Chasing "Old School"

[Dave Marshall]

My dad and I started chasing regularly in 1995 in a 1993 Hyundai Excel ('The Rollerskate') with a manual transmission, no AC, a 2 meter radio, a scanner, and a VHS video camera. We got our forecasts from The Weather Channel or the Cleveland NWS office. I can remember more than a few stops at the CLE office waiting for storms to fire.

I have to say that the number of busts has dropped dramatically since then with technology, and there aren't nearly so many hours spent sitting somewhere *hoping* that something happens, but the most fun I ever had chasing, and some of the most hair raising storms I've ever experienced were those 'old school' chases.

I probably wouldn't willingly give up the technology I use now. It makes me safer, more successful, and because I'm a technophile, its an enjoyable facet of the hobby for me. I certainly wouldn't hesitate to go out with nothing but a camera and a map if that was my only option though.

 

[David Drummond]

Man I am really starting to feel old when people are considering times that I was already chasing for a decade as "old school"

 

[J West]

A (long?) while ago, there was a thread here on ST about whether you were a pre-Twister chaser or not. This thread reminds me of that one, and is of the same caliber (in a good way).

I started "serious" chasing on my own, in my own car, in 1997...with my dad before that for a few years but I didn't have the mesoscale knowledge then, so it was more of a crapshoot. I had a VHF 2m ham radio, maps and some luck. No camera of any kind, just commercial radio and the NOAA stations (which were quite a bit fewer back then).

Even after dial-up internet arrived, it was used for day-of analyzing and then I was out the door. Only used a VHF radio and maps and still didn't have a still camera, but made off with the parents VHS camcorder once in a while.

Now, I'm still using a couple radios in the car, my paper maps and I finally have a nice Nikon digital camera...but that's where my gadets end. I am looking at getting a broadband card for my Toughbook this year, but only because I will have enough time to wander around outside the midwest. I just saw a presentation on Spotter Network, which looks like a promising tool when coupled with the internet and radar data...but like others have said, I wonder if others will just use it to birddog other "big name" chasers.

I don't think 1997 counts as "old school" to some of you, but it does as far as technology goes.

 

[Jeff Richardson]

Man I am really starting to feel old when people are considering times that I was already chasing for a decade as "old school"

No kidding! But hey, we were "trailblazers" back then!

When I started chasing in the spring of 1982, all I had in my burgundy '76 Olds coupe (a car to die for) was the AM radio, a hand-held scanner that used crystals to pic up frequencies on a telescoping antenna, and my camera bag. Data was either AM Weather on PBS or the earliest broadcasts on the weather channel. Even then, I thought it couldn't get any better because I had all the equipment and data sources I'd ever need.

By the late 90's, my minivan was so loaded with bells and whistles that I needed two heads and four arms to keep track of it all. Since then, I've scaled back and found the experience of chasing more satisfying. But those early days of chasing with only the AM radio for info (and lightning detection) bring back fond memories.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Man I am really starting to feel old when people are considering times that I was already chasing for a decade as "old school"

You said it. We arent old school..we are ancient...lol

I am feeling really old when I consider that you and I were chasing before about half of the current ST's members were even born!!!

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

You said it. We arent old school..we are ancient...lol

I am feeling really old when I consider that you and I were chasing before about half of the current ST's members were even born!!!

In that case, if ya'll are ancient, I better just get my horse and buggy out of the barn for this year's chase season. Now that is ole school chasing!

 

[David Drummond]

My first "chase vehicle" was a 1979 Chevy Pickup with a CB radio and a Polaroid Camera. LOL

 

[Stephen Levine]

I first started chasing thunderstorms in SW Ohio in Summer 1977. My vehicle was a 66 Oldsmobile "F-8" and my technology consisted of AM lightning static and my eyes - plus intuition. Back in the East and NE, I core punched storms at will and it was pure ecstacy when I hit marble hail
Once while living in Boston in the 1980's I intercepted a kick butt storm with marble hail and intense lightning and thunder by subway.
My first Great Plains chase was in the early 1990's using weather radio and intuition. This got me into a spectacular tornado warned storm and other great storms.
After that I graduated to Fax-on-demand radars with Intellicast plus Weather Channel stops at hotels on the way.
Next I added a laptop.

 

[Jim Zandonai]

No kidding! But hey, we were "trailblazers" back then!

When I started chasing in the spring of 1982, all I had in my burgundy '76 Olds coupe (a car to die for) was the AM radio, a hand-held scanner that used crystals to pic up frequencies on a telescoping antenna, and my camera bag. Data was either AM Weather on PBS or the earliest broadcasts on the weather channel. Even then, I thought it couldn't get any better because I had all the equipment and data sources I'd ever need.

By the late 90's, my minivan was so loaded with bells and whistles that I needed two heads and four arms to keep track of it all. Since then, I've scaled back and found the experience of chasing more satisfying. But those early days of chasing with only the AM radio for info (and lightning detection) bring back fond memories.

Wow as I said in the other thread this sounds like me exactly.. A.M weather.. I remember that. That was a great program back then..great source of early data ! I watched it every day.
I forgot about using the a.m radio for lightning detection..that was a great tool and actually used it more at home.
Yep all I had was a map, Weather radio and the radio.. I only started using a laptop recently and did suprising well for many years before that. In the 90s I used the weather channel local radar and took off after it and later in the 90s the internet. Obviously this was only good for local chases.

 

[Benjamin Rock]

Ah yes, the ole AM detector. I still use that once in awhile. My first chase car was a used 1988 Chevy Celebrity. I started chasing in 1993.. Geez.. talk about old.. The old paper maps, the payphone. My equipment consisted of a polaroid camera, VHS camcorder, CB(which i still have and use today) and rolling the windows down to feel the humidity.. Not at all like today.

 

[JIM SELLARS]

1971 Cougar Convertible....tunable VHF receiver to listen to Police/Fire/HAMS....CB radio....VHF IMTS phone in car.....It was 1974....tons of Whiskey and stupidity....Man that was fun....Hail bouncing off the convertible top like a trampoline!!!!

 

[Angie Norris]

Chase old school? Yep, did that today actually, and had an excellent time Just point the car in the direction of the cloud and go for it


I tried the high tech stuff last season with WxWorx, and it was not good, as in could not get WxWorx to run...at all... I will take the laptop out on occasion if I know I'm going to be near Micky D's or somewhere so I can get wireless and check surface obs and whatever, but for the most part it's me and Roboto.