Power and spectral measurements are reported from the Columbia Raman free-electron laser (FEL) oscillator experiment. High-power radiation pulses ( approximately 12 MW, 100 ns) are generated at a wavelength of approximately 2.5 mm, using a 750-kV electron beam injected into a helical undulator. The undulator is made up of a 40-cm long constant-period (1.45 cm) section followed by an equal length of tapered undulator. The period is decreased by 7.6% in such a way that the on-axis field remains constant. It is reported that the taper allows an increase in total power efficiency from approximately 4 to approximately 12%. Most noteworthy is that the tapered undulator reduces the sideband radiation compared with a constant-period undulator FEL which is studied in the same configuration. The power was measured calorimetrically and compared with the results of a 1-D Raman code. The reduction of sideband power observed in the experiment was consistent with computational results obtained with a 2-D sideband code.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>