Snow crystals consist of many different types of ice particles. Typical radar measurements observe only bulk properties of all types of ice particles present in a radar volume. Due to their difference in cross-section, large particles will reflect more power of the transmit- ted radar signal than small particles. If small and large particles are present in the same radar volume with comparable volume concentrations, the radar mea- surements will be dominated by larger particles. Be- cause of this, it is difficult to obtain microphysical prop- erties of both large and small particle types, based on reflectivity alone. In this work, application of spectral dual polariza- tion analysis for retrieval of microphysical properties of ice particles in stratiform precipitation is presented. Based on literature research a selection on the parti- cle types that are predominantly present in radar mea- surements is done. The selection is based on radar cross-sections of the different particles and on meteo- rological conditions as well. The radar cross-sections are calculated with a model derived from literature. With the obtained knowledge, it is shown that only ag- gregates and plates dominate spectral radar retrievals above the melting layer of stratiform precipitation.