Radar Bands
Weather watch meteorological radars operate within the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum (around 1 – 100 GHz), though there are meteorological applications for radars outside the microwave region as shown in the table.
The most commonly used radars for weather surveillance are in the 5 and 10 cm wavelengths (around 6 and 3 GHz resp.) The part of the spectrum near 10cm wavelength is commonly called "S" band, and the part around 5cm wavelength is called "C" band.
Radar systems are also commercially available at X band (~3cm wavelength) that are typically used on ships, boats and aircraft. These radars are more compact because of the smaller antenna size, but suffer more from attenuation in anything over moderate precipitation.
Radar band frequencies and wavelengths
If the wavelength of a given radar is 5.4 cm, what is its frequency?