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03-30-2026 - 5:15 AM - Good Morning! It’s Monday, and warmer temperatures and another breezy day are in the forecast. The Wichita Amateur Radio Society held its weekly informal net last night on the 147.140 MHz repeater, and it was pretty interesting. I don’t always listen to the net, but they kept me glued to the radio last night. They mentioned an upcoming “ham-in-a-day” class. This is a license test “cram session” followed by the written exam. Just Google “Wichita Amateur Radio Society Facebook” for details and/or contact information. I might do some lawn mowing today, but that’s about it on the “chores” list. The Morse code is flowing on the 40-meter Amateur (ham) Radio band, and my Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:20 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 11 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 62. South wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
--- 5:25 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 80.4% Kemp: 92.6% Kickapoo: 82.4%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 86.3% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (81.4%) to determine drought stage.
--- 5:30 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 10,435 Megawatts.
--- 5:35 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:40 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
---7:45 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 12:30 PM - UPDATED - Federal Communications Commission Snippets
--- 2:00 PM - Another wide load passed through town, with operations being conducted on CB Radio Channel 19. Most of these operations are on Channel 19, at least when they come through my area, but sometimes they can be heard on the various other channels. I catch them when I have the President McKinley in the "scan" mode.
--- 6:00 PM - The worst on-the-air assault I ever witnessed came not from CB Radio as some might expect, but from Amateur (ham) Radio. It happened in 2017 on the simplex frequency of 146.520 MHz. For reasons unknown, one operator went "up one side and down the other" of another operator with F-bombs, N-bombs, SOBs, and threats of physical assault. I recorded it, but I've been keeping it to myself out of respect for the victim. What got the suspect arrested was the threatening phone call he made to the victim. No need for FCC intervention. That was a violation of the state penal code. The suspect died not long after the incident. I believe an illness affected his brain. The victim passed away in 2025. Who knows, I might post that audio one of these days!
--- 8:30 PM - It was 1976, and I was sitting in the barracks at the Presidio of San Francisco tuning around the extended VHF receive section of my AM-FM radio. Before long, I found a well-known actor talking on his car phone. He was griping about a producer or director. Now, you might say that I’m not supposed to disclose such information. I counter with “no victim identified, no disclosure!” Anyway, he’s dead.
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03-29-2026 - 6:15 AM - Good Morning! It’s Sunday, and our local Wichita Amateur Radio Society will conduct its weekly informal net tonight at 8:00 PM on the club’s 147.140 MHz repeater. Tune in with your scanner radio, or check in if you’re a Ham Radio operator. At the moment, there is a nice selection of CW (Morse code) signals on the 40-meter Amateur (ham) Radio for my morning enjoyment. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 6:20 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 85. South southwest wind 9 to 14 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 59. South wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
--- 6:25 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 80.6% Kemp: 93.3% Kickapoo: 82.2%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 86.4% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (81.4%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6:30 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 10,682 Megawatts.
--- 6:35 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:40 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 7:00 AM - Quoting a line from Williams-Grand Canyon News: “On October 13, 1984, Williams was officially the last Route 66 town to be bypassed by Interstate 40, and Route 66 was decommissioned the following year.” I made several trips through Williams in the 1970s when the mail highway went through town. Westbound was on Railroad Ave, and Eastbound was a block to the south. On my first trip from Texas to California in 1975, I stopped for gas and asked about a McDonald's. The attendant - yes, they had attendants back then - told me there were no McDonald’s in Williams. He said, “We only allow the good places.” In 2010, on a trip to the Grand Canyon, I dined at a McDonald’s in Williams. CB Radio Channel 19 was much more alive back in the 70s, of course.
---7:30 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 7:45 AM - Not long ago, I heard a trucker on Channel 19 trying to get another trucker's attention to notify him about a problem with his load. After mentioning the exit number the target truck had just passed, the driver answered, was told of the problem, and thanked the reporting driver. There used to be a lot more of this type of interaction, back in the day.
--- 8:20 AM - I have the President McKinley on 40-channel scan this morning. There’s a lot of electrical noise that the noise blanker isn’t filtering out. It’s not too bad. If only it would filter out the “no doubt about it” I just heard. If ever there was a worn-out phrase in CB Radio, that’s it! Your opinion might vary. Wait, he just said it again!
+++ A visitor to Las Vegas received the cook's tour - he was baked in the sun, stewed at the bar, and burned at the craps table.
--- 2:17 PM - I contacted a station in Merganser Wildlife Management Area (US-4022) in Nebraska on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.