That’s exactly how I got into amateur radio. First a receiver and fascination with all the signals I could find. Then the discovery that for a couple hundred d

That’s exactly how I got into amateur radio. First a receiver and fascination with all the signals I could find. Then the discovery that for a couple hundred dollars I COULD TRANSMIT TOO???!!!!!! Except that my receiver was a “police scanner” and my transmitters were various “walkie talkies” (first CB, then 2m amateur repeaters.) What you are describing IS radio as a hobby. If SDR had existed back then, I would have totally tried it out. It’s just Moore’s law making insanely advanced technology accessible. I love living in the future!