Yearly Archives: 2014

RadioShack turnaround is ‘nearly impossible’

Many thanks to Dave and Skip for sharing this article from the Wall Street Journal which highlights the struggle RadioShack faces this year: an effort to modernize before their stock value slips to zero:

(Source: The Wall Street Journal, Marketwatch)

RadioShack Corp.’s mounting losses amid declining sales have been widely covered in the media. The company’s misfortune has also inspired Wall Street analysts to slash their target price on the stock, with a range this year of $1 to $3 a share.

However, that changed on Wednesday after B Riley analyst Scott Tilghman, who already rates the stock RSH +0.87% a sell, lowered his price target to zero from $1 a share after the company on Tuesday reported another in a series of wider-than-expected losses. The company’s cash level also plunged. Chief Financial OfficerJohn Feray said Tuesday the company has enough liquidity to execute its turnaround over the next 12 months, and that it’s examining expenses from utility bills to ocean freight.

“We think survival is in real jeopardy” with the cash burn and lack of asset value, the analyst told MarketWatch.

Continue reading on WSJ’s Marketwatch.

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The state of the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG)

Shortwave Radio Recordings: the Voice of Greece, one year on

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Last night, while learning the ropes of the new Elad FDM-S2, I noticed some great music on 9,420 kHz, the former Voice of Greece frequency.

GREECE-ECONOMY-MEDIA It was then that I realized yesterday (June 11) marked the one year anniversary of the day that the Greek government shut down ERT and the Voice of Greece. If interested, click here for some audio I recorded that very night.

Amazingly, one year later, 9,420 kHz is still active out of the Avlis transmitter site and last night, the Radio Station of Macedonia (a.k.a., ERT 3) was playing an excellent mix of Greek music and jazz.

Click here to listen to the 51 minute recording, made with the Elad FDM-S2 software defined receiver, starting at 00:50 UTC:

You’ll note great audio fidelity and a low noise floor despite the numerous static crashes present from area thunderstorms. (Note that I did not have DSP noise reduction nor the noise blanker engaged.) I started the recording in standard AM mode, then changed it to AM synchronous detection between songs in the first half of the recording.

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The Elad FDM-S2 SDR: Unboxing, installing, and a first recording

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At the Dayton Hamvention last month, I made a point to check out the Italian radio manufacturer, Elad. Though I’ve known about Elad for some time, I hadn’t investigated their offerings yet simply because I was under the impression they only sold and warrantied their equipment within Europe. Fortunately, Elad has begun supporting and shipping their products within the US, via their division Elad-USA.

The Elad USA table at the 2014 Dayton Hamvention

Elad’s booth was one of the first stops I made at the Hamvention; I met with their representatives there, who answered my many questions. While Elad is soon to release their flagship tabletop SDR transceiver (the FDM-DUO, see below), I was more interested in their flagship receiver, the FDM-S2–which really impressed me during their demo.

The FDM-DUO attracted a lot of attention at the Elad booth.

The FDM-DUO attracted many visitors at the Elad booth.

Yesterday, I unpacked a loaner FDM-S2 Elad sent for review; this review will be published first in The Spectrum Monitor magazine, and following, here on the SWLing Post. While it will take some time to piece together a full review for TSM, I thought I would periodically post recordings (and note FDM-S2 features) I discover along the way…

Unboxing the FDM-S2

Being a receiver with a small footprint (a major plus, in my world), the FDM-S2 comes in a small box (measuring only 6.5 x 5.5 x 2 inches).

Contents of the box are few and simple: the FDM-S2 receiver, a black cloth carrying bag, and a 4GB USB drive with installation software and documentation. A standard USB cable was also included in the shipping box.

FDM-S2-Box-Contents

The FDM-S2 metal enclosure is beautifully engineered, and feels of excellent quality in my hands.

Installation

I found installation of the Elad FDM-S2 to be fairly straightforward. However, I would encourage you to follow the included guide, since installation is a two-step process:

First, you install a C++ package on your Windows PC which, when complete, triggers the actual Elad software installation: this is a two-part installation that you only initiate once.
Secondly, you install the USB driver for the FDM-S2, found in the installation folder of the supplied software. At time of posting, the USB driver cannot be automatically discovered and installed by your PC; you must initiate the installation via the device manager. However, this is very easy: the guide takes you through the process step-by-step.

On the back of the FDM-S2 you'll find an HF and VHF SMA antenna ports, a USB port, serial interface, and on/off switch.

On the back of the FDM-S2 you’ll find HF and VHF (SMA) antenna ports, a USB port, serial interface, and on/off switch.

The FDM-S2 derives its power from the same USB cable that is used for data, no separate external power supply required–a huge plus, for those of us who like to travel.

Once I installed the software and driver, I hooked up my antenna to the HF SMA connector on the back, turned on the FDM-S2, and launched the application. The FDM-S2 clicked to life, and the application ran on the first go: very nice!

I spent a good hour or so familiarizing myself with the Elad software yesterday evening. It’s quite a departure from the WinRadio Excalibur and Microtelecom Perseus applications with which I’m most familiar. Nonetheless, while I’m still learning how to adjust the spectrum bandwidth (which can be a full 6 MHz wide!) plus manage the four virtual receivers, I found I was able to do quite a bit of band-scanning.

In fact, I noticed some great music on 9,420 kHz, the former Voice of Greece frequency:

FDM-S2-Waterfall

I initiated my very first AF recording on the FDM-S2 (see screen capture above). The process was quite simple and I’m very happy with the level of customization Elad affords in its software; indeed, I can set the file name to automatically note the frequency, time, date and mode.

Click here to listen to that recording in the recent post, The Voice of Greece, one year on.

Day One with the FDM-S2? So far, so good. The Elad application is very customizable, hence has a higher learning curve than SDR applications I’ve used in the past. Thus I’ll need to log quite a few hours on the FDM-S2 before I can say that I’m proficient.

Readers: Have you had experience with the FDM-S2? Any hints or suggestions? Please comment–!

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Pirate Radio Recordings: Tip & Elvis Show

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Led Zepplin is one of the many artists you’ll hear on this pirate broadcast.

For your listening pleasure: over two hours of the Tip and Elvis Show. This Euro pirate broadcast was recorded by Shortwave Radio Audio Archive contributor, Frank.

Tip and Elvis was broadcasting on 6,220 kHz in AM–you’ll hear some adjacent digital interference, but signal strength is pretty good for (most likely low power) pirate radio. This recording starts around 20:30 GMT on May 31, 2014.

Click here to download the recording as an MP3 or simply listen via the embedded player below:

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“I listen to NPR…on my shortwave radio”

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Last year, National Public Radio (NPR) asked listeners when and how they listen to NPR. Their goal was to put together clips into a short spot for the network’s spring fund drive. After telling them that I’ve been known to listen to NPR on shortwave, they asked for me to record a short clip stating this fact. I amiably complied.

Last week, I rediscovered the clip. The spot would have been aired on local member stations in the first half of 2013:

Have you listened to NPR on shortwave? Both the American Forces Network and Radio Australia broadcast NPR news content.

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Complete list of Tecsun PL-880 hidden features

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On the advice of several SWLing Post readers, I have compiled a complete list of Tecsun PL-880 hidden features with how-to links:

Tecsun PL-880 Hidden Features:

New: Click here to download Cap Tux’s reference sheet as a PDF.

Click here to download Troy Riedel’s update to the reference sheet [09 February 2017].

Click here to download S. Thomas Bradley’s hidden features booklet. [06 October 2019]

If you notice a missing hidden feature or know of an alternate version, please contact me or comment on this post and I will add it. I will continue to add to this post over time. Many thanks!

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