WICHITA FALLS MAN
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06-24-2024 - 6:35 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 9,763 Megawatts.
06-24-2024 - Good Morning! Amateur (ham) Radio Field Day is over, and now I can get back to working a few Parks on the Air® stations without all the noise! Field Day is an important exercise to test the readiness of Ham Radio operators to communicate during emergencies without commercial power. But now it's over, and it's also coffee time!
06-23-2024 - I need Vermont, Alaska, and Hawaii to complete "worked all states", using Morse code, in the Parks on the Air® program. According to the POTA spotter page, there's a Vermont station on now, but he's surrounded by Field Day traffic, and I can't pick him out because I don't have a CW filter. Oh well, there will be other days!
06-23-2024 - FEMA National Current Ops / Monitoring – June 22–23, 2024
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• Wildfires – New Mexico (South Fork & Salt Fires)
• Flooding Threats – FEMA Regions V, VII, and VIII
Hazard Monitoring:
• Flooding – Northern Plains to the Upper Mississippi Valley
• Severe Weather – New England
• Excessive Heat – southern California/northwest Utah/Mid-Atlantic
• Fire Weather – Northern Intermountain/Central Great Basin
• Tropical Activity
Atlantic:
• Disturbance 1: Medium (40%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
06-23-2024 - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny and hot, with a high near 100. Heat index values as high as 103. West southwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 77. South wind around 8 mph.
06-23-2024 - 7:15 AM - NOAA SPACE WEATHER - Last 24 Hours - Radio Blackouts (Minor) Solar Radiation Storms (None) Geomagnetic Storms (None) - Solar Wind Speed: 356 km/sec Solar Wind Magnetic Fields: Bt 9 nT, Bz 7 nT Noon 10.7cm Radio Flux: 196 sfu
06-23-2024 - 7:15 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls water supply reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 77.4% Kemp: 100.0% Kickapoo 81.0%. The City of Wichita Falls uses the combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo to determine drought stage.
06-23-2024 - 7:10 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 11,525 Megawatts.
06-23-2024 - Good Morning! Today, 52 years ago, I passed my Private Pilot check ride. Over the years, I earned an Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot Certificate, Multi-Engine Rating, Flight Instructor Rating, and Instrument Flight Instructor Rating. I did some skydiving, too. Amateur Radio Field Day continues this morning. I'll listen to some Morse code Field Day contacts while I ride my under-the-desk exercise bike while sipping some Folgers Black Silk coffee!
06-22-2024 - Today begins Field Day, the annual 24-hour readiness exercise - conducted in a contest format - for North American Amateur (ham) Radio operators. It starts at 1:00 PM local time. If you have a shortwave radio, you can listen to the action across the Amateur Radio HF (High Frequency) bands shown below. You'll hear Morse code, digital, and voice communications.
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80 meters: 3.500 – 4.000 MHz
60 meters: 5.332, 5.348, 5.368, 5.373, and 5.405 MHz
40 meters: 7.000 – 7.300 MHz
30 meters: 10.100 – 10.150 MHz
20 meters: 14.000 – 14.350 MHz
17 meters: 18.068 – 18.168 MHz
15 meters: 21.000 – 21.450 MHz
12 meters: 24.890 – 24.990 MHz
10 meters: 28.000 - 29.700 MHz
06-22-2024 - FEMA National Current Ops / Monitoring – June 21-22, 2024
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• Wildfires – New Mexico
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe Thunderstorms – Middle Mississippi Valley to Great Lakes
• Heavy Rain/Flash Flooding – Northern Plains to Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic
• Excessive Heat – Midwest to Mid-Atlantic
• Tropical Activity:
Atlantic:
• Disturbance 1: Medium (50%)
• Disturbance 2: Low (0%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
06-22-2024 - International Space Station over Wichita Falls - Time: Sun Jun 23, 4:33 AM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 86°, Appears: 85° above W, Disappears: 10° above NE. Listen on 145.800 & 437.800 MHz for possible Amateur (ham) Radio communications.
06-22-2024 - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 100. South southwest wind 6 to 11 mph. Tonight: Clear, with a low around 76. South wind around 10 mph.
06-22-2024 - 5:15 AM - NOAA SPACE WEATHER - Last 24 Hours - Radio Blackouts (Minor) Solar Radiation Storms (None) Geomagnetic Storms (None) - Solar Wind Speed: 331 km/sec Solar Wind Magnetic Fields: Bt 3 nT, Bz 2 nT Noon 10.7cm Radio Flux: 197 sfu.
06-22-2024 - 5:15 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls water supply reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 77.6% Kemp: 100.0% Kickapoo 81.2%. The City of Wichita Falls uses the combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo to determine drought stage.
06-22-2024 - 5:55 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 10,482 Megawatts.
06-22-2024 - Good Morning! For some reason, I had a flashback of the smell of bread being baked at the Mead's Fine Breads bakery on East Scott at Old Windthorst Road. Do you remember it? I was told that, at one time, they baked the buns for our local McDonald's restaurants. I don't know if that's true, but I know my coffee is ready!
06-21-2024 - Back in my skydiving days, students had to make 5 proper "static line" jumps before advancing to freefall training. On my third static line jump, I had a "bag lock" malfunction. The bag containing the canopy came out of the main container, but the canopy failed to come out of the bag. Google "bag lock malfunction" and you'll see what I mean. I had to cut away the main and deploy the reserve parachute. On student rigs, this normally two-step process was handled in one pull of the ripcord. Obviously, my reserve parachute worked. Before beginning my skydiving adventure, I was told that the chance of a malfunction was one in one thousand. This meant I didn't have to worry about another malfunction for 997 more jumps! The pressure was off! Okay, that's lousy math but who cares?
06-21-2024 - At 5:05 PM, someone sent the "break" prosign and the "?" in Morse code over the 146.940 MHz repeater. I don't know what that was about. It sounded machine-generated. I didn't hear any callsigns.
06-21-2024 - FEMA National Current Ops / Monitoring for June 20-21, 2024
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• Wildfires – New Mexico (South Fork and Salt Fires)
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe Weather – Southwest, Central Great Basin, and Northern Rockies to the Great Lakes
• Heavy Rain/Flash Flooding – Southwest, Central Great Basin, and Northern/Central Plains to the Great Lakes
• Tropical Activity:
Atlantic:
• Disturbance 1 – Medium (50%)
• Disturbance 2 – Medium (60%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• Approval: Major Disaster Declaration – NM
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events