This story in Gram News from Batavia, New York, describes our visit with a delightful ham couple in August 1987.
What Are High-Tech Nomads?
by Deb Johnson – KA2VTY
Well, on Thursday, August 13, at Syd’s house, we had the pleasure of meeting Steve KA8OVA, and his girlfriend, Maggie Victor, KA8ZYW. They had just hit the 13,000 mile mark (Maggie has been with Steve for about 3,000 miles} in Dunkirk and are making their way to Washington DC and points south.
Steve’s bike is something else. it has to be seen to be believed. Some of the equipment found on his bike is: 5 computers, an electronic compass, a ham radio station, a motion-sensitive security system, over 30 circuit boards, a speech synthesizer, packet data communication, 165 console switches 8 displays, 36 gears, 2 wheels, 2 solar panels, hydraulic and disc brakes, a pressurized water supply, air horns, a handlebar keyboard, 12 amp-hours of NiCad battery capacity, etc. Some of the equipment that is carried in their newly acquired trailers is: digital test equipment, 3 modems, 108 square feet of tent space, a microfiche documentation library, one flute, etc (this equipment used to be carried in saddlebags over the back wheel of the bike).
Maggie’s bike is also an electronic recumbent bike with 18 gears, one solar panel and a ham radio. Steve carries and pulls about 220-pounds of equipment. I’m not sure how much weight Maggie carries and pulls. They move these bikes by pedal power. All their pedal power comes from their legs. The solar panels only power the electronic equipment. As Steve says, “this technology is as important as the bike itself, for it no longer matters where in the world l am…as long as there’s enough sunshine to charge my batteries.”
Talking with them on Thursday, we found out they were headed toward Canandaigua through Batavia on Friday. They travel about 50 miles a day so we offered our house as a stopover point. You probably saw their picture in the Daily News on Saturday, August 15, as they were coming through Batavia on Friday.
Well, they decided to stop over at our house on Friday and didn’t leave until Sunday. (Gee, I wonder if Steve and Maggie were helping Jim draw up plans for our next bike purchase! Hi! Hi!) It was fascinating talking with them. Jim was able to help Steve on Saturday install a fan for one of his solar panels to keep it from over heating. This project started about 11:00 Saturday morning and finished about 1:00 Sunday morning.
We had a constant flow of people from Friday night to Sunday morning looking at the bike and talking with Steve and Maggie. (East Elba was a bustling center of high-technology for a couple of days! Hi! Hi!)
This will certainly be an unforgettable weekend. Not only did we see high-technology compressed onto a bicycle (still in its infant stages), but we met a couple of terrific people, Steve, KA8OVA, and Maggie, KA8ZYW and established a new friendship.
