Wichita Falls Pundit
HOME PAGE - XITTER - BUY RADIOS - DIRECTORY
018
05-31-2025 - On May 27, 2025, a Wichita County jury convicted Anthony Michael Kienlen, 38, of Wichita Falls, on one count of Attempted Capital Murder of a peace officer and 16 counts of Aggravated Assault on a peace officer. Keinlen received 30 years on the Murder charge and 10 years for each of the Aggravated Assault charges. The incident occurred in October of 2021. I have not followed this case, so I'm curious why it took so long to get to trial.
05-31-2025 - Some weekend Wichita Falls radio scanning targets: Walmart (154.570 MHz), Allred Unit (153.815 MHz), Wichita County Jail (155.520 MHz), State Hospital (154.800 MHz) city transit buses (453.5375 MHz), Wichita Valley Airport (122.800 MHz), Kickapoo Airport (122.700 MHz), Wichita Falls Regional Airport / SAFB (119.750 & 122.950 MHz), and the BNSF Railroad (160.920 MHz). Get more SCANNING TARGETS! here!
05-31-2025 - 5:45 AM - NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 88. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning. Tonight: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1am. Mostly clear, with a low around 67. South southeast wind 6 to 8 mph.
05-31-2025 - 5:45 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 97.5% Kemp: 100.0% Kickapoo: 100.0%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 99.0% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (98.75%) to determine drought stage.
05-31-2025 - 5:45 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 9,186 Megawatts.
05-31-2025 - 5:30 AM - Good Morning! It's Saturday. The Texas Rangers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-1 last night. In Amateur (ham) Radio, the Montague County Simplex Net starts at 9:00 AM today on 147.500 MHz. You can tune in to the 7290 Traffic Net on the HF bands at 10:00 AM on 7.290 MHz. Locally, a group of Ham radio folks usually meet at Cracker Barrel at 8:00 AM for coffee and conversation. My Folgers Black Silk Coffee is ready.
05-30-2025 - 5:30 PM - The Local Group is active on CB Radio Channel 23 as they have been nightly for years. Tune in!
05-30-2025 - From my law enforcement consultant - I checked the shift mailbox before the shift for any relevant news. There was a note from the Information Desk that an officer had called in sick—the reason: sore testicles. When I finished the first round of laughing, I checked with the desk to verify the note. The desk officer, a female, verified the note. I called the officer because, well, because I just had to make sure he was OK. Upon learning that his testicles were sore, he assured me he said he had a sore throat and nothing close to sore testicles. How the desk officer came up with testicles, I don't know. I don't want to know.
05-30-2025 - From the U.S. Federal Communications Commission - FORFEITURE ORDER Released: May 30, 2025 We impose a penalty of $25,000 against (Violator's Name), the owner and operator of a Citizens Band Radio Service (CB) station in Rockford, Illinois. (Violator's Name) engaged in (i) unauthorized operation in violation of section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (Act) and sections 95.933 and 95.957 of the Commission’s rules and (ii) willful or malicious interference in violation of section 333 of the Act. 1. The Commission’s rules authorize the operation of CB stations without the grant of individual licenses, conditioned on compliance with all applicable regulations. Subject to limited exceptions not applicable in this case, the Commission’s rules generally prohibit using CB stations for one-way verbal communications, conversations over five minutes in length, and transmission of music, sound effects, etc. (Violator's Name) violated the Act and the Commission’s rules by using his CB station to make one-way transmissions and to send nonverbal, indecipherable sound effects over long periods, thereby voiding his operating authority. Such illegal operations pose a danger to the public because they can disrupt authorized CB uses, such as travelers’ assistance, warnings of hazardous road conditions, reporting accidents, etc. Moreover, CB may be used by public safety providers and first responders during natural disasters when other infrastructure is damaged or nonexistent. 2. On May 30, 2023, the Enforcement Bureau issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture2 (NAL) proposing a $25,000 forfeiture against (Violator's Name) for apparent willful and repeated violations of sections 301 and 333 of the Act and sections 95.933 and 95.957 of the Commission’s rules. (Violator's Name) has not filed a response to the NAL.
05-30-2025 - 12:17 PM - I contacted a station in Spillway (Ft. Randall) State Recreation Area (US-10372) in South Dakota on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program. POTA hunter count: 533.
BUY TWO-WAY RADIOS & SCANNERS!
05-30-2025 - If I were to start an Amateur (ham) Radio club, the third position in the "chain of command" would be Director of Marketing. If I were president of an existing club, I would conduct a "person on the street" survey, asking people if they've heard of BARF, the Baofeng Amateur Radio Federation, or whatever the club name might be. If few or none have heard of it, my club needs a Director of Marketing. It would help if the Director knew a little about marketing. I'm not talking about a membership drive, but a simple "name recognition" drive.
05-30-2025 - Years ago, around 1982, to be more precise, an employee of Gibson's Discount Center at 605 12th Street would "super glue" a quarter coin to the sidewalk in front of the building and watch customers try to pry it up. One man wanted that quarter so bad that he went to his car and returned the necessary tools to get the job done. In 1982, you could buy something with a quarter. By the way, Weatherford, Texas, still has a Gibson's.
05-30-2025 - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing - National Current Ops / Monitoring – May 29–30, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No new significant incidents/operations
Hazard Monitoring:
• Severe Weather – Southeast to the Mid-Atlantic
• Excessive Rainfall/Flash Flooding – Ohio Valley to the Mid-Atlantic
• Tropical Activity
Eastern Pacific:
• Tropical Storm Alvin
• Disturbance 1: Low (20%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• Request: Major Disaster Declaration – IN
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
10-13-2023 - My high school summer job was running the vending machine candy route - for Houston Vending Company - on Sheppard Air Force Base. So, there I was, driving on one of Sheppard's main streets. A short but heavy rain had just ended. A large puddle near the curb had formed, and I was headed straight for it. I hit it without slowing down. Just as the wall of water went up, I noticed a woman on the sidewalk walking toward me in her Class A dress uniform. Suddenly, she disappeared behind a rising wall of water. She reappeared a second later, drenched. With the damage done, I saw no point in stopping. Besides, she shared some responsibility since she should have known the risks of walking near roadside puddles.
05-24-2025 - Some Wichita Falls radio scanning targets: Walmart (154.570 MHz), Allred Unit (153.815 MHz), Wichita County Jail (155.520 MHz), State Hospital (154.800 MHz) city transit buses (453.5375 MHz), Wichita Valley Airport (122.800 MHz), Kickapoo Airport (122.700 MHz), Wichita Falls Regional Airport / SAFB (119.750 & 122.950 MHz), and the BNSF Railroad (160.920 MHz). Get more SCANNING TARGETS! here!
05-30-2025 - 7:00 AM - The CB Radio band is alive with the heterodynes (Google it) singing. I hear a couple of truckers chatting as they pass through town. Several years ago, the FCC removed the 155.3-mile restriction on CB Radio contacts. I have no idea how they came up with the .3 in that figure. It could be a kilometer-to-mile conversion. The FCC did not change the 4-watt (on AM) output power restriction. CB Radio is still the best option for license-free, long-distance, and worldwide communications. Put your money into the antenna!
05-30-2025 - It was the L & M Restaurant on Seymour Hwy. Lloyd and Mary were no longer the owners. It's now a car repair shop across from the Post Office. One evening, a waitress was seen, by me and others, dumping uneaten appetizer chips back into the chip bin. The bin was visible from the dining room. I questioned a waitress at a still-in-business-today restaurant about this practice, and she said they do it if there are a lot of chips left in the bowl. I saw a guy squirting ketchup on uneaten catfish fillets for this reason. Maybe we should squirt ketchup on those uneaten chips!
05-30-2025 - According to my WFPD consultant, about 30 years ago, two young men were stopped for speeding (racing) in Wichita Falls. The investigation revealed that they were employees of a local car dealership and were in cars belonging to customers. Record your odometer reading.
05-20-2025 - A few months ago, I was in the men's restroom at Walmart. I was drying my hands when a man departed a urinal and walked out without washing his hands. My hands were dry, and I walked out behind him just in time to see him retrieve his shopping cart. How many carts have you handled without wiping it down or using hand sanitizer afterward? At another store, a cashier was scanning a customer's items when he turned around and sneezed into both hands. He wiped his hands on his pants and continued scanning items. Wash or sanitize your hands before you pick up that burger! Assume that Messrs Pee Pee and Sneeze have touched everything you touch in a public setting.
05-30-2025 - 6:30 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 97.6% Kemp: 100.0% Kickapoo: 100.0%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 99.0% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (98.8%) to determine drought stage.