I think the test should deduct points for hi-tech equipment in the car because that means using less storm chasing ability and knowing how to use more technology. I got weather spotter which I hope is wrong.
That is not entirely true Pete. I have lots of equipement. On the other hand I have had many chases with a bare minimum of it and had roughly about the same success. While the equipment WILL help you keep abreast of rapidly changing conditions, and alert you to a cell that popped 50 miles away and is going nuts that you can't see from all the haze and might have missed without downloading that radar shot on the cell phone, what it won't do for you is help you read a storm and navigate your way around it (save for GPS), interprete what you think it's going to do, and try to stay in a position of best viewing. Only knowledge and experience can do that for you.
Tech stuff alone won't increase your chasing ability. It also won't help you a bit if you don't know what to do with the info you receive using it. How many have plotted out on a map a watch box strictly by listening to NOAA WX Radio coordinates? How many times has technology told anyone in the field that this storm looks mushy while this one over here looks firm and crisp and rapidly building, while they both might look about the same on radar? Only you experience would tell you that the storm to be on most likely is the firm one. Just an example. Technology isn't cheating on the test, it only suppliments your knowledge. You still have to know what to do with it.
