Funny you should say this. I just had the thought of a fire extinguisher this morning given the red flag warnings. I do have a first aid kit with lots of bandages and regular blankets. Radio could be in the future.
That’s actually good to hear since I’ve been considering going to a compact SUV to save money, especially with gas the way it is. I feel a little sad thinking about making the switch.
Do you have any type of 2 way radio in your truck? I live in Iowa also, and travel Iowa and Nebraska for work (broadcast engineer). I am not a storm chaser per se, but I have been interested in weather and storms my entire life, am a certified spotter, worked with several meteorologists in my line of work, and being on the road so much, I could end up being a chaser whether I want to or not. I have Ham and GMRS, going to add CB. There is not a lot of radio traffic that I have heard scanning around. Ham seems to have a lot of gatekeeping, both by the license requirements, but also by the 'clubs'. GMRS is more open and I expect to see it grow. CB is still the best way to keep up with traffic conditions from truckers, I think. I'd like to see some sort of coordination of comms gear/bands/frequencies so if there are chasers in the same area, they have a go to freq/channel to monitor Twister style. Is there any type of 'association' of chasers in Iowa that would be interested in discussing the comms side of things? If so, I'd love to offer my experience, such as it is.
Thanks for reaching out! I personally do not have any radio comms. I submit my spotter reports via phone or tweet depending on the severity. Iowa has its SKYWARN spotters who use ham radios, but nothing I’m familiar with and don’t see often anymore. When I was younger, I could definitely see the disdain on their faces when I did encounter a SKYWARN operator. So I believe you about the gatekeepers. None of the other skilled Iowa chasers I know use radio comms. Twitter is the norm, it seems.
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