The design consideration of a double‐channel variable polarization system is investigated in this Letter, and the important components in the system are introduced. In addition, the experimental results of several components and indexes of the system are presented: the polarization switching time of the double‐channel variable polarization system is 3 μs; the peak and average power capability are 14 kW and 80 W, respectively; the polarization isolation is 20 dB; the ellipticity is 1 dB. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 33: 292–294, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.10299