Gear for a beginner

CSU

Hi all.

I'm looking for some advice as to which radio I should start off with.

At the moment I've had these couple of DVB-T USB yokes working away these past 4 or so months and just getting a feel for SDR in general but I'm missing out on a lot of stuff (or seeing a lot of interference which at times wipes out half of the spectrum)...time to upgrade I think, but money's a prob - ~€300 wont go far.

I'm more inclined to focus on digital modes, ham-radio stuff, satellites, weather stations etc. etc. does not really interest me, so the area of interest for me would be drilling down into the ISM band and trying to ID and mess about in general (for me, identification of signals is far more interesting than ham).

That said, this is where I need advice on equipment (I understand my budget is laughable).
I like the look of the HackRF, it's price is within my budget:

• 10 MHz to 6 GHz operating frequency
• half-duplex transceiver
• up to 20 million samples per second
• 8-bit quadrature samples (8-bit I and 8-bit Q)
• compatible with GNU Radio, SDR#, and more
• software-configurable RX and TX gain and baseband filter
• software-controlled antenna port power (50 mA at 3.3 V)
• SMA female antenna connector
• SMA female clock input and output for synchronization
• convenient buttons for programming
• internal pin headers for expansion
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0
• USB-powered
• open source hardware

I guess my main question would be, is there maybe another better option available for me? ... I wouldnt mind messing about with a semi-antiquated "dedicated radio" if it suited me better, I simply not familiar enough with radio brands & abilities.

waterfordham

What about a funcub dongle pro+, though it doesn't go up to 6Ghz..
http://http://www.funcubedongle.com/?page_id=1073

Cheers