The scientific requirements dictated that the Indian MST Radar should be located preferably below 15 degrees North latitude. Hence after careful consideration of the various constraints, a site at Gadanki Village, near the temple town of Tirupati in the Chitoor district of Andhra Pradesh was selected for locating the Indian MST Radar . NMRF is located off the Chitoor -Tirupati main road in a picturesque landscape spreading over an area of about 42 acres.

The Indian MST Radar is a highly sensitive VHF phased array radar operating at 53 MHz with an peak power aperture product of 3 x 1010 Wm 2. The system design specifications, including that of the intermediate stage of ST mode , are presented below :

The phased array consists of 1024 crossed three-element Yagi antennas occupying an area of 130m x 130m. It generates a radiation pattern with a main beam of 3 deg , gain of 36 dB and a side lobe level of -20 dB.The main beam can, in principle, be positioned at 82 different look angles in NS and EW plane.
A total transmiting power of 2.5 MW ( peak ) is provided by 32 transmitters ranging in power from 20 kW to 120 kW, each feeding a subarray of 32 Yagis. To achieve the desired low side lobe level to the adiation pattern, the power is tapered across the array according to a modified Taylor distribution. The required power taper is accomplished in one principal direction by the differential powers of the transmitters and in the other direction by the series feed network.