B4 coming to AU, I paid ~US$ 1,000
for a -standalone- ICOM "big iron"
receiver covering 25 MHz - 2 GHz,
w/ few bands & bandwidths.
—
Note: Above price is in US$
-vs- below prices: in AU$)
—
Today, u can pay ~AU$ 18 for a USB-
dongle that receives thru 1.7 GHz -OR-
~AU$ 220 for one that claims to hear
thru 6 GHz
(For either, shop around: AliExpress)
—
For these, you may need to hunt for &
test various S/W for the computer you
supply to complete the "receiver-sys"
(In fairness, most Software is Free,
but each has a learning curve.
If an upper freq of 2 GHz meets your needs,
one brand has an 14-bit "entry level" unit
that incl's lotsa receive modes into its
main free S/W.
(Some Hams will want more Digital modes, but
the rest of us may find, etc.:
AM DSB FM NFM WFM SWMF LSB USB CW (& a few more)
quite enough, out of the box.
Local price: ~AU$220 + shipping (up to $18).
Smart buyers'll import while UK's £ is low
(or so I presume) & pay AU$188 Shipped.
===
So, why the low price, compared to my ICOM
of a bygone era?
===
Well, you'll need to supply (shared use of)
a sufficiently powerful compatible computer
or other device to run the software, that
does the work Not done by the box you buy. :~)
(Actually, one computer may support up to 4
such boxes, eg, for those who need to monitor
multiple 10MHz-sections of each one's cov-
ered spectrum, concurrently.)
The value is being able to see (on a graph)
where (in a range/band of freq's) signals
are popping-up in each section.
If you're a Ham hunting for rare- & distant-
stations to call (OR seeking interfering
signals, that disappear after short bursts),
that graph is quite useful.
Ok.
Thanks for
that.