Chase Vehicle and Equipment

I started my chasing experience with my first case, a 1993 Ford Taurus GL. Through 1999, outside of my car audio equipment, all I added was a CB radio. After a career-ending collision (unrelated to storm chasing), this car was retired (well, formally destroyed). During the spring of 2000, I got a 1995 Pontiac Bonneville SE. This car was bigger and more stable than my previous Ford Taurus, which made things a little easier to install. With nearly 200,000 miles on the it, I was getting a little worried about reliability. During the summer of 2005, I was able to exchange this car with a 1999 Bonneville. My current list of chasing equipment is as follows:

• Yaesu FT-8900R Quadband Ham radio
• Yaesu FT-8000R 2m/440 Ham radio
• Yaesu FT-530 HT 2m/440 Ham radio
• Uniden CB w/ Weather Radio
• SkyWatch Meteos Handheld Cup Anemometer
• Garmin 12MAP GPS
• DeLorme Earthmate GPS
• Oregon Scientific All Hazards NOAA Weather Radio (WR-8000)

Additionally, I currently use my Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop for weather analysis and mobile data acquisition. My HTC/Cingular 2125 connects to my laptop, which allows me access any internet page. The two programs used most often? DeLorme Street Atlas 2005 for GPS and mapping, and Gibson Ridge Software's GRLevel3, the best radar viewing application available.