Wichita Falls Pundit
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09-10-2025 - 8:45 AM - FEMA Daily Operations Briefing - National Current Ops / Monitoring – September 9–10, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• No new significant incidents / operations
Hazard Monitoring:
• Excessive Rainfall / Flash Flooding - Southeastern U.S.
• Tropical Activity
Eastern and Central Pacific:
• Tropical Storm Kiko
• Disturbance 1: High (90%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events
09-10-2025 - 10:15 AM - From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Economics Daily - The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round: school and employee bus transportation - Beep! Beep! With schools back in session, let’s check out the driving forces behind employment trends in the school and employee bus transportation industry. Each June and July, employment layoffs in school and employee bus transportation occur as the school year comes to an end. Employment trends in August can vary between years, but a large employment buildup often follows in September, as school resumes and most employees are typically back on payrolls. For instance, before seasonal adjustment, school and employee bus transportation had employment layoffs of 22,000 in June 2024 and 52,000 in July 2024 but an employment buildup of 83,000 in September 2024. In 2025, school and employee bus transportation employment layoffs were 25,000 in June and 55,000 in July. After seasonal adjustment, employment in school and employee bus transportation has trended up since a loss of nearly 100,000 jobs following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Seasonal adjustment smooths out increases or decreases that occur around the same time each year, making it easier to see the underlying trends and other nonseasonal movements. As of September 2024, the industry had recovered the jobs lost during the pandemic. Seasonally adjusted employment was 219,000 in July 2025 compared with 201,000 in July 2024. Prior to the pandemic, in February 2020, employment was 207,000. These data are from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program and data for July 2025 are preliminary.
09-10-2025 5:00 PM - I contacted a station in Lake Shetek State Park (US-2505) in Minnesota on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
09-10-2025 5:13 PM - I contacted a station in Utahraptor State Park (US-9231) in Minnesota on 20 meters (14 MHz) CW (Morse code) in the Amateur (ham) Radio Parks on the Air® program.
09-10-2025 - 5:20 PM - Do you remember the Little Brothers Club at 15th and Lamar in downtown Wichita Falls? Eddie French played in a band there on a regular basis. I don't remember the name of the band. Eddie was an avid CB Radio operator and later became an Amateur (ham) Radio operator. He died at an early age. He still owes me $16 for a CB Radio ground plane antenna I sold him in 1970. At 5% interest, he owes me about $225 today. I think I'll forgive that debt.09-10-2025 - 5:35 PM - According to a story on Texoma’s Home Page (KFDX), Wichita Falls police arrested a suspect for an attempted residential burglary. It is customary for officers making a burglary arrest to buy donuts for the shift. Since this was an attempted burglary, will officers only have to attempt to buy donuts?
09-10-2025 - 5:45 PM – Is it just Wichita Falls, or do TV news presenters everywhere use the tag team method? You know, one presenter reads a line, then hands it off to the other, who reads a line. Sometimes it goes back to the first one to say a few more words before going to the video. Stop it! And, while I'm on the subject, I'm beginning to think news media people have a "hotkey" on their computer that spits out the words alleged and allegedly. Come on, folks, be creative and occasionally try alternate ways to express yourself.
09-10-2025 - 5:55 PM - I'm not suggesting that any Allred Unit Correctional Officer shoot some video from one of the gun towers - preferably B- or C-Tower, but it would be interesting. Tune in to Allred at 153.815 MHz on your scanner.
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09-10-2025 - 6:05 PM - The Local Group is on the air on CB Radio Channel 23. This reminds me that I need to raise my ground plane antenna another 10 feet. I've been intending to do that for several years. Some other chore always gets in the way.
09-09-2025 - 5:15 AM - Good Morning! It's Tuesday, and the Clay County Amateur Radio Club conducts a weekly Skywarn® practice net at 8:00 PM on the 146.800 MHz repeater. Tune in with your scanner radio! Do you remember the Software Lending Library at Kemp and Hampstead. I know it was there in 1991. I have no idea how it worked. Was it actually a "software copying library?" I mean, isn't that what people did once they got their hands on some software? Did they deal in "shareware?" I have no idea. My Folgers Black Silk coffee is ready!
09-09-2025 - 5:20 AM - Wichita Falls NWS Forecast - Today: Sunny, with a high near 90. South southeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
09-09-2025 - 5:30 AM - Current National Short Range Weather Forecast
09-09-2025 - 5:35 AM - According to Water Data for Texas, Wichita Falls reservoirs are: Arrowhead: 91.5% Kemp: 100% Kickapoo: 94.4%. Monitored Water Supply Reservoirs are 95.7% full. The City of Wichita Falls uses combined levels of Arrowhead and Kickapoo (92.95%) to determine drought stage.
09-09-2025 - 5:40 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 9,573 Megawatts.
09-09-2025 - 5:45 AM - Do you recall the Computer Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s? They were in wide use before the Internet really took off. It was essentially a website, without the web, allowing users to download files and post comments. There was a handful of them in Wichita Falls, dedicated to various topics. I had one up and running in 1995 or so. I used the Wildcat BBS program and a U.S. Robotics dial-up modem. I started out with a 2400 BPS modem, then upgraded to 14,400 BPS, and then to the 28,800 model. I don't remember making the jump to 56K. I might have.
09-09-2025 - 6:00 AM - I saw a story on the Daily Mail website entitled "Russia's mysterious 'Doomsday Radio' broadcasts two new codewords." It was an interesting article. The only thing missing was the frequency (in KHz or MHz) of the broadcasts. For us radio operators, the story was just a big tease.
09-09-2025 - 7:30 AM - Local trucking traffic is picking up on CB Radio Channel 19. Meanwhile, a few of the popular DX (long-distance) channels (6, 11, 28, etc.) are starting to come alive. Tune in or join in.
09-09-2025 - 8:15 AM - FEMA Daily Operations - National Current Ops / Monitoring – September 8–9, 2025
New Significant Incidents / Ongoing Ops:
• Tropical Storm Kiko – Central Pacific – FINAL
Hazard Monitoring:
• Flooding – Central Kansas
• Tropical Activity
Eastern and Central Pacific:
• Tropical Storm Kiko
• Disturbance 1: High (80%)
Disaster Declaration Activity:
• No new declaration activity
Event Monitoring:
• No significant events