sub decode_record ($) {
    my $record = shift;

    my %rec;
    $rec{"date"}	= unpack ("a8", $record);
    $rec{"time"}	= unpack ("x8a8", $record);
  (snip)
    $rec{"el_time"}	= unpack ("x48a4",  $record);
    $rec{"samples"}	= unpack ("x52a4",  $record);
  (snip)
  
  return \%rec;
}