Originally Posted by Airsupport

if that is how you are using the radar you are using it incorrectly. at fl300 the radar should almost always be in the negative tilt. the crj radar is actually pretty good, you just have to know how to use it.

the correct way to use the radar on the crj 200 is as follows.

choose a distance you want to use. the 80-160 is not very effective but
still can be used to see larger items further away.

the best distances are the 20-40 or the 40-80.

the way to use the radar is set the distance you want to look at. then tilt the radar down till you begin to paint ground and you can see a fairly solid green arc at the furthest distance on your screen. once you have established a good ground paint arc then you can begin to watch for weather. the ground arc should stay at the same distance at all times unless you adjust the tilt again. ANYTHING that comes out of the ground arc you have been painting and comes closer to the plane is an area of weather and thunderstorms. you also at the higher altitudes want to point the tilt down a little more than normal. the crj doesn't pic up frozen precip so at the higher altitudes it wont paint storms unless you are pointing down below the freezing level.

so in review.

Point radar so that you get a good solid arc of ground clutter at the furthest distance for the range you have chosen. the ground clutter should stay the exact same distance from you.

If something moves closer to you out of the ground clutter it is an area of weather and should be avoided.

Originally Posted by John Pennekamp

Thank you professor! In my 8000 hours (3000 in a CRJ) I think I have a good grasp of how to use radar! I paint ground at 80 miles and +2. if you tilt it above that, you still see nothing.

If you point the radar to -2 at FL300 all you see is the ground more than 20 miles out. That's as useless as your advice. Let me know when you get typed on the plane.