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A while back we heard a suggestion that it may be possible to use the 5th harmonic on R820T2 RTL-SDRs to receive frequencies much higher than the normal 1.766 GHz limit. After mentioning this to to Hayati Augen he has recently managed to implement this driver hack, and now R820T2 based RTL-SDRs can tune all the way up to 6 GHz if Hayati's experimental driver branch is used. Before everyone gets too excited, we need to temper expectations as sensitivity reduces the higher the frequency so an LNA may be required, imaging/aliasing is a major problem, and you will absolutely...

Care and feeding of Software Defined Radios We will cover the various kinds of antennas available to optimized your SDR radio for different types of spectrum monitoring. We will also explain why RF filters are necessary on most SDR's and when Low Noise Amplifiers help, and when Low Noise Amplifiers hurt reception.

You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing...

HONG KONG--The International Monetary Fund on Monday designated the Chinese renminbi as one of the world's elite currencies, a major milestone that underscores the country's rising financial and economic heft. The decision will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China's standing as a global economic power. Just four other currencies--the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen--have the I.M.F. designation...Many central banks follow this benchmark in building their reserves, which countries hold to help protect their economies in times of trouble. By adding the renminbi to this group, the I.M.F....

HONG KONG — The International Monetary Fund on Monday approved the Chinese renminbi as one of the world’s main central bank reserve currencies, a major acknowledgement of the country’s rising financial and economic heft. The I.M.F. decision will help pave the way for broader use of the renminbi in trade and finance, securing China’s standing as a global economic power. But it also introduces new uncertainty into China’s economy and financial system, as the country was forced to relax many currency controls to meet the I.M.F. requirements. The changes could inject volatility into the Chinese economy, since large flows of...

The year 2015 is coming to an end and we’ve seen a lot this year. Not only did we see a much stronger dollar, the gold price also weakened despite the dire economic situation in, well, everywhere in the world, terrorist attacks and additional tensions between a NATO member and Russia. Additionally, the Federal Reserve seems to be on track to increase the interest rate before the end of this year. In fact, as you can see on the next chart, gold has now almost reached a 6 year low, but two important indicators are indicating the yellow metal might...

Opinion: Why China probably has a lot more gold than it admits By David Marsh Published: July 20, 2015 11:48 a.m. ET Transparency on holdings linked to review by the IMF on joining the special drawing right China has lifted a veil over its gold holdings and confirmed its interest in providing more up-to-date reserves data by announcing a near 60% jump in its official bullion assets since 2009. /snip The PBoC said its gold reserves were 1,658 tons against 1,054 tons in April 2009, which was the last time China declared its gold holdings. In 2009 the reserves total...

I don't know too much about Jim Rickards, just found this to be an interesting video about the overall economy and some tidbits about what our government agencies are up to. The video is a 45 minutes long interview of sorts and discussion. Just posting in the event other are interested.

Throughout history, in most cases of economic collapse the societies in question believed they were financially invincible just before their disastrous fall. Rarely does anyone see the edge of the cliff or even the bottom of the abyss before it has swallowed a nation whole. This lack of foresight, however, is usually not the fault of the public. It is, rather, a consequence caused by the manipulation of the fundamental information available to the public by governments and social gatekeepers. In the years leading up to the Great Depression, numerous mainstream “experts” and politicians were quick to discount the idea...

This post is of interest to ham radio operators, and also anyone who wishes to monitor NOAA weather radio, police, fire, EMS, aircraft, marine, and other radio traffic using a $15 receiver plugged into your laptop. The Chinese USB "dongles", originally intended to receive the Far East mobile television service, are being re-purposed as VHF/UHF receivers for many different modulation schemes and protocols.  The software to re-purpose them runs either on a PC (Win/Mac/Linux), or on a single-board computer like a Raspberry PI (Raspian Linux). At about US$15, Ol' Backwoods just had to have one. The RTL-SDR receives on...

People with Cyprus bank accounts will lose up to 10% of their savings as the price of a 10 billion euro (£8.6 billion) rescue package for the cash-strapped country from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund. The bailout was agreed early on Saturday in a bid to keep the island nation from a bankruptcy that could rekindle the region’s debt crisis. But in a major departure from established policies, the package also includes a one-off levy on the money held in bank accounts in Cyprus. Analysts have warned that making depositors take a hit threatens to undermine investors’...

Special IMF Money Considered By IAN TALLEY and DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS CANNES, France—World leaders are actively considering mandating the International Monetary Fund to print more of its special currency to help solve the euro-zone crisis, according to several people familiar with the matter. Asking the IMF to print more of its Special Drawing Rights—essentially an IOU that countries can exchange for cash—is one of the ways the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries is considering supplementing European efforts to stem the debt crisis that is threatening to spark a global financial meltdown and another recession. G-20 leaders are pressing euro...

The IMF is trying to move the world away from the U.S. dollar and towards a global currency once again. In a new report entitled "Enhancing International Monetary Stability—A Role for the SDR", the IMF details the "problems" with having the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the globe and the IMF discusses the potential for a larger role for SDRs (Special Drawing Rights). But the IMF certainly does not view SDRs as the "final solution" to global currency problems. Rather, the IMF considers SDRs to be a transitional phase between what we have now and a new world...

The tom-toms continue to beat for the implementation of a global currency -- which already exists in prototype, in the form of Special Drawing Rights, and has since Bretton Woods. The latest press release from the global currency promotion home office comes from none other than the UN, as reported in Bloomberg: The dollar’s role in international trade should be reduced by establishing a new currency to protect emerging markets from the “confidence game” of financial speculation, the United Nations said. Indeed. It should be noted that this blog postulated these very developments on several previous posts, including A Primer...

<p>I don't think Joseph Stiglitz has much direct influence these days with global financial leaders. Exhibit 1: He's not in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this week.</p> <p>Nevertheless, his comments must be monitored since he is likely to have followers among some financial insiders.</p>

The U.S. dollar slid against the euro Wednesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner expressed openness to expanded use of an IMF currency basket even as he said the greenback would remain the world's reserve currency for a long time. Investors initially interpreted his remarks as negative for the dollar, sending it to a session low against the euro. China's central bank governor said earlier this month said the world should consider the special drawing right (SDR), a basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen, as a super-sovereign reserve currency. Geithner, responding to a question at a Council of Foreign...

The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for an upcoming meeting of the G20, calling for the creation of a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions as part of a reform of the global financial system. The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a "superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community," the Kremlin said in a statement issued on its web site. The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by...

Marshals Say They Must File One Surveillance Detection Report, Or SDR, Per Month DENVER -- You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it. The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments. "Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as...