Cheap Chase Toys

For any of you that don't know me, I'm kind of a cheap ass when it comes to buying equipment. I've always sought used equipment in some shape or fashion, or a cheaper alternative. Some examples:

Federal Signal Mini-Highlighter
New: Found for $96 + S&H - LSH Lights
Bought: eBay $27 shipped + $20 parts for magnets and cig. lighter adapter (Total: $47)



Inspeed Mag Mount Anemometer
New: $65 + $6 S&H (on eBay)
Bought: $45 shipped from fellow chaser (thanks!)








Icom W-32a Dual-band HT HAM Radio
New: ~$200-$240 (on eBay)
Bought: $245 (plus $70 in accessories for free, on eBay)









Now my next item was a laptop mount for my laptop (which was my mom's old laptop that I spent $100 for a new LCD display... from eBay, but that's it). I wasn't thrilled about spending $250 for a Jotto Desk or Galls stand for a $100 laptop. Then I found this cool mount... on eBay (also available through their site)

Mobile Laptop Mount
New: about $45 shipped on eBay (also available on http://www.mobilelaptopmount.com/ but cheaper from their eBay store)
Bought: $52 shipped (included the quick disconnect and was newer model) on their eBay store (it's the $39.83 item)





I've found eBay to be a great tool in obtaining some cheaper items new or slightly used, but there's always the risk you might get the short end of the stick. Like when I bought a computer for my girlfriend and when it got here, it was in a torn-up box and NOTHING was bolted in, just LAYING in the case, no packing or nothing. Video card, HDD, motherboard, power supply, CD-ROM. That was a nightmare, but I got it fixed and working. Then there was 'Sex and the City'... from Japan. A pirated copy... high quality though. And yes, that was for the girlfriend too. So it just boils down to doing your research.

Back to the main reason for the post, there's plenty of low-cost alternatives to most items that chasers use on the road. There's no need to go dropping thousands of dollars on things that you can get relatively cheap. There's always the items that buying new at MSRP isn't an issue, like cameras, but I would suggest doing some poking around and remember, eBay isn't always the cheapest place.

1/28/06

Well things kind of fell apart for a chase. Justin had a migraine and the models were okay, but rain and local cloud cover killed any chance for something good. The SPC is reporting that there was a tornado touchdown and hail around central to north KS. Pretty uncommon site to see this time of year, but reports have that a tornado did touch. Chatter in the storm chaser community seems to agree (most of them anyways). I'm still awaiting a decent snow for this year, as we have a few more months to go before spring, but it seems nature is starting to think that spring is upon us with reports of birds flying north and spring flowers already blooming. Nature is very difficult to fool, so this makes me raise an eyebrow as to what the next few months hold.

On the good side, Oklahoma got some much needed rain this past weekend to wet things up. This is a HUGE relief for firefighters, as they have been going non-stop tending to grass fires that have run ramped due to this drought. The news has been reporting that many of the rural departments are already over budget trying to maintain equipment, people, and pay for gas. The government has said it will be dishing out some emergency cash to help these departments pay for what they need, so that's a big help.

Will we have a January tornado?

Latest models show there's a possibility that there will be a cold core type setup in southern Kansas into north Oklahoma today (Jan 28th). I'll be setting out early in the morning to get some final maintenance done to my car before I hit the road northward. We successfully nabbed a tornado on November 27th, 2005 with a setup like this, so maybe we will see a similar outcome. The only thing is, it's January! We should be getting snow and freezing cold nights. Instead, we've had a drought and very mild temperatures, but things have been so weird this year and last year that it's possible.

I'm going to be meeting Matt Patterson, Justin Teague, Steve Miller, and I assume Joseph Tyree this morning and hit the road. Unfortunately I have to work an ambulance shift starting around 6:30pm, so the further south this fires, the better so I don't have to leave early and miss the show to get to work. That's the only thing that sucks about my new job, but storm chasing won't pay the bills... and I don't get to use lights and sirens while driving over the speed limit, heheh.

OK Wx Resource has moved!

I've transferred from the towpc.com/ke5ehi address to my new domain at http://www.okwx.net/. Please update your bookmarks/links. Also, if you find any broken links pointing to the towpc.com address on my pages, please let me know so I can update them.

Thanks to Dryline Hosting, I've gotten a much better deal on hosting! I still have a few loose ends to tie up to get completely moved, but that should be done within 24 hours. Let me know if you guys see any problems (i.e. old links to the towpc.com domain) that need to be fixed, it's much appreciated. If any of you are looking for a professional hosting/design company, head on over to Dryline. They have many different packages to setup your domain at very affordable prices and lots of goodies for your site! I'll have the towpc.com domain for a little while longer, but it will redirect to the okwx.net address.

Got to love Oklahoma weather (part 2)

This is just an example of how freakish Oklahoma weather can be:

On my way to work this morning, I noticed that the electronic message board on HWY-75 & Southwest Blvd. still had "Caution: Extreme Fire Danger" (see Fig. 1) showing. The only problem was, IT WAS SNOWING (see Fig. 2). Now I don't know who changes these, but I figure if you're gonna use them, keep them up to date!

Okay, so just because it snowed we're still in a drought and tomorrow things will be back to normal. In fact, around 4p.m. it almost looked liked it never snowed at all. This is just an example of Oklahoma weather. One minute, we can be in a drought, no significant rain for months, then we can get snow (around 1 inch in Tulsa, but almost 11 inches around north-central Oklahoma!), and be back where we started the next day. Oklahoma has some of the strangest weather, I swear.

FIG. 1 - On my way to work this morning around 7a.m.

...

FIG. 2 - Arrived at work, 7:40a.m.
...

FIG. 3 - But by 4:30p.m. all is back to normal.
...

Totals for western Oklahoma.

Got to love Oklahoma weather!

So out of no where, in the middle of a drought, we have snow expected? Last time I looked, there was either no precipitation excepted, or like a 20% chance of rain. Now they're saying possibility of snow. Then what happens the next day? Fire danger... again!

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
500 AM CST MON JAN 9 2006

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.
TUESDAY...WINTER WEATHER POTENTIAL.
WEDNESDAY...HIGH FIRE WEATHER POTENTIAL.
THURSDAY...NO HAZARDS.
FRIDAY...NO HAZARDS.
SATURDAY...NO HAZARDS.
SUNDAY...NO HAZARDS.

EXTENDED DISCUSSION...
THE SYSTEM THAT WILL BRING THE LIGHT PRECIPITATION WILL EXIT THE
AREA ON TUESDAY. WARMING CONDITIONS AND BRISK WINDS WILL RETURN
THE HIGH FIRE WEATHER THREAT ON WEDNESDAY.

Wx Cell Phone Ringers

Edward Ballou posted something on StormTrack about weather phone ringers, so I thought I'd give it a shot and make a few. This is my first one, just really to see how it would work. Most phones will take the .qcp file (ringer file).

You can upload it to your phone using this uploader (works for most phones): http://rumkin.com/tools/sprint/index.php

Tornado Siren
Two sets of a siren, then it shuts off.

8MHz, 16-bit Mono
torsrn.qcp (53.8KB)
torsrn.wav (497KB)

Let me know what you think. I'll make some more soon. The next one I plan on is the NWR alert tone.

OK Burn Ban; Flick It and Ticket

Oklahoma's burn ban is now expanding to include camp fires and outdoor grills. No steak for you! The OK wildfires have now killed two people, burned more than 350-thousand acres, and destroyed more than 220 homes and businesses since the first of November. More restrictions are coming into effect, for things such as outdoor welding, which now requires wind speeds to be less than 15mph, and the relative humidity to be above 30%. Fire guards and pressurized water must also be available.

Police are cracking down on drivers throwing lit cigarette butts out of their windows. Tossing a lit cigarette out of your window will now bring a fine of around $200, and that's not just if an officer see's you. Anyone can report someone flicking their cigarette butt out a car window by dialing 911, as long as they are willing to give their information to the police, in case they are required to testify in court. If they are, this will land the butt-tossing smoker a hefty fine. Motorist that cause fires by flicking butts can also be sued for damages in civil court.

2005 Hurricane Records

In 154 years of record keeping, 2005 had the most named storms, the most hurricanes, the highest number of major hurricanes hitting the U.S. and the most top-scale Category 5 hurricanes.

OK and TX are on fire! 1-1-06

111th and HWY 75 Grass Fire

While I was around tonight (1/1/06), I came across a decent sized grass fire in the fields SW of 111th St. South and HWY75. I arrived just before the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Tulsa Police, and Jenks Police shut down the highway and surrounding roads. At one point, I was within 100 feet of the northern area of the fire (roughly 116th St. South). I heard over the radio calls for assistance from other departments, as Jenks and Glenpool FD couldn't contain the fire due to 16mph winds, gusting to 25mph. The responding departments were Bixby, Sapulpa, and Tulsa which all brought out their 'grass rigs'. After about an hour from when those departments showed up, the blaze was all but under control. A civilian even joined the brigade, offering his services with his personal water truck. The departments did an excellent job battling the fire as it didn't jump the highway or destroy any homes/businesses (that's I heard of). Our buddy Joseph (aka 'T-money') lives close by and I made sure to give him a buzz to make sure they were aware of the fire. His mother sounded a little frantic, saying they were going to water the lawn. Smart idea, and as I drove through some neighborhoods in the area, a lot of residents were doing just that.

The one thing that bothers me is the inability for multiple agencies to communicate. Here in Oklahoma, we have numerous mutual aid radio frequencies, meant for these types of situations. Unfortunately, not every department has the ability to tap into these for whatever reason, but even the ones that due seem like they don't use them and it ends up with the incident commander having 2 or more radios and a cell phone to talk to everyone. This makes his job extremely difficult, not to mention all of the redundant actions being taken. I heard both TPD and JPD plan on blocking off the same piece of highway. By the time TPD got there, JPD already had the road blocked, and TPD ended up being needed 3 miles away to block traffic when they could have already been there by the time they figured out they weren't needed and turned around. I saw the same thing at Camp Gruber with the Hurricane Katrina evacuees. The command post ended up with two dispatchers and a HAM radio operator (which I got to pull a 12 hour shift in that nice OHP mobile command post... gotta get one of those).

Drought Conditions and Burn Ban continue

A Red Flag warning continues for almost all of Oklahoma and a large portion of northern Texas accompanied by a state-wide burn ban in Oklahoma that's been in effect since November 15, 2005. Very mild temperatures, low humidity, high winds, and an annual shortage of rain (over 14") are to blame. Conditions over the next few days don't look to improve, and fires are breaking out all over the state, making local and national news. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol have a new rule, and are now making traffic stops for throwing lit cigarette butts from your car, with up to a $168 fine.