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05-21-2026 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It's Thursday. Putting the trash can out front might be the hardest thing I do today. The year was 1971. The station was KNTO, 103.3 FM. I think that was the frequency. After a long day of easy-listening music, Nightcap, hosted by Doug Allen, would erupt at 7 PM with three hours of good old hard rock. The station was in a mobile home at the bottom of the radio tower on Onaway Trail. A friend and I visited the studio one night while the Nightcap program was on the air. The front door was unlocked, so we just walked in, and there was Doug Allen at the mic. He didn't mind the visit and told us his real name was Doug Bennett. On a later visit, we brought him donuts. Those were the days. Station ownership canceled the "hard rock" format that year. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready!
--- 5:10 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Showers and possibly a thunderstorm. High near 71. East northeast wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible. Tonight: A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 59. East wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the evening.
--- 5:15 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:20 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:25 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 84.0% Kemp: 93.9% Kickapoo: 85.9%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 88.6% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (84.95%) to determine drought stage.
--- 5:43 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 11,816 Megawatts.
--- 5:50 AM - Before the ZIP code was introduced in 1963, there were postal zones. I lived in St. Louis, 13, Missouri. After 1963, that zone became Zip code 63113.
--- 5:55 AM - Wichita Falls used to have a few more Amateur (ham) Radio repeaters on the air than it does today. Years ago, two relatively new ham radio operators were conversing on a local repeater. I knew they could have easily worked each other direct or simplex, given their proximity and the outside antennas I knew they were using. In other words, without the help of a repeater. What were they talking about? Putting up another repeater! The number of repeaters has decreased over the last several decades. That's a good thing. Of course, that's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.
--- 6:00 AM - A nice place for lunch in the 1980s and 90s was the Chef's Grill. The address was 107 Oil & Gas Building, 813 8th Street. You entered from the alley on the east side of the building. Unusual, but the food was good. Another favorite was Callaway's BBQ on 10th Street between Scott and Indiana. You can still see the name on the window.
--- 6:25 AM - I was reviewing some 1960s issues of S9 Magazine, the Citizens Band Radio Journal. Most issues have a section on FCC enforcement actions. There were a lot of fines handed out for "Non-Substantive Communications". Just what is that? Does that mean talking about things that have nothing to do with radio? Talking too much about business? Not talking enough about business? Or does it simply mean agitating, stirring up trouble, and/or making silly noises on the radio? Maybe I can locate the FCC regs that were in effect during that time. The FCC would have a "field day" with such a charge these days!
--- 7:40 AM - The CB Radio is very much alive this morning, with traffic increasing across the band. The heterodynes on Channel 19 are music to my ears and tell me that truckers are active across the USA. Yes, there are some "skip shooters" in there who refuse to allow the trucking industry a clear "work" channel.
--- 8:00 AM - Perhaps the City of Wichita Falls can use some of the data center riches to repair the surface of 10th Street between Scott and Indiana. The present condition of that section is an abomination of a travesty!
--- 8:14 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 9:50 AM - Two CB Radio enthusiasts I knew in the late 1960s were heading back to college after a holiday break. They were in adjoining dorm rooms. They planned to install an antenna on the roof and split the coaxial cable between their rooms using a switch or splitter arrangement. I don't recall hearing anything about the project, so perhaps it didn't go as planned. Or maybe they just swapped roommates so they didn't have to split the signal. Or, maybe one of them smoked the other's radio. Or, maybe they were smoking something else.
--- 10:40 AM - I’ve read the books Chickenhawk and Chickenhawk: Back in the World, by Robert Mason, both about the “helicopter war” in Vietnam, multiple times. Both are excellent. Last night, I finished Lest We Forget, another Vietnam “helicopter war” book, by William Meacham. It was also excellent. Tonight, I’ll start on Low Level Hell, yet another Vietnam “helicopter war” book, this one written by Hugh L. Mills Jr.
--- 3:35 PM- DX (long-distance) contacts are being made on CB Radio Channel 38, lower sideband. The AM DX channels are busy, also. The band is in good shape this morning. On Channel 6 (the superbowl of CB Radio), there's a guy who sounds like a mad auctioneer. I hope he doesn't blow a fuse. His, or his radio's. I know some of you probably wish all superbowler's radios would go up in smoke. I do not. Until they set my TV on fire, I'll just wish them a good day and hope they have a fun time.
--- 4:30 PM - The Wichita Amateur Radio Society will conduct its monthly club meeting at 6:30 PM tonight at the Hotter ‘N Hell building at 104 Scott Avenue. As announced previously by the club, anyone interested in Amateur (ham) Radio is invited to attend.