WICHITA FALLS MAN
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01-08-2026 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, and once again, I have nothing of importance on my schedule. Lowe’s has finally decided to ship me a new Briggs & Stratton Generator to replace the one that arrived busted 10 days ago. We have a good chance of showers this morning, but the radar shows that the part of that system passing over us might be a little thin. It looks like the lakes might do better than the city itself, and that's okay. I don't need my lawn watered. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready. UPDATE: I got my lawn watered!
--- 5:15 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 9am. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 74. West southwest wind 15 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tonight: Clear, with a low around 41. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming north northeast after midnight.
--- 5:30 AM - A representative for our local Amateur (ham) Radio Skywarn® storm spotters just issued an update on the 146.940 MHz repeater. It's a good idea to keep this frequency active in your scanner radio.
--- 6:00 AM - Skywarn® storm spotter updates continue on 146.940 MHz, with a few spotters reporting from their homes and providing mostly wind speed readings due to the storm's expected short-lived nature. Tune in to the action with your scanner radio.
--- 8:00 AM - I saw an article entitled "Why you should put down your phone and daydream instead." What it boiled down to was that daydreaming is beneficial for several reasons. I guess I'm in good shape there because I daydream all day. As for the phone, I might use it for 10 minutes a month, including talking and texting. I don't use my phone to consume content. I use my laptop for that.
--- 1:30 PM - I'm tuning the 20-meter band, looking for Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® stations to work. There are a handful working CW (Morse code), but most are a little weak. I'll check back later.
--- 3:35 PM - Tomorrow at The Iron Horse Pub - Cash and the Counterfeiters - Friday January 9 - Doors 8:30 PM, Start 9:30 PM - 615 Ohio - Wichita Falls, TX
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01-07-2026 - 5:15 AM - Good Morning! It's Wednesday, and I have nothing important on the schedule. If you have a shortwave radio, you can monitor the 7290 Traffic Net on 7290 KHz at 10:00 - 12:00 Noon, and again at 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM. The purpose of this net is to pass messages across the region. In times of disaster, it's nets like these that will keep important information flowing when commercial communications are down or overloaded. During peacetime, most messages are of low priority, but the passage of such "routine" traffic provides necessary practice. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:30 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Light south wind increasing to 6 to 11 mph in the morning. Tonight: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm, mainly after 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. South southeast wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
--- 5:45 AM - If you’re not an Amateur (ham) Radio Operator of some vintage, you might not know that you can laugh in Morse code by sending “Hi Hi” which is dit dit dit dit dit dit, dit dit dit dit dit dit. What amuses me is when some hams, using voice communications, will say “Hi Hi” instead of just laughing. If you’re one of those hams, I will not apologize for giving you the Hi Hi!
--- 6:00 AM - According to a story at Texoma's Home Page (KFDX) the Kilbourn Guitar Co. will celebrate its grand opening this Saturday, January 10, from 9AM to 5 PM with live musical performances and a special giveaway. The location is 620 Ohio Ave, Suite 100. It sounds like fun to me.
--- 7:00 PM - Wichita Falls is getting a 5th Dollar Tree. If that doesn’t put us "on the map," I don't know what will! Oh, I know what will: that story about the first Wichita Falls New Year's baby that went viral! Yep, that put us on the map, again. The last time was the woman drinking wine from a Pringles can while motoring around the I-44 Walmart on an electric shopping cart.