Being a professional nomad in the second decade of the 21st Century sure is different then at any time in the past. Read John Steinbeck’s, Travels with Charley: In Search of America. Steinbeck made his nomadic trip in 1960. The differences are very significant during this period of time.
I am a "digital nomad" aka a “tech-nomad.” In other words, I travel with certain state-of-the-art, mainly digital technology. This technology allows me to plan, navigate, communicate, operate my small business, pay bills, receive income and record audio (anything from a cricket chirping, my own or other people’s spoken word information or music) then edit and produce finished professional productions. I can also take high quality still photos and record reasonable quality, high-definition video and edit it into finished productions.
So, for those interested in my current technology, here is what may or may not be on board my rolling office/home on wheels at one time or another. I usually carry minimal equipment with me unless I know of specific requirements I will have for a project. It is ready to be packed in fly away cases to easily be shipped to me at a specific destination where the equipment is required. Since technology is always changing, so will parts of this list as I upgrade from time to time.
Navigation:
*Magellan GPS - the current unit is about 2 years old. I back it up with my OnePlus One Smart Phone GPS and my Hisense Sero 7 Pro tables, both with Google Maps.
Communication:
*OnePlus One Smart Phone on Android 6.0.1 O/S with no contract service provided by AT&T for both wireless telephone service, handheld, portable email, texting and 3G, 4G and LTE Internet connection - tethered or as a wifi hotspot.
*Secondary Wireless Phone/Data service - currently researching to determine the least expensive, cost effective phone and service to acquire as a back-up to my AT&T service on the Verizon network. It will be for use only when I find myself in a location where no AT&T service is available, but there is Verizon service.
*Secondary Wireless Phone/Data service - currently researching to determine the least expensive, cost effective phone and service to acquire as a back-up to my AT&T service on the Verizon network. It will be for use only when I find myself in a location where no AT&T service is available, but there is Verizon service.
*Kenwood TS-430 high frequency (1.8MHz – 30MHz) amateur radio transceiver providing CW (Morse code), Single Sideband (SSB), AM and FM (FM only on the 10 meter band) communication rated at 250 watts PEP SSB, 200 watts CW, 120 watts FM and 60 watts AM.
*Uniden 2510 low power ten meter amateur radio transceiver that operates on CW, SSB, AM and FM providing nominally 25 watts SSB and 10 watts CW, AM and FM.
*2 meter and 220 MHz VHF handheld transceiver
*40 Channel CB transceiver (new rig to be acquired)
*Motorola GPRS/FRS handheld transceivers (2 units)
*Sirius satellite receiver for the Sirius/XM Al A Carte service.
This array of communication equipment assures that my rolling home/office will always have worldwide communication capability. It can also be placed into service as a communications command post in the event of natural or human caused emergencies.
Computers:
*Lenovo T420s ThinkPad laptop computer operating on Windows 7 Professional with 14" screen and Intel i5 dual core processor operating at 2.5 GHz turbo boosted to 3.0 GHz. Unit has a CDR-DVDR Drive, 8 MB RAM and 500 GB hard drive. It is used for all business, Internet and audio & video production requirements.
*Dell N411Z Ultrabook computer - similar specs to the Lenovo T420S except using Windows 10 operating system
*Dell N411Z Ultrabook computer - similar specs to the Lenovo T420S except using Windows 10 operating system
*Hisense Sero 7 Pro 7" Tablet on the Android 4.2.1 operating system.
*OnePlus One Smart Phone with AT&T 4G/LTE 30 GB plus an additional free 5 GB bonus data package providing tethering and wifi hotspot for Internet connectivity when public or private wifi is not available. Unused data rolls over each month.
*HP Scanjet 4600 desktop scanner
*Printer - currently none onboard
*Calvary Hard Drive Docking Station capable of handling two external hard drives simultaneously, either 3.5" or 2.5"
*Portable Hard Drives (several) 2.5” and 3.5” for back-up and storage of work in process files. I'm planning to expand my "Cloud" storage and use it for more of both my back-up and day to day use.
*Primera Signature Z1 CD-DVD disk thermal imprinter
*Software: Microsoft Word, Excel and Access, Intuit QuickBooks, Open Office 4.1.2 and other business software (I've pretty much weaned myself off my old, reliable Microsoft Office 2000 suite in favor of Open Office 4.1.2)
Audio & Video Digital Recording Equipment:
*Zoom H4n portable, two or four channel, handheld, digital audio recorder
*Zoom H2 portable, two or four channel, handheld, digital audio recorder
*Sandisk Sansa portable mp3 player and wav digital audio voice recorder
*Kodak Zi8 High Definition, handheld digital video and still camcorder (lost this camcorder while at a festival in Oregon - debating about replacing it)
*Intova Edge X 1080P Action Camcorder
*Samsung WB250F 14.1 Megapixel point & shoot camera/1080P HD video camcorder
*Vivitar 781HD 720P HD Camcorder
*OnePlus One Smart Phone handheld, voice recorder and digital video & still camera/camcorder
*Konica/Minolta Dimage Z6 6.3 MP digital still camera with SD video capability 12X optical and 4X digital allowing usable zoom range of between 34 mm to 1,600 mm, plus a macro range. Has a through the lens electronic viewfinder and rear mounted LCD screen. (Don't use this camera anymore - plan to sell it and replace with something new.)
*Geko E100 Dash Camcorder (to be replaced - not satisfactory).
*Sony MDR-V6 studio monitor headphones
*Shure VP88 MS studio and field stereo condenser microphone
*Rode NT4 XY studio and field stereo condenser microphone
*(2) AudioTechnica AT4050 multi pattern studio condenser microphone
*Audio Technica AT835 line gradient, shot gun microphone
*PZM condenser microphone
*(2) Wired lapel microphones for interviews
*(2) VidPro UHF wireless lapel microphone system
*Misc. other microphones depending on the job requirements
*fishpole microphone boom (to be acquired)
*various windscreens for outdoor recording
*15’ tall microphone stand
*(6) OnStage boom floor microphone stands with adapters for use as fixed video camera & light mounts.
*Software: Sony Sound Forge Pro 8.0 & 11.0, Adobe Audition 1.5, Source Forge Audacity 2.0.6 audio recording, editing and production software, Pinnacle Studio 11, Microsoft MovieMaker, Adobe Premier Elements 9.0 video editing and production software, Photoshop 7.0 and Photoshop Elements 9.0 photo editing software, Roxio CD-DVD Creator XE 8.2 and Sony Sound Forge CD Architect 5.2 CD mastering software
*Variety of SDHC flash memory cards for audio/video/still capture and storage
*Misc. desk microphone stands, cables, adapters, tripods, video lights and other peripheral support items.
This technology may be USB powered, battery powered by self-contained batteries, AC powered by a DC to AC inverter connected to a high-capacity 12 volt battery bank in the van or from 110 AC shore power.
