WICHITA FALLS MAN
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01-02-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It's Friday! I ran across a copy of an ad in a 1953 motorcycle magazine indicating that Wichita Falls had a Harley Davidson dealership at 813 Ohio Street. Searching online, I found an article about a motorcycle racer by the name of Les Myers. The article said Myers owned a Harley dealership in Wichita Falls that dated back to the 1930s. It's possible that Myers was the owner of the Ohio Street dealership. The Texas Tech Red Raiders, and Rider High School alumnus Jacob Rodriguez, lost to the Oregon Ducks, 23-0. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:45 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 70. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. Calm wind becoming north northeast around 6 mph in the evening.
--- 6:30 AM - What used to be the Sears building at 10th & Scott in downtown Wichita Falls is now an indoor storage facility. I had dreams of winning the lottery while it sat vacant and turning it into a restaurant mall with rooftop parking for locally owned eateries. Well, I didn’t win the lottery.
--- 9:30 AM - The shared Family Radio Service and General Mobile Radio Service frequency of 467.6625 MHz is active this morning. FRS is license-free, but GMRS requires a no-test license. The accompanying "roger beeps" tell me these guys might be using "bubble pack" FRS radios. Also, the license-free Multi-Use Radio Service frequency 151.820 MHz is quite busy today. Tune in to the action with your scanner radio.
--- 11:30 AM - In the news - Hotter’N Hell Hundred 2026 registration now open, WFISD students shine in London parade celebration, URHCS welcomes first baby of 2026, Job seekers invited to hiring event in Wichita Falls.
--- 7:00 PM - I just turned on the CB Radio for the first time today and, wouldn't you know it, the band has gone to sleep. Since it is so quiet, I'll listen to Channel 19 for a while. Maybe some truckers will take advantage of the absence of "skip" and say a few kind words.
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01-01-2026 - 6:00 AM - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, and the start of the New Year. I think the best plan for me today is to do absolutely nothing. That shouldn’t be too hard. There's nothing of note on the Hobby Radio schedule for today, so I'll just keep the scanner radio going. You never know when something interesting will pop up. The Texas Longhorns won yesterday. Wednesday football seems kind of strange to me. I noticed that our semi-new Luxury RV Park at Loop 11 (the loop that doesn't loop) and U.S. 287 seems to be doing well. Yesterday, I saw a woman at Walmart sporting full red flannel pajamas. I also saw a woman with five kids, one of whom was in a stroller, with all but the stroller kid singing the alphabet as they shopped. Home schooling, I guess. Cool! My coffee is ready.
--- 6:15 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 67. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Tonight: Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around 44. South wind 6 to 8 mph becoming west after midnight.
--- 7:30 AM - There has been off and on chatter on 151.820 MHz this morning. This is a frequency in the license-free Multi-Use Radio Service.
--- 9:20 AM - I contacted a station at Gulf State Park (US-1042) in Alabama on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
--- 10:30 AM - Some neighborhood kids are playing on the Family Radio Service. This is sometimes fun to listen to. When it's not fun is when they have the "roger beeps" activated. Kids usually have rapid, short exchanges, and the constant roger beeps drive me crazy. Get off my lawn!
--- 1:50 PM - I'm listening to two Amateur (ham) Radio Operators conversing in CW (Morse code), and they both have "chirpy" signals. It's amusing. I'm betting neither told the other. From Google AI Overview: "It's a technical flaw where the beep's pitch changes, unlike the clear, steady tones of a good Morse signal"
--- 8:00 PM - The Clay County Amateur Radio Club Town Hall Meeting net is on the air on the 146.800 MHz repeater. I'm not sure, but I think this is a monthly net that serves as the club meeting. I think this is a great idea. It's a radio club, after all. This reminds me of a few radio clubs that made the jump to Zoom for their meetings when the Covid pandemic hit. Again, you're a radio club, meet on the radio! But, Elmo wants to show us how to build a dipole! Tell Elmo to put it on YouTube! A lot of you will defend the Zoom meetings, and that's okay.