Steve, Author at Nomadic Research Labs

This was the local news coverage when I had the Winnebiko II at the Orlando Hamcation in 1988. The delightful poster above was behind the bike in my booth, and was a relic of the Huffy Radiobike produced in 1955-56. Writer at home on “Winnebiko” by Janita Poe Orlando Sentinel March 20, 1988 Nomadic executive wanders…

Cruising highways on bicycle of future by Linda Guggino, staff writer Tallahassee Democrat March 16, 1988 It was a chilly 48 degrees at noon outside the Florida Department of Transportation on Tuesday when Steve Roberts, wearing gym shorts and a T-shirt, rolled up on his $75,000 bicycle. A score of bundled-up onlookers who had heard about…

by Lisa Photos Florida Flambeau March 16, 1988 Steve Roberts can type up to 30 words a minute while riding his bicycle up to 50 miles per hour. In fact, Roberts — who has a complex computer system rigged up in a sort of cockpit at the front of the unique bike — has whipped up…

While we were in Orlando via school bus to display our bikes at the 1988 Hamcation (amateur radio convention), Maggie and I were interviewed by Leslie Brewington for a program called “The Computer Connection” on WKIS Newstalk 74. An old cassette of this emerged from the vaults in 2020, and was digitized for this archive.

by Steven K. Roberts Key West, Florida March 7, 1988 Ah, tourists. With every street encounter I am distanced further from the picturetaking plague of bustling intruders who descend en masse on every place immortalized in brochures. You can see them in the tour trains, faces turned to follow the amplified prattle of the driver;…

By JAMES F. CARNEY Miami Herald March 3, 1988 A high-tech nomad pedaled into town last weekend. A self-taught computer wiz riding a self-designed contraption that only just resembles a bicycle, Steven Roberts is continuing a journey that has taken him across 15,400 miles of America in search of good friends he has never met.…

During the second bike journey, I had an ongoing column in 73 Magazine, which gave me free rein to talk about any bike geekery as long it was at least vaguely radio related. It was kicked off by a cover story, and this first regular piece focused on the most generally useful bit of ham…

The marvelous drawing above is by Chris Browne, cartoonist of Hagar the Horrible, who hosted us for a couple of days in Sarasota. Another of his illustrations is down the page. In this story, the Computing Across America book is at last published, and we make the transition from bikes to converted school bus… wildly…

This cute little video was filmed in mid-July 1987 during the International Jugglers Association festival in Akron, and the piece aired as the closing segment of Show #121 of the Spectacular World of Guinness Records on February 6, 1988. The presenter was Shawn Southwick, and the fellow in the studio was David Frost. The tale…

73 Magazine, Feburary 1988 cover - KA8OVA and KA8ZYW

As ham radio became an ever-greater part of my technomadics, I started writing for 73 and other publications. This cover story was a fun one, and the photo was taken by Karen Greene on Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina. I’m hunkered down with my HP Portable PLUS laptop and the much-loved Ten-Tec…

Posts by Steve

Winnebiko at Hamcation – Orlando Sentinel

High-tech biker odyssey – Tallahassee Democrat

Nomad Wheels in on High-Tech Vehicle – Florida Flambeau

WKIS Radio interview – Computer Connection

Key Wasted

Hacker’s Odyssey Takes Him to Keys – Miami Herald

Two Meters Aboard the Winnebiko II – 73 Magazine

Bussing into Dataspace

Winnebiko 2 in Guinness Book of World Records – video

On the Road and On the Air – 73 Amateur Radio