  The first station of the Long Wavelength Array (LWA1) was completed in April
2011 and is currently performing observations resulting from its first call for
proposals in addition to a continuing program of commissioning and
characterization observations. The instrument consists of 258 dual-polarization
dipoles, which are digitized and combined into beams. Four
independently-steerable dual-polarization beams are available, each with two
"tunings" of 16 MHz bandwidth that can be independently tuned to any frequency
between 10 MHz and 88 MHz. The system equivalent flux density for zenith
pointing is ~3 kJy and is approximately independent of frequency; this
corresponds to a sensitivity of ~5 Jy/beam (5sigma, 1 s); making it one of the
most sensitive meter-wavelength radio telescopes. LWA1 also has two "transient
buffer" modes which allow coherent recording from all dipoles simultaneously,
providing instantaneous all-sky field of view. LWA1 provides versatile and
unique new capabilities for Galactic science, pulsar science, solar and
planetary science, space weather, cosmology, and searches for astrophysical
transients. Results from LWA1 will detect or tightly constrain the presence of
hot Jupiters within 50 parsecs of Earth. LWA1 will provide excellent resolution
in frequency and in time to examine phenomena such as solar bursts, and pulsars
over a 4:1 frequency range that includes the poorly understood turnover and
steep-spectrum regimes. Observations to date have proven LWA1's potential for
pulsar observing, and just a few seconds with the completed 256-dipole LWA1
provide the most sensitive images of the sky at 23 MHz obtained yet. We are
operating LWA1 as an open skies radio observatory, offering ~2000 beam-hours
per year to the general community.
