can be seen in the following photograph taken from the roof of the N-Pol transmitter container.

[[Image:waveguide_anot.png]]

The turnstile switches make it easy to select which radar system is driving the antenna.


==Initial Data from N-Pol==
During test operations on the afternoon of 4 November 2008, a volume scan of an area of virga was first done by the CSU-CHILL radar; the same volume scan was then repeated using N-Pol.  Two example PPi images are shown below.  In each case, the left panel is co-polar horizontal reflectivity (dBZ), and the right is differential reflectivity (dB):
[[Image:chl_4nov08.png]]
[[Image:npol_4nov08.png]]
Additional episodes of "back-to-back" data collection by CHILL and N-Pol will be conducted through the end of 2008.