I grew up in the midwest and have been interested in weather for years. As a kid I built many different measuring devices and tried my hand at forecasting. In the late 1970's I became involved in storm spotting as a ham. That is what first peaked my interest in chasing severe weather.

Storm chasing if done safely can be lots of fun. Here are some links to check out if you think it might be for you.

• Online Guide to Meterorology - learn basic concepts in meteorology


• Storm Chasers Homepage


• Texas Tailchasers Stormpage


• Real-Time Weather Data: Home Page
  
• 1999 Storm Chase Reports
• Kevin's Numerical Models Page
• Stormchase.com Page

This Storm Chaser site owned by Dennis Gabler.   Want to join the Storm Chaser Webring?

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I also like to work with my dogs. They are German Shorthaired Pointers and I use them for pheasant and quail hunting in the fall. In the off season we work on training (they train me :-)) . I have a 6 year old female and a 5 year old male. Here are some links to pages on the breed.

• This Is The German Shorthair - good article on origins and uses for the breed http://www.whc.net/gsp/thisis2.html
• Link to the GSP homepage http://www.whc.net/gsp/

Amateur radio has so many different things to do that you could spend half the national debt on it. I prefer running the digital modes on the ham bands (RTTY, TOR, PSK31) but I am also active in Navy-Marine Corps MARS where I pass MARSGRAM traffic to and from ships and also run phone patches to them.

To join MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System) as a civilian volunteer you should be a licensed amateur (Tech or higher) and have an HF rig capable of transmitting outside of the normal amateur frequencies. The Navy-Marine Corps, Army, and Air Force all have thier own MARS programs. MARSGRAMS are typically passed digitally using PACTOR I via a system of relay stations worldwide.

For more info on Navy-Marine Corps MARS see the NAVMARCORPSMARS Web Page

As the county EC I try to keep up with public service activities on the ham radio side of things. I was a volunteer firefighter in Adel, Ia. where I live, and during the floods of 1993 I was proud to see hams take an active role in emergency communications. Even though cellular technology, trunked radio systems, etc. has greatly improved the communications capabilities of the emergency services sector these systems are subject to overload. Hams should stay in touch with thier local disaster services agencies. You can find info on public service and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service at the ARRL Public Service Page