I must start with an apology to our followers on X (formerly Twitter).  From time-to-time we post links to articles or other posts which mention our SDRplay products.  Recently, without digging too deeply, I reposted what looked like a genuine article from a Technology Writer who published his list of “The Top 8 Software Defined Radios ( SDRs) in 2024” – anyway, as several folks pointed out, there was not a lot of depth to this article. Indeed,  when I asked the current Microsoft Chat GPT that comes with “Bing”  the question ” Write an article which recommends the top 8 SDR radios available”  – it came up with the exact same list of 8 radios!!!

In future I will check more carefully before being scammed into promoting such articles. On the plus side, at least the algorithms like our products!

Anyway, the episode brought home to me how tricky it is to escape the algorithms. As inquisitive humans we love to explore and to spend time “noodling” – an aimless yet valuable pass-time which helps build knowledge and creativity. Our online noodling is inevitably less and less under our own control or requires too much effort to minimise all that nudging and pre-selection being done by the algorithms.

So to end on a positive, this is the hope for the radio listening hobby, where it is still possible to “spin the dial” and “consume” content you come across rather than have the content picked for you.  I’m not saying the content is particularly good or useful – but it is what it is – and you can draw your own conclusions as one minute you hear intimate personal details of the life of a random radio amateur in a particular country battling with a medical issue,  and the next minute you’re fascinated by propaganda from a far-away (or not so far-away!) country.  All of this filtered only by your own ingenuity in getting a decent antenna erected. And if you do fall asleep listening to some outrageous extreme content, you can sleep properly again that night, knowing you haven’t been profiled as a trouble-maker.

Happy Listening!   (Oh, and by the way, all three SDRplay radios should be in the ultimate top 8 SDR list!)