I'm hooked into the internet via PPP and shell accounts, so there is no direct address to my home systems. Use my email address at the bottom of this page and I should see your mail within a day or so.

At home, I use a Dell XPS B933 with around 140GB of disk space, a 56K V.90 modem. We just had fiber optic cable laid out to the waste lands of eastern Colorado, and now I can actually connect at 56K speeds. They tell me DSL will soon be available. I can't wait!!!  

A backup HP Pavillion with a Pentium III 1GHz is hooked up. 

All computers are networked via 10/100 base T and a wireless bridge, including the Sony listed below.

Printers:

Away from home (motels, launch sites, etc.) I use 

I'm a Windows guy. I was once religiously a DOS person. Still have lots of batch files to accomplish some tasks but, I've migrated to Windows for the programs that are really only available there. 

I write software in Visual Basic exclusively (much to the chagrin of lots of downloaders). See the Programs section of this web site to those programs.

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Amateur Radio

My main hobby is Amateur Radio. My callsign is NØKKZ. Lots of the activities involving amateur radio are listed below. I've spun off an NØKKZ website here too. Click on the Ham Radio button above and you'll go there.

High Altitude Balloon Flights (EOSS)

No need to say more than check out Edge of Space Sciences home page.

Skywarn (storm chasing)

Denver Cyclone Setup in May of 2000

During the glorious days of spring and early summer, dozens of avid weather watchers here in Colorado spread about on the eastern plains to act as spotters and chasers of severe weather. The unlucky among us can be identified by our severely hail damaged vehicles. However, those folks are pretty rare. The Colorado Section of the Skywarn program holds a classes each spring to train new spotters and refresh the failing memories of old timers on the "safe" way to follow these storms. I'm usually out on "bad" days with my radios, camcorder, GPS, cameras and weather instruments.

If you live in the Denver area and wish to participate, listen to the various ARES nets. You'll hear announcements for registration to the weather class until around mid March when they actually begin. The classes used to be spread over a month and were somewhat hard to attend. Now, the class takes one FULL day (8am to 5pm), is usually held on a Saturday and gives you the full instruction in one quick massive dose.

In the past a trip to the NWS  was usually arranged. However, that was when we had to attend class 2 nights a week for a month. It was thought that one of these classes could be used for a tour. However, now that the course is delivered in one class I'm not sure they are still doing an NWS tour. You'll just have to ask when you sign up for the class.

Thanks to the internet, you can view "live" radar from National Weather Service NexRad radar sites. Go to either the national page or the Colorado display.

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Satellite Tracking and Monitoring

Even before I got my ham ticket I was into tracking satellites. Now, it's more fun because I have the equipment to talk to and monitor the birds. 

I use a variety of tracking programs, but currently my favorites are STSPLUS (registered of course) and Quiktrak (likewise). Quiktrak by Bob McGuire (N4HY) can be obtained from AMSAT. For more info on that you might try the AMSAT Home Page. STSPLUS by David Ransom can be found in the NASA Spacelink File Libraries. It's usually called SOPxxxx.ZIP where the xxxx refers to the version number. That number will comprise of a year and week of release, for instance the current version as of this writing is SOP9445.ZIP. that's the 45 week of 1994. Sometimes the program is divided into two files then identified as SOP9445a.ZIP and SOP9445b.ZIP. This program is FANTASTIC at following shuttle missions but, it tracks multiple targets, has a variety of visual projections and is generally much fun to work with.

I also write a program that manages LARGE two line element files, Element Manager. It's available at http://www.elementmanager.com/

It has rudimentary tracking capabilities, but is primarily intended for use as a sorter and selector and maintainer of large batches of two line element sets. The tracking module for this program really only works accurately on LEO satellites. I strongly recommend here and all over the Element Manager Site that you get a "REAL" tracking program if you rely on predictions to make contacts. The tracking module was only included in EM as another tool in viewing orbits and their properties, not as a spot on accurate tracking program.

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Public Service Events

I enjoy working with local charitable organizations on some of their fund raising events. Two that I'm particularly closely involved with are the MS Super Cities Walk and the MS 150 Bike Tour. The first is a fairly easy one day event with a few thousand walkers requiring minimal assistance during their sojourn. The second, the 150, is a two day knock down drag out bike tour. Anywhere from 2000 to 3500+ bicyclists are on the road trying valiantly to cover a 150 mile course that runs from Denver Colorado, to the Royal Gorge and Canon City (southwest of Colorado Springs). The weather can be somewhat inimical at times. On the '93 tour, the first day riders were dropping like flies because of dehydration due to an exceptionally hot day. However, the next day the weather changed dramatically and we were finding many riders suffering from hypothermia due to the cold weather coupled with almost constant drizzling conditions. 

It's the responsibility of a ham at these events to act as a conduit between the various officials of the event. Keeping them informed of the progress of riders, injured riders, logistic traffic about supplies at various rest stops and general communications that help keep the officials aware of the overview of the tour. 

What's my involvement in these things. I'm the assistant coordinator on the 150. Coordinators are the guys who line up all the hams to work these things. For the walk that's an easy group of 10 to 15 but for that 150 we like to have up to 100 volunteer communicators over the two day period. WOW it's hard work but lots of fun on tour day.

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Video

I'm also interested in Video stuff. I've got a pretty good laserdisc/DVD collection. 

Naturally (to you video buffs) I'm equipped with a rudimentary home theatre. The display is a 53" Sony XBR rear projector. The sound originates from a Denon and is sent to a pair of B&W 805 speakers. The center is a slightly mismatched KEF Model 90.The surrounds are a pair of Mission speakers. 

While out chasing tornadoes, I usually take along a camcorder. One of these days I'll catch one on tape.

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SCI-FI

Science Fiction is a hobby of mine too. I've got a really large collection of books (thousands). Many of those laserdiscs and DVDs are SF titles. And of course I'm a Star Trek fanatic. Well maybe not a fanatic. I don't attend conventions, but I do enjoy watching the shows. I even have all the "Trek Classic" episodes either on tape or disc. I started a collection of ST-TNG back when but, it got to be too many tapes. So, I cannibalized it.

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Skiing

Skiing is another avocation of mine. However, it seems I never get up to the slopes anymore. Of course I try and keep abreast of the conditions. If you're interested in the slopes of Colorado, here is a link to the Colorado Ski Report.

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Photography

And finally for hobbies, photography. 

For Analog Image Capture I have

For Camera Digital Image Capture I have 

And I have a couple of scanners

While I'm not as deeply involved with this as I was in times past, it still provides an interesting side avocation. 

I've always been a Nikon type. I still have my first F purchased back in the dark ages of photography, 1972. It was a wonder of mechanical engineering in those days. But, even as I purchased it, the auto exposure bodies started making their debut. 

Today I have pretty much made the switch to digital photography. For what I do, the image resolution of the D100, Coolpix 5000 and the Elph are usually more than sufficient. And really, pictures I take on film are usually instantly scanned into the computer for image manipulation in Photoshop so even if a film scan is slightly higher resolution than the D100 I usually end up by reducing the size to the 6 megapixel range anyway to conserve a bit on disk storage space.

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