The LimeSDR-mini @ $160 is another option (I have one): LimeSDR Mini | Crowd Supply
12bit @ 30MSPS, full duplex
A 4 years old article, but still a good reference:
Sad part that I always do thisā¦ get in something cheaply, get infected with the bug, upgrade later paying the full price.
Thatās how I got three pairs of headphones - $60, $180, $300ā¦
Another example: I have bought initially two generic dongles (like $10 each), and a Pi 1B+. I have upgraded the Pi to a Pi3. I have upgraded one of the dongles to a FA Pro Plus (blue one).
Antenna is a FA running trough a preamp with two ceramic filters. Added the FA filter, ājust in caseā.
After a while I have swapped the second generic dongle with the FA Pro (orange) to get 978 UAT.
Shoot, now I was looking at the airspy mini $99 one likeā¦ itās not that bad!
Now Obj comes with the LimeSDR-mini at $160. And Iām likeā¦ well itās only $60 more 
But I donāt need TX.
abcd567 comes with the article and I see SDRPlay RSP1Aā¦ Hmmm can I still find one of those? I can even restart the SW radio listening.
I am bad, need an intervention
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You can, but you wont find any regular broadcast stations or amature or marine communication there except few station belonging to religious groups. Long range HF air communications between ATC and aeroplanes are still in use. Gone are the days when SW was over crowded. It is practically dead now.
As the VHF/UHF/SHF spectrum is gradually getting saturated and became very pricy to obtain, may be one day some Cell/Mobile company finds a way to use SW. Need is mother of inventions
If you are not a ham radio operator, the fun in HF is utility monitoring:HFDL, NAVTEX, DSC, etc.
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I was thinking marine traffic, I have the extra receiver already.
Donāt know how would my wife react to a pylon with an VHF antenna 
hmm that reminded me of my GMDSS courseā¦it is funā¦but no Furuno equipment hereā¦
Easy done
Curious, why did you upgrade Pi 1B?
Iāve got 2 PiAware stations running on a Zero, seem perfectly suitable for the job.
Geoff
Because I am a hoarder 
I have gifted the 1B to a teenager. Sadly I donāt think it is used anymoreā¦
In my case I have a preamp on the Pro Stick Plus. With gain at -10 (absolute max in this context as per objās post) I had sufficient in-band noise to impact the number of aircraft and range. Dropping to 49.6 noticeably reduced in-band noise and increased aircraft and range. Dropping it again to 48.0 reduced in-band noise further but also decreased aircraft and range. So itās running at 49.6 and doing well.
Before I had the preamp I did some testing and -10 gave the best aircraft and range for that setup, since there was no preamp in-band noise at that time.
Local conditions play a role as well. My pre-amped receiver is set to 48. The other, no pre-amp, is set to 49.6.
My receivers gives best result at these gain settings:
Pi #1 > Pro Stick (orange) > FA filter > mag-mount of dvbt, cut to 1/4 wl, placed over cookie can (indoor): 42 dB
Pi #2 > Pro Stick Plus (blue) > FA filter > FA 26" Antenna (indoor): 35 dB
Gain settings found by trial and error.
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This all sounds quite hit and miss with the gain setting.
Do the results show immediately (message rate/range etc) on SkyView or does a gain alteration take time to show an alteration in statistics?
Geoff
A trend may be noticed in minutes (better/worse/same), but if you want to be more āscientificā, you should wait longer.
If comparing against another co-located receiver, I would say a day (24 hours). If a single receiver, I think a full week is more appropriate.
Iām merely experimenting as I want to take readings by a local light aircraft airfield where I will be close to runway. When I changed gain down to 30 -35 then back to -10 didnāt really notice a difference. I was still at home at the time though.
Geoff
If you are looking for āexact scienceā, ārecipeā type results, you are out of luck. Experimenting is one thing, guessing is another.
If you change things along the way, you may need to start over.
I re-activated my second receiver in preparation for the antenna I hope to modify, and test, starting this weekend. This will be based on the ārubber duckieā antenna @abcd567 and I purchased.
A baseline data set is needed for proper comparison.
Yes, I can see by other posts that it is not an exact science. Should be obvious really as home wifi is just as variable. Annoying things like trees with leaves, or rain even 
Geoff
I canāt wait for the fall, so those trees around me shed all the leafs, they are cramping my reception 
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Mine one is not ārubber duckieā.
It is so hard that I will call it āstone duckieā
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