Opensource SDR and other newbie questions

[pluto7777]

I've been playing around with GNURadio using my RTL2832 and I would really like to get a transceiver in the near future. I am admittedly a newbie, and there are a few things I still don't understand. Is there some technical reason why so many SDR's omit shortwave? I realize you can buy or make upconverters but that seems like an annoying solution. Any transceiver I buy would have to work with GNURadio so that narrows down my selection. The HackRF looks like a really neat device but it's only half duplex and would require an upconverter to do shortwave. I've been looking at the USRP1 because you can use 2 different daughter boards. Is it possible to use an LFTX and WBX with the WBX running full duplex or would I be limited to half duplex because of the other LFTX module?