diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/Recalibration/NQSRecalibratorWalker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/Recalibration/NQSRecalibratorWalker.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f6fe59207
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/Recalibration/NQSRecalibratorWalker.java
@@ -0,0 +1,160 @@
+package org.broadinstitute.sting.playground.gatk.walkers.Recalibration;
+
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.LocusWalker;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.ReadWalker;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata.RefMetaDataTracker;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.ReferenceContext;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.AlignmentContext;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.cmdLine.Argument;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.QualityUtils;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.StingException;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.Pair;
+
+import java.io.BufferedReader;
+import java.io.FileReader;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.StringTokenizer;
+
+import net.sf.samtools.SAMFileWriter;
+import net.sf.samtools.SAMRecord;
+
+/**
+ * Created by IntelliJ IDEA.
+ * User: Ghost
+ * Date: Oct 11, 2009
+ * Time: 11:04:07 AM
+ * To change this template use File | Settings | File Templates.
+ */
+public class NQSRecalibratorWalker extends ReadWalker<SAMRecord,SAMFileWriter> {
+    @Argument(fullName="recalibrationTable", shortName="rt", doc="Table detailing NQS recalibration by reported, minimum, and maximum", required=true)
+    String recalFile = null;
+    @Argument(fullName="outputBamFile", shortName="outputBAM", doc="output BAM file", required=false)
+    public SAMFileWriter outBam = null;
+
+    final static int MIN_RECALIBRATION_OBSERVATIONS = 10000;
+    final static int WIN_SIDE = 11;
+    final static int QMAX = 3 + QualityUtils.MAX_REASONABLE_Q_SCORE;
+
+    protected byte[][][] RECALIBRATION_TABLE;
+
+    public void initialize() {
+        // initialize the table
+        RECALIBRATION_TABLE = initializeQualityRecalibrationTable();
+        BufferedReader reader;
+        try {
+            reader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(recalFile));
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+            throw new StingException("File "+recalFile+" not found",e);
+        }
+        try {
+            String header = reader.readLine();
+            logger.debug(header);
+            while( reader.ready() ) {
+                StringTokenizer tok = new StringTokenizer(reader.readLine());
+                int repQ = Integer.valueOf(tok.nextToken());
+                int minQ = Integer.valueOf(tok.nextToken());
+                int maxQ = Integer.valueOf(tok.nextToken());
+                int nObserv = Integer.valueOf(tok.nextToken());
+                tok.nextToken(); // skip one - empirical mismatch rate
+                int empQ = Integer.valueOf(tok.nextToken());
+                if ( nObserv > MIN_RECALIBRATION_OBSERVATIONS ) {
+                    RECALIBRATION_TABLE[repQ][minQ][maxQ] = (byte) empQ;
+                }
+                // System.out.println(repQ);
+            }
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            throw new StingException("File "+recalFile+" could not be read",e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    public SAMFileWriter reduceInit() {
+        return outBam;
+    }
+
+    public SAMRecord map(char[] ref, SAMRecord read) {
+        byte[] initialQualities = read.getBaseQualities();
+        byte[] finalQualities = getNewQualitiesByNQS(initialQualities);
+        return recalibrateRead(read, finalQualities);
+    }
+    
+    public byte[] getNewQualitiesByNQS( byte [] initQuals ) {
+        byte [] newQuals = new byte[initQuals.length];
+        for ( int offset = 0; offset < initQuals.length; offset ++ ) {
+            newQuals[offset] = qualityByNQS(initQuals,offset);
+        }
+        
+        return newQuals;
+    }
+
+    public SAMFileWriter reduce( SAMRecord newRead, SAMFileWriter outwriter ) {
+        if ( outwriter == null ) {
+            out.println(newRead);
+        } else {
+            outwriter.addAlignment(newRead);
+        }
+
+        return outwriter;
+    }
+    
+    public byte qualityByNQS( byte [] quals, int offset ) {
+        Pair<Byte,Byte> minMaxQuality = getMinMaxQuality(quals,offset);
+        return nqsLookup( quals[offset] , minMaxQuality.getFirst() , minMaxQuality.getSecond() );
+    }
+    
+    public Pair<Byte,Byte> getMinMaxQuality( byte [] quals, int offset ) {
+        int start;
+        int end;
+        if ( offset-WIN_SIDE < 0 ) {
+            start = 0;
+        } else {
+            start = offset - WIN_SIDE;
+        }
+        
+        if ( offset + WIN_SIDE > quals.length ) {
+            end = quals.length;
+        } else {
+            end = offset + WIN_SIDE;
+        }
+        
+        byte minQuality = Byte.MAX_VALUE;
+        byte maxQuality = Byte.MIN_VALUE;
+        
+        for ( int i = start; i < end; i ++ ) {
+            if ( i != offset ) {
+                if ( quals[i] < minQuality ) {
+                    minQuality = quals[i];
+                }
+                if ( quals[i] > maxQuality ) {
+                    maxQuality = quals[i];
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        
+        return new Pair<Byte,Byte>(minQuality,maxQuality);
+    }
+    
+    public byte nqsLookup( byte repQ, byte minQ, byte maxQ ) {
+        return RECALIBRATION_TABLE[(int) repQ][(int) minQ][(int) maxQ];
+    }
+
+    public SAMRecord recalibrateRead( SAMRecord read, byte[] newQualities ) {
+        read.setBaseQualities(newQualities);
+        return read;
+    }
+
+    private byte[][][] initializeQualityRecalibrationTable() {
+        byte [][][] table = new byte[QMAX][QMAX][QMAX];
+        for ( int qrep = 0; qrep < QMAX; qrep ++ ) {
+            for ( int qmin = 0; qmin < QMAX; qmin ++ ) {
+                for ( int qmax = 0; qmax < QMAX; qmax ++ ) {
+                    table[qrep][qmin][qmax] = (byte) qrep;
+                    // default value is the reported q-score
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        return table;
+    }
+    
+}