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04-01-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, and we had a little wind early this morning as the thunderstorm passed through the city. It was the kind of wind that makes the gun towers at the Allred Unit rock a little. Not a big deal until you see how small those bolts are at the bottom. I watered my lawn yesterday because I thought that a 20% chance of rain was about as good as a 0% chance. This time I was wrong. Morse code is going on the 40-meter Amateur (ham) Radio band, and my Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready!
--- 5:35 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: A slight chance of showers before 7am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 90. South wind 13 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms before 10pm, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm between 10pm and 1am, then showers likely after 1am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Low around 64. South wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible.
--- 5:50 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 8,576 Megawatts.
--- 5:40 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:45 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:05 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 80.4% Kemp: 91.0% Kickapoo: 82.5%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 85.5% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (81.45%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6:20 AM - Our local school buses are up and running. Tune in to their operations at 152.360 MHz with your scanner radio. If you don't, you don't know what you're missing!
---7:45 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 9:00 AM - A guy I once knew declined to buy a Hobby Radio item, saying that he was on a fixed income. I asked him if he would take a job, one that he could perform, that paid $100,000 a year, if offered. When he answered affirmatively, I told him he was on a fixed income only in his mind.
--- 1:30 PM - The Wichita County Amateur (ham) Radio Skywarn® storm spotters just issued an alert indicating that severe weather is possible beginning around 7:00 PM, and spotters should be ready to deploy if needed. Tune in to the spotter activity in real time on 146.940 MHz on your scanner radio.
--- 2:00 PM - UPDATED - Federal Communications Commission Snippets
--- 2:15 PM - I survived, though not unscathed, the “Great Bakersfield Dust Storm of 1977.” According to Wikipedia, the storm began on December 19th. On December 20th, I made my exit from the U.S. Army at the Presidio of San Francisco and headed home to Texas in my little CB Radio-equipped Datsun B210. Bakersfield, California, was on my planned route. I heard warnings of high winds around Bakersfield, but nothing so serious that would cause me to consider a detour. Either that, or I had a case of “get-home-itis.” That’s possible. Entering the danger zone, I saw “big rig” trucks - probably empty - overturned, and cars on the side of the road with the paint sanded off one side. To this day, I don’t remember what prompted me to continue, but I did. I made it through the storm with a sanded-down windshield as the only casualty. It was a problem only when the sun was in front of me. I didn't replace it for three years.
--- 3:00 PM - It was 1977, and I was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco. I was driving an Army bus, returning from a military funeral with the honor guard, of which I was a member. We were in the Broadway Street tunnel. Almost everyone was asleep. I eased open the door, shut off the ignition, let that massive exhaust pipe load up with unburned gas, turned it back on, and BOOOOM! Sleepers jumped up, blast victim's tires screeched, horns blew, and a woman pulled up by the door and screamed that she was going to report us for throwing bombs. Now, when I’m behind a school bus, the sight of that big-bore exhaust brings a smile.
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03-31-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It’s Tuesday, and I did get all the yard mowed yesterday. I’ve been thinking about replacing the Ringo Ranger II VHF antenna with a dual-band J-Pole antenna. Before you say that’s not a good idea, you have to understand my local communications goal. That goal is to be able to communicate within a 25-mile radius. I have no need, at least 99% of the time, to reach beyond that on VHF-UHF. That makes the J-Pole the more versatile and correct choice for me. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:45 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 89. South wind 14 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Tonight: A 20 percent chance of rain and thunderstorms before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low around 66. South wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
--- 5:50 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 13,918 Megawatts.
--- 5:55 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:00 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:05 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 80.4% Kemp: 91.8% Kickapoo: 82.5%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 85.7% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (81.45%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6:15 AM - I saw a listing for a 6-kilowatt FM radio station for sale in Wichita Falls for $375,000. The blurb gave no further information. I'm not in the market for such an item, so I'll dig no further.
--- 7:30 AM - CB Radio Channel 6 is, as expected, opening the 27 MHz show this morning. Other players will soon arrive on the scene. I haven't checked on our Local Group (Channel 23 in the evenings) to see what they've been up to. We need more of these groups in Wichita Falls. By the way, the noise level has been a little high on the band the last week or so. There's something going on in the neighborhood. The noise limiter circuit is helping, but not much. It's squelch time, and I hate using the squelch unless I need it for scan mode.
--- 8:30 AM - It was 1973 or 1974, and I was in Germany. I remember having a favorite elevated area where I would park and fire up the mobile rig. It was a Midland 13-862 that I ordered through Montgomery Ward. I would sit in the car and talk to Germans and U.S. military people for hours. I remember band conditions being tranquil while I was in Germany. Maybe we were at or near the bottom of the solar cycle. I guess I could look it up, but it's not important. Those were fun times! I found a beat-up version of that radio at a hamfest last year and bought it for $10. See the pic below. It has someone's call sign on it. UPDATE: That period was during Solar Cycle 20, which began in 1964 and ended in 1976. So, while I was in Germany, we were near solar minimum.
---11:15 AM - I saw “Girl Scouts” trending on X (formerly Twitter). Upon checking, I see that it’s mostly about the shrinking size of the cookies, the not-so-tasty taste, and the complaint that the actual girls get only a small percentage of each sale. There are also complaints about “child labor”, which I’m not sure fits, but I’m not a lawyer. This reminds me of the World’s Best Chocolate bars I used to sell 65 years ago. They, too, have shrunk in size but grown in price.
--- 2:30 PM - I remember when kites were a dime, and we would make our own out of newspaper and thin tree branches to save that dime for other goodies. I don't build kites anymore, so this Wichita Falls wind can stop!
--- 6:30 PM - I'm watching soccer - USA vs Portugal - on 7-2 (Telemundo). I don't understand a word, but there's no mistaking Adres Cantor's GOOOOOOOOOOL! On a different note, I think the Clay County Amateur Radio Club moved their Tuesday night net to Thursday. Whatever night the net lands on, you can hear them on 146.800 MHz on your scanner radio. I'll know more at 8:00 PM. UPDATE: No net at 8:00 PM, so it must have really moved to Thursday, and the USMNT lost 2-0.