WICHITA FALLS MAN

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10-10-2023 - I'm up early this morning - 0500 - so it's coffee and some 40-meter CW (Morse code) into the headphones. At this hour, the County Jail and the Allred Unit are the only people active on the scanner.

10-09-2023 - According to the 1977 Wichita Falls City Directory, there were three TG&Y Stores in the city. These discount stores were located at 2622 Old Iowa Park Road, 4611 Southwest Parkway, and 1906 9th St. Below is a pack of lighter flints purchased by my dad from the store on Old Iowa Park Road.

10-09-2023 - Before the Texas Department of Public Safety was located at I-44 and Missile Road, it was located at 2101 Kemp Blvd. Before Kemp Blvd, it was located in the strip shopping center at 10th & Beverly, across the street from Willie's Place. You're kind of old if you remember that one.

10-09-2023 - I checked in on CB Radio Channel 38 LSB to find someone delivering an F-bomb-coated political speech. Don't think it doesn't happen on Ham Radio, because it does. I'm going back to my scanner to see what's happening locally.

10-09-2023 - I went to Spectrum on Kemp Blvd in Wichita Falls and picked up my new modem. I pulled onto the lot, drove to the Rib Crib side of the strip center, turned left to drive to Spectrum, and almost lost my car in a pothole. I might have chipped 39 teeth, also. Pitiful upkeep!

10-09-2023 - A pleasant memory is the Burrito Kitchen. In 2000, it was in Iowa Park. In 2005 it moved to the shopping plaza (now a bus stop) on Burk Road just north of the SAFB Main Gate. It sat in front of the (now gone) apartments. I remember seeing airmen come in with insulated containers to haul big burrito loads back to the base. Then, one day it was gone, just like Bonanza on Seymour Hwy at Kemp. Boom, gone!

10-09-2023 - According to a letter from Spectrum, they will soon be increasing my Internet speed to 300 Mbps. All I have to do is swap out my old modem for a new one. The letter also says my monthly rate will drop by a few dollars. I don't think the extra speed will make a difference in my day-to-day Internet activities. The Spectrum "speed check" site shows my download speed at 49.1 Mbps and upload speed of 5.9 Mbps. Everything is working fine for me at those speeds, but I don't know what the future will require.

10-09-2023 - Good morning! Along with my first cup of coffee, I hear a couple of local truckers on CB Radio Channel 19 chatting about an upcoming mission. There's nothing out of the ordinary on the scanner yet. Walmart (154.570 MHz), county jail (155.520 MHz), State Hospital (154.800 MHz), and the Allred Unit (153.815 MHz) are active with normal traffic. Also, that waste management company (463.300 MHz) is out managing waste. Today and tomorrow are WFISD holidays, so there's no regular school bus radio traffic although there might be admin traffic. The city transit buses (453.5375 MHz) will come alive shortly. Meanwhile, I'm on the Yaesu 857D listening to Morse code for awhile.

10-08-2023 - The Local Group is on the air on CB Radio Channel 23. They are on nightly from 1730 to 1930. It sounds like a few DX stations are dropping in to say hello. Check in with them if you have a CB Radio.

10-08-2023 - The CB radio is buzzing this morning with big signals across the band. CB Radio is the only choice for license-free, long-distance communications. Amateur (ham) Radio offers long-distance, but it's not license-free. FRS and MURS are license-free but not long-distance. GMRS is neither license-free nor long-distance. Use the systems that work for you.

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10-08-2023 - Jack Ruby's conviction for the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald was overturned by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for reasons related to his oral confession and trial venue. A new trial was to be held in Wichita Falls but Ruby died before it could be scheduled. Oswald's brother Robert lived in Wichita Falls and is buried in Crestview Cemetery.

10-08-2023 - Back in the 1960s, one of the local CB Radio clubs - either the Faith City Five-Watters or the Red River Valley CB Club - would meet in one of the district courtrooms downtown. One member was eager to report that he had "doctored" his radio and it was now "kicking out 6 watts!"

10-08-2023 - Good morning! I'll leave you with this thought while I enjoy my first cup of coffee: The Wichita Falls ISD school bus "barn" on Seymour Highway was once Coyote Stadium. If you attended a football game there, you're no "spring chicken". It's possible that your spring may be totally sprung!

10-07-2023 - The weekend is not over, and the contesters are still contesting. The 20-meter CW band is still busy with dits and dahs flying back and forth. I'll check in tomorrow for more normal Morse code interactions.

10-07-2023 - From my law enforcement consultant. It was the wheel deal! A man went to the police station to get a car out of impound that a family member had abandoned blocking an exit on the highway. He said he was told that he might need to replace a tire. He was informed that he would need 4 tires because they had been driven completely off the wheels. When that little shock wore off he was told that he would also need 4 new wheels because they had been driven down to the hubs. He was not happy.

10-07-2023 - This location at the northwest corner of 7th and Ohio was, in 1968, Wichita Loan. This is when and where I bought my second set of CB Radio walkie-talkies. I had them on layaway. At 300 milliwatts, I think they required a license. I prayed for forgiveness.

10-07-2023 - Good morning! It's coffee once time again! The CB Radio is dead from one end of the band to the other, but that will soon change. There are several Morse code contacts in progress on Ham Radio. That, and the coffee, will help me wake up! The Texas Rangers play Game 1 of the division series today against the Baltimore Orioles. The game will not be on TV or any streaming service I can access. Maybe I can catch it on the radio. Cowboys tomorrow!

10-06-2023 - About five years ago, I was unlucky enough to be ambushed in my front yard by a young man selling home security systems. I declined his offer. He noticed one of my antennas, the big Zero Five 10-40 meter ground plane, and asked what it was for. I told him I used it for both Amateur (ham) Radio and CB Radio. He had never heard of either service. I gave him a short explanation. He's probably still scratching his head.

10-06-2023 - There's a report out that someone has bought Radio Shack and has plans for it. I don't know what those plans are, but let me say that Radio Shack lost its way many years ago. I would be surprised to learn that there is actually someone with the guts to step up, trim the fat (90% fewer stores), and take the business back to its Hobby Radio roots. Let Best Buy sell that "other stuff". You don't see Ham Radio Outlet with 8,000 stores!