WICHITA FALLS MAN

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03-15-2024 - I hear a weak, one-sided exchange, in Spanish, on 462.5625 MHz, a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) and Family Radio Service (FRS) frequency. I'm guessing this traffic involved an FRS radio because of the annoying "roger beeps."

03-15-2024 - I had a "flashback" of "Electronic Center" in Dallas. There they sold Amateur (ham) Radio gear and other electronic items. I visited only once, and that was after I passed my Amateur Radio "Advanced" class license exam at the FCC Dallas District Office. Yes, there was a time you had to drive to Dallas to take the "Ham Radio" license exam. The Volunteer Examiner program didn't begin until 1984. The applicable law was amended in 1982, but I don't think the VE program was up and running until 1984. As for Electronic Center, it's long gone.

03-15-2024 - FEMA National Current Ops / Monitoring – March 14–15, 2024

New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• Severe Weather – FEMA Region

Hazard Monitoring:
• Heavy Snow/Mixed Precipitation – Four Corners Region
• Severe Thunderstorms/Excessive Rainfall – Southern Plains, Lower Mississippi Valley, Southeast, and Southern Appalachians

Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity

Event Monitoring:
• No significant events

03-15-2024 - NWS Forecast - Today: A 20 percent chance of showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 66. North northeast wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 47. North northeast wind 6 to 11 mph.

03-15-2024 - Good Morning! It's Friday, and Friday means different things to different people. For many Amateur (ham) Radio Operators it means it's time to get ready for one or more radio contests that span most weekends. For some, it means it's a hamfest (flea market or swapfest) this weekend. There aren't as many hamfests as there were 30 and 40 years ago, but they are by no means extinct. Texas has a handful throughout the year. A popular event is the Ham Expo - held twice a year - in Belton. My coffee is ready!

03-14-2024 - I hear a station calling "CQ Aviation Mobile at 36,000 feet" on 146.520 MHz FM simplex. I've had more than a few Amateur (ham) Radio "aero mobile" contacts, so I'll let someone else answer him. And they did!

03-14-2024 - From the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - The FCC Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting (NIPRB) per its authority from the PIRATE Act to a landowner in Cedar Hill, TX, for allowing illegal broadcasting from their property. Action by: Regional Director, Field Division, Enforcement Bureau. Adopted: 2024-03-14 by NIPRB. EB.

03-14-2024 - The word on the street, or at least on the Internet, is that the Family Dollar people (Dollar Tree) will close as many as 1,000 of their 8,000 Family Dollar stores. Will Wichita Falls survive that pruning? Unknown. If Family Dollar sold Hobby Radio equipment, I might be concerned. They don't, and I am not.

03-14-2024 - FEMA National Current Ops / Monitoring – March 13-14, 2024

New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No significant incidents / operations

Hazard Monitoring:
• Heavy snow – Central Rockies
• Heavy rain/flash flooding – Southern Plains to the Tennessee Valley
• Severe weather – Southern Plains to the Great Lakes

Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity

Event Monitoring:
• No significant events

03-14-2024 - It's National PI Day and the David Sarnoff Radio Club in Burlington, NJ will activate a Special Event station - 0000Z-2359Z - to commemorate the event. Listen for N3P on 14.031, 14.314, 7.031, and 7.227 MHz.

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03-14-2024 - Our local news media reports that the City of Wichita Falls Parks Department has a "master plan" that will allow citizens to voice their "needs and wants". Well, how about replacing the totally-destroyed "slot machine trainer" in Scotland Park? Okay, I'm just kidding. I don't know what else to call it.

03-14-2024 - A former area man, now living in Abilene, has been arrested by Wichita Falls police for alleged sex crimes involving two victims. In the case of the James Staley murder conviction appeal, both sides have presented arguments before the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth.

03-14-2024 - NWS Forecast - Today: A slight chance of showers between noon and 1pm. Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. South southwest wind 5 to 11 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 49. North wind 7 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.

03-14-2024 - Good Morning! There has been a fair amount of local chatter on the 147.140 MHz repeater lately, with Amateur (ham) Radio operators discussing various things. Digipeaters (repeats packets of digital information) and APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System - a digital communications system) is a popular topic. Visit "Wichita Falls Area Hams" on Facebook. I saw a note announcing that the North Texas Amateur Radio Society (ND5DX - Weatherford, Texas area) activated Dinosaur Valley State Park yesterday. I was tuning around looking for Parks on the Air® activity yesterday but I missed that one. The North Texas Amateur Radio Society is easy to find on Facebook.

03-13-2024 - I made contact with NI9M at Black Hawk Historic Site (US-9802) in Illinois on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.

03-13-2024 - From the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - Wireless telecommunications bureau approves Trace-Tek, LLC's contraband interdiction system certification application under phase one of the authorization process.(DA No. 24-242). (Dkt No 13-111). WTB.

03-13-2024 - I made contact with K0HAA at Lone Pine State Park (US-2583) in Montana on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.

03-13-2024 - I made contact with AC4BT at Sandisfield State Forest (US-4706) in Massachusetts on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.

03-13-2024 - I'm getting a little CB Radio monitoring time in this morning. I've had a lot of trouble with CB Radios over the last couple of years. I had a Uniden 980SSB that completely lost its display. I liked the radio so I bought another. After about two years, it died one morning. I replaced it with the current President McKinley AM/SSB unit. One day, I had the strange experience of not being able to get the SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) below 3:1. I knew it wasn't the antenna or coax because I could tune my Yaesu 857D at the bottom of the 10-meter band to a flat SWR. Every few days I'd try the McKinley, but no luck. This morning, when I tried to tune up I got the SWR flat as a pancake. Is the MFJ Versa Tuner II playing games with me? I don't know. So, today, I'm enjoying the chatter of "skip shooters" on Channel 38 LSB (lower sideband).

03-13-2024 - From my law enforcement consultant - Back in the early 1980s, the Crime Stoppers and local TV news crews would tape "re-enactments" of recent crimes to be aired on the evening news. Actors included off-duty cops and MSU Criminal Justice majors. In one episode, I beat a convenience store clerk with a telephone handset when she was slow to hand over the money. In another episode, the robber wore one of those Western belts with his name stamped on the back. After that episode aired, an "older" woman called WFPD and suggested that we zoom in on that belt to get the robber's name!