Best All Band Radio Receiver and Its Antenna (2024)

Most people could not afford one, even if it were still in production.

However, if you have "deep pockets", then you could consider the following top high-end radio receivers. They are stand-alone, self-contained radio receivers that are still being manufactured and widely available today.

But most people still can't afford one of those!

I prefer to recommend receivers that are more affordable and still be more than adequate for your needs, in practice, taking into account the real context of life.

By "best", most people mean "the best performing receiver I can afford".

But high performance used to come at a price and a stiff one at that. Also, please remember that all radio receivers depend on the efficiency and effectiveness of the antenna system you will choose to connect to it!

The best all band radio receiver "used to be" the one that only government agencies and the military could afford.

But software-defined radio (SDR) receivers, with a companion personal computer (PC) to run the software, changed all that forever. In fact, SDR revolutionized the entire concept of receiving radio waves efficiently with performances rivalling receivers costing thousands of dollars! I'll have more to say on SDRs in a moment.

There is a very large number of radio receivers on the market. It can be confusing if you don't know what you want to do with a receiver.

In other words, choosing (carefully selecting) what you would consider the best all band radio receiver depends on what you want to listen to and which of the countless digital modes you would like to receive and read on a computer screen.

There is also the price consideration... which can range from free ... to a few hundred dollars... to well in excess of ten thousand dollars!

But, here is the good news! You don't have to spend a cent at first!

Yes, you read correctly. There is indeed a free option to whet your appetite and enable you to familiarize yourself with the kinds of traffic that you can hear on the ham radio bands and elsewhere in the radio spectrum.

The free online receivers - operated by people who, for the most part, use an SDR receiver as best all band radio receiver - will also help you discover what you want out of a receiver, what characteristics will meet your needs.

So. You don't even need to buy a receiver at first. You can listen to ham radio operators communicating with each other by listening in on an online receiver!

All you need is your personal computer, a Web browser - Firefox, Chrome, Opera browsers are also all free - and an Internet connection.

Visit this page of free online ham radio receiver links on my website and roam the air waves to your heart's content.

Then, after having had a taste of what you can hear on the air waves, come back to this page here because I have more useful decision-making information for you.

No receivers are manufactured to receive exclusively ham radio frequency bands any more. You might still find used (older technology) receivers on eBay though and on some forums dedicated to ham radio or shortwave listening.

The vast majority of radio receivers now cover the entire radio spectrum from 100 kHz - in the LF range - to the GHz range of frequencies.

But, and there is a big *but*.

Antennas for the newer technology multiband radio receiver must be able to receive all the frequencies - from VLF to UHF - efficiently... which is virtually impossible for one antenna!

A few manufacturers of stand-alone, self-contained wide spectrum receivers will sometimes recommend suitable antennas for their radios. I would follow their recommendations.

1. Decide on your budget limit.
2. Practice listening with sophisticated online receivers (free).
   
3. Then, you can start searching for the best all band radio receiver that will meet your needs.

The more you listen to what goes on on the air waves - using free online receivers - the more you will want to explore... especially the digital communication modes which are fascinating (but require a computer to decode and display).

Therefore, be aware that your needs will grow with time. The radio receiver that you will eventually choose should be capable of satisfying your future needs (which you do not yet know at this time). Your budget will limit your first choice of a receiver.

I should mention here that the age of Complete Self-Contained Stand-Alone Radio Receivers, like the ones pictured above, will come to an end in a few years.

A RTL-SDR Receiver as best all band radio receiver

NOOELEC
https://www.nooelec.com/store/ (made in the US)
I use one of their receivers.

SDRPLAY
https://www.sdrplay.com/ (made in the UK)

AIRSPY
https://airspy.com/
Their Airspy Mini, in a computer dongle format, could easily be considered the world's smallest radio receiver.

For more information on SDR receivers, see this page on my website.

If you decide to not go for an affordable, high-performance SDR receiver as "best all band radio receiver", then I would recommend that you look at receivers made by reputable manufacturers such as ICOM and AOR. Here are just a few models as examples.

ICOM IC-R8600
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/receivers/r8600/default.aspx
See ICOM optional antennas.

ICOM IC-R30
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/receivers/r30/default.aspx
See ICOM optional antennas.

AOR AR-DV1
http://www.aorusa.com/receivers/ar-dv1.html
They offer two interesting antennas: SA7000 (outdoor) or LA400 (indoor)

Of course, there are also the less expensive general coverage receivers. The ones manufactured by Yaesu, Grundig, Sangean, CC Crane can be considered among the best manufacturers of portable shortwave radio receivers. Each has a model that could be considered "best all band radio receiver" among portables.

These manufacturers offer models that can receive voice modes (SSB, AM, FM) used by ham radio operators on HF, VHF and UHF amateur radio frequency bands and, of course, the many other broadcasting stations on other HF bands.

Some examples are:

If you choose to *not* use the (free) online receivers mentioned earlier, you will need an antenna. Here again, you will have to do your home work.

After you find a receiver that you intend to buy and that will meet your needs, both present and foreseeable, you will have to decide on whether you:

There are countless antenna possibilities. Settling on the outdoor antenna that will fit your restrictions (space, city bylaws, neighbours, etc.) requires careful consideration. There is an entire section of this website devoted to ham radio HF outdoor antennas.

Otherwise, a homemade indoor wire antenna, installed in the attic, can often give very good results .

But, if you do not have an attic, or do not wish to build your own antenna and crawl up there to install it, there are commercially made indoor antennas that might meet your needs:

Indoor "active antennas" such as:

- MFJ-1020C, MFJ-1022 or, better still, the MFJ-1886
- AOR LA400
- AMECO Model TPA
- Bonito Boni-Whip©
- LF Engineering H-900
- NTi ML060

or an indoor "passive" antenna (other than the homemade attic antenna mentioned above) such as:

- COMPACtenna SW
- Sangean ANT-60
- Kaito T1

However, indoor antennas tend to pick up interference from electrical appliances, power lines, electronic equipment and accessories. This interference is then amplified by your radio receiver - be it the best all band radio receiver you can afford - reducing its ability to receive the weakest radio signals.

The homemade attic antenna, that I referred to earlier, is the better indoor antenna solution because it does not pick up as much interference as the commercially made indoor antennas listed above. It’s also less costly.

Hope that helps!

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