Abstract: The current prevalent weather radar antenna pointing accuracy parameter is 0.1°, and the main controlling method of weather radar antenna pointing error is sun check calibration, which is an of fl ine checking method using the sun as an absolute reference. Due to the offline method that radars need to stop normal scanning operations when implementing the sun check calibration every month. At present, most of the operational weather radars systems do not have an automatic online detection method for the antenna pointing in a 7×24 h working mode. The Servo system that generates antenna angles is made up of mechanical transmissions and electronic systems, its partial faults may lead to antenna pointing errors exceeding the tolerance while the radar is usually not aware of it. Here, we propose a method of automatic online detection of antenna pointing by using a laser detector with an accuracy of 0.05°. It can guarantee the weather radar working more effectively to ful fi ll monitoring and early warning.