WICHITA FALLS MAN
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06-26-2023 - Lots of chores today and not much time for the hobby, but I'll close out the day by listening to Morse code on the 40-meter ham band. That ought to put me to sleep!
06-26-2023 - Truckers often call out - on CB Radio Channel 19 - the position of motorcycle speed cops on the highway here in Wichita Falls. It's not unusual to find one on the north and the south ends of town. I try to assure the drivers that these are merely plywood cutouts that can be ignored. For some reason, they never believe me.
06-26-2023 - I just found a frequency for a GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) repeater here in Wichita Falls - 462.700 MHz - and plugged it into my scanner. Let's see how active it is. I have an idea. Let's see if I'm wrong.
06-26-2023 - Under construction in Luling, Texas is what will be, at 75,000 square feet, the largest Buc-ee's in the USA. This is just one more Buc-ee's for us hobby radio-equipped travelers to enjoy.
06-26-2023 - Random Info - The South Texas Amateur Radio Club meets the 4th Thursday of every month except in the months of November and December. Time: 1900 HRS Location: St. Mark’s Episcopal Fellowship Hall 2727 Airline Rd., Corpus Christi, Texas 78414
06-26-2023 - It's coffee time! I've got the CB Radio on Channel 19, listening to local traffic before the band opens up and things get wild. The scanner is also on and I hear the Allred Unit prison is busy as usual.
06-25-2023 - When I first started in CB Radio in 1964, the price of a White Castle slider was 12 cents. The restaurant was just a block away and I could smell them from home. I consumed mass quantities
06-25-2023 - The 281 Project. That's what I was going to call it. I was going to start at the southern end of U.S. 281 - at the bottom of Texas - and drive to the north end - at the North Dakota / Canadian border. I was going to see how many 2-meter FM contacts I could make on the route. I don't think this project is going to happen. It would have been a 3,750 mile round trip.
06-25-2023 - It was late 1974 and I was on my way north through Oklahoma on I-44 to my new duty assignment at the now-defunct Savanna Army Depot in Savanna, Illinois. CB Radio has always been an important part of my road trips. I saw one of those "food and gas" signs alerting me that such services were ahead. I was surprised to see that the "food" offering was a McDonald's that stretched over the highway in Vinita, Oklahoma. So, I stopped for coffee and I don't remember what else. At my young age, I had never thought of a restaurant over a highway. I guess needed to get out of the house more often. I stopped there again in 2019 headed south out of the St. Louis area where we watched the total eclipse of the sun.
06-25-2023 - It's 107 degrees outside right now, and the group that usually assembles on CB Radio Channel 23 each night is nowhere to be found. I don't know if some checked in at 1730 and quickly departed or if no one showed up. UPDATE: At 1815 a few of the guys showed up. It seems like there was some kind of dustup on the channel ealier and the group shut down for awhile.
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06-25-2023 - The Wichita Amateur Radio Society will conduct its weekly informal net tonight at 8 PM on the club's 147.140 MHz repeater. Check in if you're a ham, or tune in with your scanner.
06-25-2023 - In 1980, scanner listeners might have picked up on the fact that, during a period of fewer than 24 hours, there were five homicides in little Wichita Falls, Texas. A wrecker driver and customer shot and killed each other, an intruder was shot and killed, and a body was found in a field. I can't remember what the 5th homicide was, but if it comes to me I'll update this post. I do know the series of events got calls from several distant news agencies.
06-25-2023 - Wichita Falls area scanner enthusiasts can monitor our local Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter on 159.900 MHz. Of course, that's when they're not talking to Air Traffic Control, or giving position reports near Kickapoo Airport on 122.700 MHz.
06-25-2023 - About a decade ago I drove 100 miles to a hamfest to find just two tables of real radio gear and three tables of pure trash. I don't mean just old stuff because old stuff is cool. I mean crap no one could want. I hate to put it that way but that's my opinion. I wanted to sue them for gas money. This is where a club website would come in handy. At the "close of business" on the day before the hamfest, they could have posted the number of tables sold on the club website. Website? What website?
06-25-2023 - International Space Station - Wichita Falls scanner enthusiasts - plug 145.800 MHz into your scanner and pick up occasional ISS-to-ground Amateur (ham) Radio transmissions. You won't hear the ground-to-ISS side unless you're within a few miles of the ground station.
06-25-2023 - I got an 8-piece bucket from a local KFC yesterday. It usually contains 2 wings, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, and 2 breasts. The kid handing me the bucket out the window says "We ran out of wings so I substituted with 2 thighs. Is that okay?" I started to say. "Hell no! I want those scrawny wings, not more juicy thighs!" But I answered in the affirnative, thanked him, and departed.
06-25-2023 - It's Sunday morning and our local airports are keeping my scanner busy. Tune in to Wichita Valley (122.800 MHz) and Kickapoo (122.700 MHz) airports with your scanner radio.
06-25-2023 - Show me someone who hasn't used the Pythagorean theorem since high school, and I'll show you someone who hasn't computed (the easy way) the length of guy wire needed for a radio antenna tower.
06-25-2023 - I don't hear much on the plane-to-plane frequency of 123.450 MHz, but I keep it in the scan rotation because you never know what you'll find. Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers get "stuck" microphones, just like everyone else. It can be amusing!
06-25-2023 - Someone in Wichita Falls thought it would be cute to play "Phantom 309" on CB Radio Channel 19 this morning. Just stop it! It's bad enough with skip-shooters tearing up 19. I'm going to blame all the silliness on Burt Reynolds! Yep, that's who started it!