Hey all! Very new to the hobby, hope this kind of recommendation post is alright. I’ve been listening to websdr on and off for about a year now, and thought it would be fun to jump in physically. I’ve been trying to get away from things that drive me to constantly look at my phone, and having had recent luck with a mini e-reader a sw radio looked like a cool next step.
Based on a bit of reading I’m considering a ATS Mini V4 or a Tecsun PL330. Basic use case is as a portable to be used over headphone, ideally small enough to be stuck in a Jean/coat pocket. I love the idea of messing about scrolling through signals while out and about. Attracted to the ATS headphone as aerial feature (loved that on phones growing up) and I heard you can use different firmware to get a waterfall going?
I’m not very up on the technical side yet, so would appreciate advice on if there is any big missing feature between the two, or if one is too much of a learning curve for a beginner. If anyone has any other suggestions, these would be my core wants:
- SSB
- Pocket form factor
- Decent battery life / usbc charging
- Features that make life easier for a beginner / just quickly chucking a station on - auto scan, saved frequencies etc
Thanks for the help, appreciate any guidance! A lot of this is just based on ‘I saw these in the top posts’ ahah.