Shortwave Reciever

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TexScan780D

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Please send recommendations on a shortwave receiver which has Upper/Lower AM Sideband which I may listen to Armature Radio.
 

Weaksignal

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So many to chose from... Are you interested in a portable, tabletop or a professional receiver? Of course, there are little black boxes: for PC's too.
 

Boatanchor

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Do you have a PC/Laptop?

If so, you could consider the SDRPlay @ $149.

Best bang for buck out there IMHO and you can use it for general V/UHF monitoring as well :)
 

wb6uqa

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If you want a ham receiver buy one. The Icom 7300 is the latest. It has a Rtty decoder,noise blanker, noise reduction and a 100 watt transmitter when you get your license .
 

TexScan780D

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I recommend the AOR AR-DV1 because, in addition to having upper/lower sideband capability, it also decodes the popular digital modes Amateurs are using right now...

AOR AR-DV1 Receiver | Scanner Master

ScanCHS
Interesting unit which I been looking at. Be nice when AOR puts P25 Phase II.

I notice a lot of AOR receivers are for government only, what up with that?

AOR AR8600MKII receiver seems to be nice unit.
 

Token

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Tabletop or maybe one of the black boxes.

If you are talking new, not used, right now there is one tabletop traditional superhet receiver that cost under $1000, and that is the Alinco DX-R8T. The better Icom R-75 was recently discontinued, and appears to be sold out everyplace I can find, except for gougers on Ebay.

Professional level receivers, costing in the multiple thousand dollar range, can still be had.

SDR is kind of where it is all going these days in the receiver field. With an SDR a high speed digitizer samples the RF spectrum and a computer does the tuning and demodulation in software. There may, or may not, be stages before the digitizer. Some SDRs do not require a separate computer and include a dedicated processor with the digitizer all in one box, with hardware knobs and switches similar in form to a traditional receiver, but very different inside, such as the CommRadio CR-1.

Keep in mind that all SDRs are not created equal, and there is no such thing as a free lunch. Low end SDRs can be had from under $10 to about $200. Better SDRs can be had from the $250'ish region up. There are several decent SDRs in the $100 to $200 price range, although personally I always find things about these that annoy me, dynamic range issues, imaging, bandwidth, etc, especially if my goal is primarily HF (shortwave) monitoring.

You specified "shortwave receiver", so I assume you want HF coverage over all else, 30 Mhz and down in frequency. A nice, reasonable performance, lower cost, option in this range is the AFEDRI SDR. Slightly higher cost is the Elad FDM-S2, a good performing radio that should make any listener happy...if you like the software. Higher yet in performance and cost (but still under $1000) you get to the WinRadio G31DDC and Microtelicom Perseus SDRs, both of these are very good performers that compete well with high end radios of the past. The WinRadio G31 is my personal vote for best bang for the buck, excellent performance with middle of the road cost, but VERY limited in third party software support. At higher price points there are even better radios, but now you are above the $1000 mark, and a smaller segment of buyers want to go there for hobby gear.

Right now my favorite "non-professional" radio is the WinRadio G33DDC, although the maker did name it the "Pro" in that family of radios. The G31DDC is the "Excalibur" (about $900), the G33DDC is the "Excalibur Pro" (about $1700), so you might think it the top end of the line, but the G35DDC is the "Excalibur Ultra", and really aimed more at the professional monitor market (about $5000).

Listing your goals, what you want to listen too, might help narrow down what might be a good fit for you. You posted this to an Amateur Radio forum, but do you intend to listen to other stuff also? Military, Aviation, Maritime, Numbers Stations, etc?

T!
 

ka3jjz

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As to the AFEDRI and the Elad that Token mentions, we have quite a list of SDRs with HF coverage (including the aforementioned models) in our wiki. Others include the popular SDRPlay and the Cross Country models; This page also has links to lots of reviews, and since you asked about software, go to the very bottom and hit the link for applications...

SDRs with HF Coverage - The RadioReference Wiki

SDRs are the wave of the future, no doubt about it. The way of the desktop is dying...Mike
 
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