WICHITA FALLS PUNDIT
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CB Radio, Morse code, and Folgers Black Silk coffee. What else could a man need in beautiful Wichita Falls, Texas? Maybe a "Red Draw" at the BAR-L Drive In? As the late Oscar Gamble said, "They don't think it be like it is, but it do!"
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02-22-2026 - 6:00 AM - Good Morning! It's Sunday, and the most work I have planned for today is watch a NASCAR race on TV. Maybe. I might find something better on one of the streaming services. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan. I've never attended a race. The closest I've ever been to NASCAR is the In-N-Out Burger across the street from the Texas Motor Speedway, and it wasn't even a race day. As usual, I have CW (Morse code) running in the background on the Yaesu 857D as I try to wake up. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 6:15 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 56. North wind around 7 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 28. North northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
--- 6:30 AM - At a local hospital, I hear a security officer reporting routine building checks. As you might imagine, there are always other "interesting" events discussed. Radio scanning is cheap entertainment. You buy a radio and, possibly, an outside antenna (recommended) once, and they serve you for many years.
--- 7:15 AM - Railroad radio chatter is up this morning in my area. I'm not what you would call a "railfan", but I still find their comms interesting. I've learned a few things I didn't know about the industry just by listening. Search the 159 to 162 MHz range on your scanner radio.
--- 7:45 AM - The Amateur (ham) Radio HF (High Frequency) bands are loaded with contest traffic this morning. This is normal on weekends. I'm not a "contester", but I do hand out contacts now and then.
--- 8:20 AM - I recently purchased a Champion 9000 Inverter Generator from Home Depot after an "experience from Hell" trying to get one from Lowe's. I might post the story on that one of these days. Let's say I will not be setting foot in Lowe's ever again, unless it's an emergency. The Home Depot sale was perfect from start to finish.
---12:15 PM - The latest Hobby Radio craze is Meshtastic. From Wikipedia: "Meshtastic is a decentralized wireless off-grid mesh networking LoRa protocol. The main goal of the project is enabling low-power, long-range communication over ISM radio bands." Locally, it's quite the "buzz" among Amateur (ham) Radio operators. It sounds like fun.
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02-21-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It's Saturday, and other than playing on the radio, I have no real plans. As usual, I start the day with CW (Morse code) running in the background. The CB Radio band has yet to open, and I hear no local traffic on Channel 19. Of course, 99% or truckers pass through town without saying a word on the radio. There is an Amateur (ham) Radio group that meets informally at a local restaurant on Saturday mornings. Let's see what the day brings. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 6:40 AM - I have the CB Radio on 40-channel scan, and Channel 6, the "superbowl", is trying to come alive. That channel will be booming in an hour or so. I'm not a Channel 6 operator, but I enjoy listening from time to time.
--- 7:45 AM - Long before there were WiFi wardrivers, looking for open WiFi connections, there were scanner radio wardrivers, looking for interesting VHF and UHF signals to monitor. One of the biggest prizes was the old cordless telephones in the 47-49 MHz range. Those were the days.
---- 8:00 AM - Some Amateur (ham) Radio Operators don't realize how much noise (a radio or TV in the background) their microphone picks up. I'm listening to one such operator on the two-meter band with background music. No one he talks to ever mentions it, so it's not a big deal to many. I'm in the listening mode 99% of the time, so it's not a deal-breaker, just something I've noticed.
---- 1:15 PM - Have you ever heard kids playing with those Family Radio Service walkie-talkies? What I hear, more than anything, is a battle of the "roger" beeps. For me, that takes most of the fun out of listening. Your love or hate of "roger" beeps might be different from mine.
--- 2:00 PM - In my city, the Multi-Use Radio Service is gaining in popularity. Almost every weekend, I hear several guys chasing rabbits, deer, wild turkeys, or something. I have no idea what they're chasing, or if they ever catch whatever it is. They can get frantic. I don't know if MURS falls under the "illegal to disclose content" FCC rule. CB Radio and Amateur (ham) Radio do not. Either way, if I didn't identify the radio users, no disclosure took place. That's my opinion.
--- 3:00 PM - Today, I received a QSL card from an Amateur (ham) Radio Operator confirming our contact on 146.580 FM simplex while he was aeronautical mobile in a Cessna Citation jet last month.
--- 5:00 PM - I finished the second season of Landman today. It was pretty excellent. The only thing that would have made it better would have been much more two-way radio communication. Was there any at all? I can't remember any.
02-20-2026 - 7:30 AM - Good Morning! It's Friday, and I'm off to a late start this morning. I forgot the weather forecast and was a little surprised at the 30-degree reading this morning. We won't be back above 70 degrees again until Tuesday. It's too cold to go skinny-dipping this morning, so I'll stay inside and play on the radio. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 7:45 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 62. Northeast wind around 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 37. East southeast wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west northwest after midnight.
--- 8:00 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are as follows: Arrowhead: 82.3% Kemp: 98.1 Kickapoo: 84.5%. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (83.4%) to determine drought stage.
--- 9:00 AM - From the U.S. Federal Trade Commission - Amazon recently sent automatic refunds to millions of eligible Prime customers following a $2.5 billion settlement. Eligible Prime customers can submit a claim if they did not get an automatic refund in 2025.
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02-19-2026 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, and I still have nothing interesting on today's schedule. Due to the warm weather we’ve been having, I decided to put down some pre-emergent on my lawn a few weeks early. I might already be too late. There is a hamfest (Amateur (ham) Radio swapfest) on March 7, 2026, at the Betcha Bingo Hall, 2420 W. Irving Blvd. Irving, TX 75014. The hours are 8:00 AM TO 2:00 PM. Tickets are $5.00. It is sponsored by the Irving Amateur Radio Club. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:15 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 71. West wind 11 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Tonight" Mostly clear, with a low around 37. West northwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming east northeast after midnight.
--- 5:30 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are as follows: Arrowhead: 82.8% Kemp: 98.4 Kickapoo: 85.0%. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (83.9%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6:00 AM - I have never owned a CB Radio with an FM mode, but I’ve been thinking of getting one. I’m thinking that FM would be great for local communications, one reason being the FM capture effect. To put it simply, in the FM mode, an interfering FM signal has to be much stronger to be heard than an interfering AM signal. If I remember correctly, in the FM mode, for a signal to interfere, it must be at least 50% as strong as the signal you’re trying to hear. In the AM mode, that interfering signal needs only to be 1% as strong to make its presence known. This is why the FAA uses AM - they want interfering signals (a pilot with an emergency) to be heard. When I’m trying to talk to someone across town on the CB Radio, I do not want to hear collisions from weak signals. Of course, your opinion of what you want to hear or not hear may vary.
--- 6:30 AM - I’m listening to two area Amateur (ham) Radio Operators on the 147.140 MHz repeater. They have been going for about 15 minutes now, and there has been no mention of radios, antennas, or related equipment. I’m pleasantly shocked!
--- 1:18 PM - I contacted a station at Katy Trail State Park (US-1766) in Missouri on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
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02-18-2026 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday. The Clay County Amateur Radio Club net arrived on time last night, but I didn’t monitor the proceedings because an interesting conversation was underway on the local simplex frequency, 146.520 MHz. I have no real plans for today. I can’t find the correct socket I need to remove the anode rod from my water heater, so I had to order one online. When it arrives, I’ll flush the water heater and replace the anode rod. For now, my Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:45 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. West wind 5 to 15 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 23 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 52. South wind 11 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
--- 6:00 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are as follows: Arrowhead: 82.7% Kemp: 98.4 Kickapoo: 84.9%. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (83.8%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6:15 AM - We must have a UHF "band opening" this morning because I'm listening to a conversation on a distant General Mobile Radio Service repeater on 462.5750 MHz. Tune in with your scanner radio. As far as I know, there is no GMRS repeater in or near Wichita Falls. I could be wrong. Either way, this one is distant. A GMRS license is required ($35 for 10 years), but there is no test involved. While we don't have a local repeater, we do have locals using the "simplex" (direct communications) GMRS frequencies. If the world goes dark, radio hobbyists will still be communicating.
--- 6:30 AM - Before our two new high schools opened, my wife and I toured the Legacy High School. We noticed the R.O.T.C. Instructor and asked him about the gun range. He responded that the school's plans did not include a range and that they had to travel to Hirschi to use the range there. I thought that was interesting. Unknown if one will be added to the Legacy location.
--- 6:40 AM - According to a story on Texoma's Home Page (KFDX), a power outage at the Wichita Tower at 7th & Indiana affected the City Planning and Building Inspections, Finance, Utility Collections, and Public Works offices. I guess I’m behind the times, because I didn't know the City had offices there. I'm guessing this began during the renovations of Municipal Auditorium.
--- 7:00 AM - According to Texoma's Home Page, the Circle M Bakery on Old Iowa Park Rd. is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Everyone should stop by and buy 40 donuts! Maybe 4? The article reports that the "M" is for Marilyn, the founder.
--- 6:00 PM - Parachutes, Transistor Radios, Marbles, and a Yo-Yo - Today, school kids show off their new cell phones. When I was a school kid, the thing to show off was an AM pocket transistor radio emitting "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles. The fact that a telescoping antenna was not needed to receive local AM broadcasts added to their stylish appearance. A leather case, made just for that model, added to the appeal. I never saw a kid in class listening to their radio with an earphone. We knew the rules. More!
--- 9:00 PM - I’m listening to a group “rag chewing” on 146.520 MHz, a simplex frequency. I also have Morse code running in the background on 40 meters via the Yaesu 857D radio. There must be a contest going on because the CW (Morse code) portion of the band is jammed with dots and dashes all over the place. Actually, it’s more like dits and dahs. But it's almost bedtime for me, so I’m going to shut it all down and resume in the morning.