Bert wrote: "How typical. No subscription fee? So keep very few in inventory, hide them from view, and then discontinue them citing "no customer demand" as the excuse." Unfortunately this self-fulfilling tactic works and those injured by such actions have little recourse, unless the FCC mandates receivers, which will likely not happen for this radio service. -----Original Message----- From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Manfredi, Albert E Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2009 4:32 PM To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [opendtv] Portable Insignia brand HD Radio Went to Best Buy yesterday, because they supposedly had portable HD Radios from their house brand (Insignia) available, for a mere $50. We walked around the shelves where they SHOULD have been, no luck. Finally I asked one of the sales guys. "Oh yes, we got them last Sunday, and there's only one left." And he went into a BACK ROOM, unavailable to the public, and got it for me. "Actually, we only got two of them last week, and this is the only one left." How typical. No subscription fee? So keep very few in inventory, hide them from view, and then discontinue them citing "no customer demand" as the excuse. The radio is very small, a little smaller than a compact cell phone. It arrives with a dead lithium battery, which appears not to be user-replaceable. To charge it, you have to use a USB cable connected to a PC. (!!) They don't supply a charger, but they do provide the USB cable. Also provide the ear buds, connected via 3.5mm phone plug. So today, I bought a 6' audio cable, 3.5mm stereo phone plugs at each end, and tried it out connected to my car's audio system. Since the audio cable performs double duty as FM antenna, I draped it over the rear-view mirror, and had the radio sitting on the passenger side seat. Very good reception. There is obviously not as much margin in some of the digital multicasts, i.e. especially the ones that use the extended digital spectrum, but it does work better than I had hoped. Come to think of it, the 6' audio cable, draped on the rear view mirror so as to become a ~3' antenna, is most likely as efficient an FM antenna as anything the auto manufactuers embed in their rear windows, these days. Bert ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways: - Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org - By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.