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04-08-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, and I’m still waiting for the City of Wichita Falls to resurface the 700 Block of 10th Street. That’s the block between Scott and Indiana. It’s rough. I know it, and they know it. Is this how we want to present Downtown Wichita Falls to visitors? Why should residents have to put up with it? The City transit buses are up and running, and you can hear them on 453.5375 MHz on your scanner radio. The Allred Unit is always alive on 153.815 MHz. Before long, the school buses will be doing battle on 152.360 MHz. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
---5:35 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 78. South wind 5 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Tonight: Clear, with a low around 55. South southeast wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph.
--- 5:40 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 82.2% Kemp: 96.0% Kickapoo: 84.3%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 88.6% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (83.25%) to determine drought stage.
--- 5:45 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:50 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:30 AM - I still think we need a documented two-way radio contact between Mount Murphy (that mound of dirt in Lake Wichita Park) and Mount Trashmore (that mound of garbage) in Iowa Park. Any radio service will do - CB, Ham, GMRS, MURS, whatever. Are there any volunteers?
--- 8:00 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 9:12 AM - I hear Astro Sophie Adenot, KJ5LTN, aboard the International Space Station, answering questions from students at Emporia State University, School of Science & Mathematics, in Emporia, KS. Astro Sophie is using the ISS Amateur (ham) Radio callsign NA1ISS for the contact. The ground station is K0ESU. Keep 145.800 MHz plugged into your scanner radio, and you'll hear these school contacts from time to time. An outside antenna is recommended, but you can hear them on the scanner-mounted antenna on close passes.
--- 10:00 AM - One of my fond high school CB Radio memories was the sight, not far from my house, of a 1967 Chevy Chevelle sporting twin Hustler break-over antennas mounted on the rear deck. I still remember his call sign and that he used to call 10-8 when he got in the car and 10-7 when he got out. Those were the days! Speaking of Hustler antennas, on the way home from Lampasas, I took a short detour off U.S. 281 into Mineral Wells. I passed a building with "Antenna Products" in big letters on the side. Back home, I found their website with the following categories: Aviation, Commercial, DPV Series, HF, Military, Navaid, Safety Climb, Shipboard, and Towers. Interesting. For years. I didn't know that Newtronics Hustler antennas were made in Mineral Wells, just a block off the main street (U.S. 281) through town. According to their website, the new address is New-Tronics Ltd, 113 Cambridge Park Trail, Weatherford, Texas, 76088. I don't know when that move was made or if they're still in Weatherford.
--- 10:50 AM - I was listening to Morse code earlier, first on the Amateur (ham) Radio 40-meter band, then the 20-meter band. I wasn't really looking to make any contacts this morning because I wasn't in the mood to log them online. I know a lot of operators "chase paper" (awards) and might need my contact information for one reason or another, so I think I owe it to them to log the contact, even if it is of no real value to me. In other words, I don't chase paper. Now, I'm on the CB Radio band, where conditions remain very quiet. That's not for lack of traffic, but because atmospheric conditions keep most long-distance contacts from me.
--- 12:55 PM - I hear Tim, KK5YZ, aeronautical mobile, on 146.580 MHz FM simplex, making contacts again. At the moment, he's at 43,000 feet somewhere near the Texas panhandle. He's kind of a regular in the area. I contacted him about a month ago, and he sent me a nice QSL card.
--- 3:15 PM - According to news reports, the fee to enter Grand Canyon National Park will jump to $100 per person for international visitors. I visited the Grand Canyon in 2010. I think the cost was $25 per vehicle then. The report says it's $35 now. Having seen the Grand Canyon once, would I spend $100 to see it again if I had to? Yes!
--- 6:00 PM - When I started in Amateur (ham) Radio in 1982, there was a repeater in town whose owner took the 10-minute FCC "station ID" rule a little too literally. He had the machine emit its Morse code ID every 10 minutes, whether in use or not, 24 hours a day. While programmed into my scanner, that one was locked out of the scan rotation.