RadioMan763™
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05-16-2026 - 6:00 AM - Good Morning! It’s Saturday, and it looks like we got a few drops of rain early this morning. Send a few more, but not too many. I’m guessing that some local Amateur (ham) Radio Operators will be meeting informally for breakfast at 8:00 AM at the Pioneer #3 restaurant at Old Iowa Park Road and Sheppard Access Road. It has been a regular thing in the past. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 6:05 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4pm. Sunny, with a high near 94. South wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Tonight: A 10 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms before 10pm. Mostly clear, with a low around 71. South southeast wind 16 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
--- 6:10 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:15 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 6:20 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 84.9% Kemp: 94.5% Kickapoo: 86.9%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 89.5% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (85.9%) to determine drought stage.
--- 7:26 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 9,796 Megawatts.
--- 7:40 AM - UPDATED: International Space Station Passes Over Wichita Falls
--- 8:10 AM - The excellent VHF band conditions continue this morning with distant Amateur (ham) Radio repeaters and simplex signals heard. I heard two stations on 146.520 FM simplex talking about “record” distances for contacts on that frequency. I hear a station in Pensacola, Florida, 696 "air miles - my station to his" away according to the QRZ website. The base of my Ringo Ranger II antenna is 17 feet off the ground. Just think of the signals I would hear with some real altitude. Unlike “normal” Ham Radio Operators, I don’t have a real interest in long-distance VHF or UHF capability. If I can reach the edges of the Wichita Falls city limits, I’m happy. The same goes for CB Radio - reaching the city limits is just fine. I’ll use the old Yaesu 857D HF radio if I need to reach around the globe.
--- 8:25 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 9:50 AM - In the movies, people are often shot in the gut. In many of these movies, the victim is saved by someone poking inside the wound, finding the bullet, pulling it out, and patching the hole. Never mentioned are the ripped-apart organs inside that are still bleeding away. Nope, that bad old bullet is the culprit and if we get it out all will be fine.
--- 10:10 AM - The doorbell rang. I checked my doorbell cam. I could see that he had a name tag and a clipboard. That's all I need to know. Adios, My Friend! As the old band The Guess Who would say, "No time left for you!"
--- 2:25 PM - From Google AI Overview: "FCC Amateur Radio Call District 7 (which covers the Intermountain West, including Utah and Idaho) boasts the highest density of ham operators in the country, at about 1,160 hams per 100,000 people." From RadioMan763: Wichita Falls has roughly 400 Ham Radio operators in the FCC database. We need to step it up.
--- 2:50 PM - I just saw a preview for Jack Ryan, Ghost War. Did I see a cop fire a shot into the air? That's not going to happen in any agency with half a brain.
--- 5:00 PM - Around 1983, the Wichita Amateur Radio Society set up an Amateur (ham) Radio display at Sikes Senter Mall. It was located in the "pit", located in the open area just outside what used to be the main Dillards store. This sunken area was filled in years ago. I don’t know if the W.A.R.S. club did any other demonstrations at the mall. I’m guessing that they probably did. Do you remember that pit?
--- 6:30 PM - Over a dozen years ago, the downtown YMCA was using Family Radio Service "walkie-talkies" to stay in touch with each other within the building. I don't know what type of radios are in use today, or if they are still using radios. Our Walmart stores are becoming so large that I once saw a family using FRS radios to keep in touch with each other inside the building.
--- 7:35 PM - I stumbled upon a website dedicated to QRP - low-power communications - and one of the first things I saw was a review of a 50-watt radio. To me and others, QRP is 5 watts or less. Some people believe that anything below 100 watts is QRP. Maybe this is one of those groups. I'm confused.
--- 8:00 PM - I don't know if the new CB Radio FM mode will be popular. Only time will tell. It's possible that the FM mode will enhance local communications. That would be good. I'm sure I'm not going to buy a radio without SSB, so if FM is included, fine. If not, that's fine, too.
9:00 PM - If you're a pilot, you're probably familiar with the $100 hamburger. That's what it used to cost decades ago to rent a small plane and fly not too far away to get a hamburger. I made trips to Lawton, Graham, Walters, and Lake Texoma for burgers. At the "travel plaza" in Walters, there was a Howard Johnson's restaurant. Just across the highway is or was a small airport. There was an elevated walkway over the highway connecting the two. We once made a skydive onto the McDonald's (now gone) lawn in Walters, but that's another story. These days, that burger could cost you $300-$400! When I learned to fly in 1972, a Cessna 150 cost $12 an hour, and the instructor was $6 an hour. A search today reveals the cost of a Cessna 152 is $115 to $150/hour, and an instructor is $60 to $80/hour (private pilot license). Tune in to local air traffic at Kickapoo Airport on 122.700 MHz and Wichita Valley Airport on 122.800 MHz.