Doppler Radar - TV vs. NWS?

Question

Is there a difference between how the National Weather Service and Television broadcasters operate their Doppler radars?

It seems when the television networks are showing their radar data, it updates within a couple of minutes. From my rudimentary understanding of how current weather radar technology works, there should be a 5-10 minute delay due to the listening period after the radio signal is sent.

Thanks.

Answer 1

As I understand it, the listening period isn't on the order of minutes, but on the order of milliseconds. The pulse sent generally is not a radio signal, it's microwave, which of course moves at the speed of light to hit whatever particle of precipitation it's going to hit, and then reflects back to the radar very quickly (not the speed of light, but relatively close to it).

I think the main difference between tv station radars and the NWS radars is that the NWS releases their radar returns every 6 minutes or so (to the internet, and to broadcast stations that don't have their own radar), while the tv stations have constant feedback that they can put up on their screen. The radars are functionally the same, and the NWS also has immediate returns like the broadcast stations do, they just don't release a live feed of it.