WICHITA FALLS MAN

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09-15-2023 - Good morning! As I enjoy my first cup of coffee, I'm tuned in to our local school bus frequency - 152.360 MHz. You would think that a system that operates by being at designated places at designated times would run smoothly. Well, it would if it were not for parents and kids! Tune in with your scanner radio.

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09-14-2023 - The CB Radio band is crazy tonight, with many channels active. Someone on Channel 6 is splattering so bad that my radio is begging me to turn it off! So I did! I switched to 10 meters on the Yaesu 857D, and that band is also active. A station in Havana is racking up the contacts. There are also several CW (Morse code) beacons active.

09-14-2023 - Can split-frequency equal split-personality? Consider the case, actually several cases, where you think you know a person from chatting with them on local VHF frequencies, but find out later that they are a different person on 80 meters, or "75 phone" as some prefer. I've noticed this locally a few times over the years. I have no idea why they thought no one monitors the HF frequencies - especially 80 meters - especially at night and in the mornings. Just because some of us don't talk there doesn't mean we don't listen there.

09-14-2023 - A well-known news aggregator posted "RADIOACTIVE?" at the top of its website about a story about France's claim that an older model of iPhone was emitting too much RF radiation. From the comments following the article, it is easy to see that some readers did not understand the difference between Radio Frequency (RF) radiation and ionizing radiation, such as received in medical x-rays and other sources. A few people understood they were different, but didn't understand that Radio Frequency radiation was not without some risk.

09-14-2023 - Over the years, I've seen more than one cattle-hauling truck with twin CB Radio antennas - mounted on the mirrors - leaning forward as much as 45 degrees. I read somewhere that these "bull haulers" want to give their truck a "bull" look, hence the forward-leaning antennas. I can understand that. These guys are drivers who, like many other drivers, use CB Radio as a work tool. They aren't necessarily radio hobbyists. They probably don't know, or don't care, about the efficiency of their antenna. Another explanation I heard on the forward-tilt antennas was that, at highway speed, they will stand up straight. Without the tilt, they would bend backward. I think that's bunk. I can't imagine any wheeled vehicle, licensed for use on public highways, being able to go fast enough to bend antennas far enough to affect the signal.

09-14-2023 - Don't forget that our local schools use handheld radios on 151.940 MHz. If you're nearby, tune in for some interesting content.

09-14-2023 - It's coffee time again! I checked the 40-meter CW (Morse code) band and found two guys conversing at five words per minute. That will take a while, but you have to start somewhere. I'll move on because I need something a little faster than that to wake me up!

09-13-2023 - I'm tuning around the 40-meter ham band and finding activity scattered about. There's a big pile-up on 7.250 MHz trying to work a station in St. Louis. It sounds like he's ID'ing with a three-character call sign, making it a "special event" station. Dropping down to the CW (Morse code) portion of the 40-meter band, I hear a station chatting at about 20 words-per-minute. That's perfect for me so I'll listen to him/her for a while.

09-13-2023 - Show me someone who hasn't used the Pythagorean formula since high school, and I'll show you someone who hasn't had to determine accurately - and before purchasing - the amount of guy wire needed for a radio communications tower.

09-13-2023 – Decades ago, I lived on the first floor of the three-story apartment building. I had just obtained my Amateur Radio license and I wanted to get on the air. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to put an antenna on the roof? With that crazy thought in mind, I walked over to the office and asked the nice lady manager about it. Can you believe she said, “I don’t care what you put up there, just don’t fall off the roof.” I was in a state of shock as I made my way back to my apartment. I expected to get thrown out on my butt. I ended up with a Hustler 7-foot colinear antenna for 2 meters and a 10/40-meter fan dipole for HF. The dipole was too close to the roof, but it was better than nothing. Besides, the tuner kept the radio happy. The coax for both ran down the side of the building and into my apartment through a wall-mounted air conditioner.