TPA CTLR DESCRIBED STARS RADAR WX DEPICTION PROB.

Narrative

ON THE EVENING OF SEP/MON/06 I WAS WORKING THE RADAR HDOF POS AT TPA APCH. WE HAD A SEVERE LINE OF WX MOVING THROUGH OUR AIRSPACE. THE TPA ARPT WAS IN A GND STOP AND WE HAD SEVERAL ACFT HOLDING IN OUR AIRSPACE AS WELL AS ZJX AND ZMA. WE WERE WORKING SEVERAL OTHER OVERFLTS AND SATELLITE TFC. A CTLR WORKING THE S SATELLITE SECTOR WAS WORKING A KING AIR INTO THE SARASOTA ARPT. THE CTLR ADVISED THE PLT OF SOME MODERATE PRECIP RETURNS THAT HE WAS DEPICTING ON THE STARS WX SYS. THE PLT STATED THAT THERE WAS NO PRECIP IN HIS VICINITY. I WENT TO LOOK AT OUR DOPPLER WX DISPLAY WHICH IS LOCATED IN THE SUPVR'S AREA AND OUT OF SIGHT OF THE RADAR CTLRS. (NOTE: THE DISPLAY IS LOCATED OUT OF SIGHT BECAUSE FAA MGMNT SAYS THAT WE CANNOT USE THE EQUIP FOR WX AVOIDANCE BECAUSE THE PRESENTATION IS NOT CORRELATED TO THE STARS RADAR DISPLAY.) THE DOPPLER DISPLAY CONFIRMED THE PIREP OF NO PRECIP NEAR THE ACFT POS. I THEN STARTED TO COMPARE THE STARS WX DEPICTIONS TO THE DOPPLER PRESENTATION. SOME OF IT WAS ACCURATE; SOME OF IT WAS IN ERROR. STARS DEPICTED HVY PRECIP ON THE FINALS TO ABOUT A 5 MI FINAL. DOPPLER DEPICTED LEVEL 1 AND LEVEL 2. THE WIND INDICATIONS AT THE TPA ARPT CORRELATED WITH THE DOPPLER (THE AVERAGE WIND WAS 150 DEGS 5 KTS). THE STARS DISPLAY DEPICTED A LINE OF HVY TO EXTREME PRECIP 18-30 MI NW OF TPA AND THE DOPPLER DEPICTED LEVEL 1 AND LEVEL 2. THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING PROB WITH OUR STARS SYS AND IT STILL HAS NOT BEEN CORRECTED. THIS IS AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN.