RadioMan763™
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"It comes to you, this stuff just flies through the air, they send this information "beamed" out over the ******* place, you just got to know how to grab it, see, I know how to grab it." Keslo in the movie Heat.
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INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SCHOOL CONTACT: Youth on the Air Camp 2026 (YOTA Camp 2026), Huntsville, AL, direct via W4Y (Chris Williams KJ5GEW). Contact is for: Thu 2026-06-18 16:36:25 UTC 37 deg. You can listen to the ISS side of the contact on 145.800 MHz on your scanner radio if you are within the "radio footprint", which is quite large with the ISS 250 miles up!
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06-11-2026 - 5:00 AM - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, and I have to go to our local Texas Department of Public Safety this morning on some renewal business. Do you remember when DPS was at Ave K and Kemp? How about 10th and Beverly, in the little strip shopping center) before that? Yesterday, I finished the book “Low Level Hell”, an account of the Vietnam War written by a helicopter “scout” pilot. It was excellent. I like it when helicopter pilots refer to their aircraft as an airplane. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:05 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 98. Heat index values as high as 103. South wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Tonight: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1am. Increasing clouds, with a low around 73. South southeast wind 7 to 11 mph becoming east northeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
--- 5:10 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:15 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:35 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 84.8% Kemp: 98.6% Kickapoo: 93.0%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 92.1% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (88.90%) to determine drought stage.
--- 5:52 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 12,552 Megawatts.
--- 6:25 AM - According to a story on Texoma's Home Page, the On the Border Mexican Grill & Cantina at Sikes Senter Mall is closing permanently. Aside from employees losing their jobs, this is not entirely bad news. This opens the door for a locally-owned Mexican-style restaurant to open. And remember, data centers are coming and they will save the City from death and ruin!
--- 9:05 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 10:12 AM - The Economics Daily
--- 11:05 AM - According to news reports, the Loft at Pickers Restaurant at 10th & Indiana has closed voluntarily for “repairs and cleaning” following 15 Health Department inspection violations. I have not dined there, but my wife and her sister have. WFPD Lt. (Retired) Chet Chester III, grandson of Officer Chet "Chalk Fairy" Chester, says you might be surprised at the things that scurry away when the lights are turned on when responding to a 3:00 AM burglar alarm.
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06-10-2026 - Good Morning! It’s Wednesday, and time to give my generator its regular exercise run. We don’t often need generators in Wichita Falls, but you never know when an extended outage will occur. Remember the Great Texas Freeze? There’s nothing on the area radio schedule for today, but keep your scanner radio on for interesting local, informal conversations. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready.
--- 5:20 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 100. South wind 14 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 77. South wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
--- 5:25 AM - NWS Short Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:30 AM - NWS Extended Range Weather Discussion
--- 5:35 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 84.8% Kemp: 98.6% Kickapoo: 93.1%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 92.1% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (88.95%) to determine drought stage.
--- 6: 55 AM - ERCOT (Texas) snapshot of grid conditions - ERCOT reports that conditions are normal and there is enough power for current demand with an operating reserve of 9,725 Megawatts.
--- 7:15 AM - According to several sources, the City Limits Golf Club, a 9-hole course with a driving range, is under construction on Highway 79 on the southeast corner of Wichita Falls. I guess no one wanted to revive the old Hawk Ridge course at Loop 11 (the loop that doesn’t loop) and U.S. 287.
--- 7:30 AM - True happiness is going to a high school class reunion and learning that the boy who was voted most likely to succeed - didn't.
--- 7:35 AM - From Yahoo! news: "WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX have been sued by Mississippi residents who say a power plant fueling nearby data centers is blasting “omnipresent and inescapable” noise that has eroded their health and home values." I post this because it's a subject we might, or might not, be dealing with in Wichita Falls. Of course, "edge of the city" dwellers are most likely to be impaced by such data center "quality of life" issues. I doubt we'll be seeing any data centers near the Country Club area.
--- 8:00 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing
--- 8:35 AM - I just heard that recorded truck stop ad on CB Radio Channel 19. I think the business is in Nevada. It has been a regular for many years now. Over a dozen years ago, there was a guy who would get on Channel 19 and advertise the chrome shop next to the Flying J. Sometimes he would bust out in song.
--- 10:10 AM - The Economics Daily
--- 11:22 AM - I contacted a station in William B. Umstead State Park (US-2755) in North Carolina on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
--- 11:45 AM - On a family disturbance call that turned out not to be one, a woman told Wichita Falls police that her husband refused to get off the sofa and do work around the house or look for a job. The man, while supine, told police that his wife didn't understand that most of his work was mental. The officers suggested marriage counseling and departed. More!
--- 1:00 PM - I finally gave my generator its exercise run that I mentioned in an earlier post. It started right away and indicated it was ready to withstand any power outage with a potent electromotive force!
1:54 PM - I contacted a station in Grant Marsh State Fish and Wildlife Area (US-12875) in Montana on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
--- 6:00 PM - The year was 1969 or 1970. I had just finished a Taekwondo class at the Downtown YMCA and was headed for the door. The guy behind the desk asked me if I would get him two burgers from a greasy spoon on Scott Avenue. He wanted mayo on his burgers. At the restaurant, I ordered two burgers with mayo to go. The waitress yelled through the kitchen window, "I need two regulars, make 'em white, and they're walking."
--- 6:30 PM - The Local Group is on CB Radio Channel 23, as is usual, on most evenings. These folks will be among those "in the know" if and when "it hits the fan." They will be communicating while many will be looking at their cellular paperweights, trying to figure out what happened. Are you radio-equipped?
--- 6:45 PM - Do you remember the late 1970s, when Halliburton Services was located at 4000 Kemp Blvd, across from Sikes Senter Mall? That was a strange mix. Now, that corner is the parking lot for Chick-fil-A, Shoe Carnival, Ross, TJ Maxx, and other stores.
7:15 PM - Army Flashback - After being "sworn in" in Dallas, I recall stepping off that air-conditioned bus at Fort Polk, Louisiana, when an unseen force put a hand over my face and said, "Don't breathe!" I had never experienced humidity like that. We were herded into a room and given a talk by a Lieutenant or Captain. He pointed to the Amnesty Barrel at the back of the room and announced that anyone having drugs, guns, porn, etc., could put them in the barrel, and nothing would be said. One guy put something in the barrel that resembled a photo. I bet after each of these sessions, the regulars licked their chops as they headed to the barrel to see what goodies they got. We got some cheeseburgers and fries, sheets and blankets for the bunks, and went to bed. The real fun awaited.