Does anybody here like to chase naked?

[Charles Kuster]

For a couple years I chased with nothing, not even a weather radio. :shock: That did not work very well. Then I bought a weather radio. I chased with only a weather radio for about 3 years. (My track record was not very good during those 3 years :lol Last year was the first year that I used libraries to get data and it greatly helped my success rate. However, I still only have a weather radio in my car to get data. I would like to get some better technology in the future but money is always a problem. I think technology really helps but with or without it chasing is still really fun!

 

[Jeff Wear]

NOAA Wx Radio and road atlases are pretty much all I take with me....no laptops, no wifi, no GPS, no scanners.

 

[Bob Schafer]

Last year, when going to the front desk of a motel where I had stayed (SPS) to check out, there stood David Hoadley.

I re-introduced myself (we had sat next to each other in Denver in 2003), and David inquired whether I had seen any data. David hadn't! LOL! I offered to (delay checkout and) let him take a look back in the room, but he declined. He asked me what I thought of the setup, and I stated I was torn between heading a bit SW or NW. I said I guess I was heading NW. He said he was heading SW.

Guess who was on the better storm that day?

Humbling, to say the least.

I still agree with Chris, though. You can never have too much data, with one caveat: Don't get distracted. Time is often of the essence, and you want to manage your time. Know when it's time to gather data, and when it's time to chase.

Bob

 

[Jason Montano]

I started out chasing "naked" just a handheld wx radio (that worked only half the time), a disposable camera and the $10.00 street atlas book. I bagged my first tornado, the April '02 Throckmorton tornado, this way. However, since then I have gradually added to my equipment list and now carry anything I can afford.

 

[Justin Turcotte]

Aside from the occasional use of the wx radio and paper maps I have nothing else. I usually have good faith in my forecast ability to get me to an appropriate target. Even when in the solid target area I have missed a couple of excellent storms for various reasons. Yes, it can be done without all the gizmos. I do plan on adding some tech in the near future as I want to maximize my chances of bagging the storm in the right spot. The gadgets help with situational awareness and should help with the safely aspect (but may also beg you to get closer to the danger zone).

 

[Andrew Booth]

All of my chases leading up to last season were "naked" for all intents and purposes. I used to only take my cell phone and a scanner. Of course my results were less than desirable, but I still had fun.

Now I chase with a GPS enabled laptop with WiFi, and I find that it works much better (what a surprise!), and has opened up chasing in more rural areas for me.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I too started out naked. I did have my parents video camera, but I don't count that. My first investment was on a weather radio my second season. It was one of the deskop ones(not made for chasers) and I can remember putting up the little 2ft. antenna in the car and thinking, now I am in business. I had my two years of chasing naked and I don't care to go back.
Now I will use any equipment I can get my hands on if it will help put me on storms. I think setting up the equipment and using it is half the fun.

 

[Jordan Manderfield]

We chase with a scanner/weather radio, paper road atlas, and a cell phone. The cell phone really isnt used for nowcasting but more for data which we just got about 1 month ago. But before this it was all scanner/weather radio and a cb radio and also a paper atlas. Soo nothing special. And i think we did pretty good using what we had 5 tornadoes is good if you ask me lol. For most people they will see that in one chase season or maybe one event!

 

[Eric B'Hymer]

I use a scanner,cell phone, and delorme state atlas and this year i bought a nwr so i dont need to switch between weather channel and ham/emergency fire police channels on the scanner. Im still trying to fond a good nowcaster but my family helps as they can. I have had varying sucess over the years. I just dont have thefunds to purchase what i want. If i had my choice i would have a laptop and xm weather w/ gps but i would still bring what i currently have too for a backup. Most of the chasers i have talked too love the xm package and im hoping to be able to get it by next season but if i dont, i will still do what i do now.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

I'm certainly in the minimalist category. It's an extremely humbling experience to be out there with very little data -- it's a genuine sink-or-swim situation. Rather than being a bad thing though I think it really plugs you in to what's going on... you get a lot of mileage out of those shreds of data when they come in. You also get ample opportunity to get on the surprise storms while everyone else is drawn to the storm du jour.

I've been tied up with the Chase Hotline on most chase days since 2000, but when I've gone out it's been with merely a camera, camcorder, GPS/maps, and scanner (only for occasional NWR, not for 2-meter). I'll probably be bringing a cell phone this year.

And for what it's worth, I can't stand the buzz/chatter of 2-meter and NWR while watching a storm. It may be some people's cup of tea, but not mine. That probably clinches it for me as a minimalist.

Tim

 

[Michael Thompson]

Here in Australia it is much easier to be a purest. All my chases, once on the road are by eyesight only. I use models and other tools before I hit the road to help define a target area. On the road I do not even use a mobile phone.

I have nothing against the use of technology at all - and if it was in my means ( and available ) I would not be adverse to using some. I have had some 'misses ' due to not even using sat pic and radar, especially in Aussi skies that are often messy with poorly isolated supercells. On the other hand after 30 odd years chasing ' naked ' I would place my instinct and eye to the sky very highly against say a less experienced chaser with a bank roll of gear.

This raises another interesting comparison, after 30 years I still chase anything. Would having banks of gear actually spoil this, or is that I simply have not had the ' burn out ' that you may actually get chasing in the mid west. This is not unsimilar to the many years of surfing I did in my younger years, after a while you began to become very fussy, 2-3ft was too small, onshore winds were junk, only reefs had decent waves. In the end you found that you started to spend less time doing what you like, and more important your skills on those marginal days atrophied.

 

[Aric Cylkowski]

I made a local chase once with nothing but a cell phone and a general idea where it was headed. That was a rather bad move and I came too close (probably much like the woman near the Hallam tornado).

The story is posted somewhere, I'll find the link later.

 

[George Tincher]

I admire those who take the minimal gear approach.

However, I'm not sure I would be that way. I would at least want a cell phone, a nowcaster and a NWR.

My attitude is this: I don't get all nostalgic too often. I'm not giving up my Dish Network mini-dish on the roof of my home to go back to rabbit ears or an antenna. I wouldn't give up a Playstation 2 or an X-Box to go back to an Atari 2600. I'm not going to give up my CD player for an old 8 track machine. So why should I give up gear that's readily available just so I could be like chasers in the 1970's?

Again, I admire those who chase with little or no gear. But just because people use to do it that way doesn't mean I want to do so today. Chasers started out as minimalists in the old days because they had no choice. Today we have a choice. I'm sure some of the old hands would have gladly taken a laptop, GPS, cell phone, wx worx, etc, if it had been available to them at the time. Hehe.

Again, not a knock on minimalists. I'm sure many enjoy chasing without the aid of such equipment just for the added challenge. There's nothing at all wrong with that. But I'm not sure it'd be my cup of tea. I'll take whatever added help I can get.

 

[Kyle Masters]

Yeah, I know what y'all mean. I chase with...wait...i have nothing. I have a cell phone. If I'm lucky I'll pick up a map at a rest stop. But those are usually all gone. I just don't have the funds to get high tech equipment. Yeah, I have a cell phone, but either there is no signal, or no one with any weather experience to call.

I like chasing naked just because it feels so cool to know that the only way you caught that tube was by following you're own gut instincts. Maybe that's why I spend all my time before heading out looking at every model I can get my hands on (looking at models while chasing naked. I'm a pervert).

Anyways, statistics wise, I'll hit on about 4 out of 10 chases. Not impressive, but decent for what equipment I have.

Yeah.

 

[Chuck Vlcek]

I've had to use the "minimalist" approach over the years, but my circumstances partly dictate this. I've been hearing impaired all my life and got a cochlear implant a couple of years ago. That limits my ability to hear weather reports on the radio, especially when I need it most (static and other distracting noises). Most cell phones are digital and would interfere with my implant processor, and I don't get cell coverage at home anyway. So I would be VERY lucky to catch a tube on a solo chase. The chase partners I have had are minimalist too, mainly because of finances (some have kids). Last spring I had a partner who took a T4 cell phone to contact our nowcaster (and anyone else who would talk). The upside of a T4 is that it is cheap. The downside is that coverage SUCKS! We lost a couple of storms in the boonies of Kansas and Nebraska on 2 PDS days and finally connected on the third by caravaning to the Jamestown KS storm. I have a laptop and a WiFi card that I have yet to learn to use and am considering GPS but don't know how much I would use that outside of chasing.

If you're going to load up, I think it would require a team of at least 3 persons (in one vehicle): the driver, a communicator, and a navigator. Btw it would be nice to have a fold down tray in the passenger seats (like on commercial passenger aircraft) to hold the laptop or whatever.