Marcus Hicks
EF2
Chris welcome glad you are here. You will learn from these guys and gals here. You're off to a good start.
Chris Heater
EF3
TRTI? At this date, we were on that team. As you can see though...I didn't last long on the team. Especially after that false tornado report HE made. I've come a long way since then, but still do need a lot of work (i admit)
If anyone still has any lingering questions, just let me know
Jason Boggs
Chris, just keep asking questions and keep learning. I'm not the most experienced chaser around here, but PM me anytime if you have any questions. I'll be glad to help you out.
Chris Heater
EF3
Thank you and will do. A way to keep track of me (and my team) would be the Facebook group page. You can talk to me a lot easier there as I visit there several times a day. Questions, concerns, etc can be left there too
john.sibley
EF2
You can't talk about your Facebook group and not link to it. That's just rude.
Chris Heater
EF3
Skip Talbot
EF5
Hey folks, just a reminder that as we exceed 90 posts in this thread, its important to stay on topic. If you see your post disappear its because we need to trim some of the off topic noise out of here, although this thread is going to be hard to keep up with even with the noise gone.
Paul Hadfield
EF3
That was the mother of all bad reports. Many problems resulted because of it. You were wise to distance yourself from all of that. Focus on what is going to re-establish your credibility with our local agencies. Not by being some research outfit with a shirt logo but by simply being yourself, a regular guy with a passion for wx. Signing up for here was the best thing you could do. Nice to see you.
mike scantlin
EF3
I did have a talk with Chris, and once we got the BS out of the way, I got to see that he was genuinely interested in storm chasing. I will continue to do damage control with anyone I see participating in this "fake it-till you make-it" trend I see in the younger newb-chaser circles. I would like to direct them to ST, so that they can see that chasing isn't like the un-reality shows they see on TV. If anyone has any problems or concerns, let me know. [email protected] (not chasertv.com, lol). I would prefer to pass on knowledge to these kids, rather than hatred and I would encourage you to do the same, be it facebook, youtube, TVN, or anywhere else. This is a weird trend that we as storm chasers aren't used to, and we need to handle it well. If we drop the ball here, 'chaser' accidents and all the 'end of chasing' stuff could become reality. I would rather this trend not be happening, but with a few new major networks looking to do discovery-esque shows, it's only going to get worse.
Jeff Hawkins
EF3
Have been following this thread with interest, and it's nice to see someone like Chris have the honesty to jump in here and both apologize, and admit the need for more training. Chris, you've come to the right place for it, and I certainly hope you focus for now on the knowledge aspect as I do. Technology is nice, but it's not going to help you achieve maturity in the knowledge of how to chase storms.
Jason Boggs
See, a good thing came out of this thread. ST members got together, and with the willingness of a new chaser, he took great advice, and is now better off.
Chris Heater
EF3
It was nice to see that everyone basically opened up their arms and let me in, even though some of the things I did WERE wrong. That right there proves there is a chaser "community" and I like to see the whole "community" come out and give me pointers. Thanks guys!
Lanny Dean
EF5
No doubt about it Jason, but it took doing it in a public fashion. That just goes to show everyone including and more importantly, the Mods, that self regulation works and is needed. I hope this will enlighten some of the mods as well as Tim with the fact that shaming someone is not always such a bad thing if it is done in the correct way, this includes newbies.
Lan
Gabe Garfield
EF5
Haven't been on ST in a while, so I thought I'd see what the hot topic has been for the last while. Some things never change... 
I tell you, I'm never going to post my rookie videos onto YouTube (not that I have the time).
I have learned so much since my first few years, and I continue to learn new things. But I have to say, after 10 seasons on the Plains, the atmosphere still surprises me from time to time. That's one big reason why I'll chase as long as I can: no storm is ever exactly the same.
And I agree with Shane. I started out with very few gizmos and gadgets, and I missed tornadoes for about 3 years. It was incredibly frustrating; I began to wonder if tornadoes really existed. But then, seemingly like magic, I started seeing them. And you know what? I wouldn't trade my experiences from 2000-2002 for anything. During that time, I learned the visual clues that point to what is really going in the atmosphere. And a lot of the time, they're things you can't observe on a computer screen.
My advice? Take the time to drag yourself away from the computer screen and just observe the weather. You'll be surprised at how much you'll enjoy learning from our best teacher: the sky. Besides, it'll keep you from the tyranny of the "Refresh" button.
I tell you, I'm never going to post my rookie videos onto YouTube (not that I have the time).
I have learned so much since my first few years, and I continue to learn new things. But I have to say, after 10 seasons on the Plains, the atmosphere still surprises me from time to time. That's one big reason why I'll chase as long as I can: no storm is ever exactly the same.And I agree with Shane. I started out with very few gizmos and gadgets, and I missed tornadoes for about 3 years. It was incredibly frustrating; I began to wonder if tornadoes really existed. But then, seemingly like magic, I started seeing them. And you know what? I wouldn't trade my experiences from 2000-2002 for anything. During that time, I learned the visual clues that point to what is really going in the atmosphere. And a lot of the time, they're things you can't observe on a computer screen.
My advice? Take the time to drag yourself away from the computer screen and just observe the weather. You'll be surprised at how much you'll enjoy learning from our best teacher: the sky. Besides, it'll keep you from the tyranny of the "Refresh" button.
Chris Heater
EF3
And I agree with Shane. I started out with very few gizmos and gadgets, and I missed tornadoes for about 3 years. It was incredibly frustrating; I began to wonder if tornadoes really existed. But then, seemingly like magic, I started seeing them. And you know what? I wouldn't trade my experiences from 2000-2002 for anything. During that time, I learned the visual clues that point to what is really going in the atmosphere. And a lot of the time, they're things you can't observe on a computer screen.
My advice? Take the time to drag yourself away from the computer screen and just observe the weather. You'll be surprised at how much you'll enjoy learning from our best teacher: the sky. Besides, it'll keep you from the tyranny of the "Refresh" button.
The "keeping an eye on the sky" lesson was learned on August 19th this year, and probably won't be another mistake i'll make any time soon. Had I looked up at one point (in Springfield) instead of the computer screen...I had seen a nice tornado! But no...i had my head down, looking at the computer, just as it came into view on the video camera. Better luck next year! I'm looking over books and other material so i'm prepared for 2010
