Hi Preesi,
What Jackie said is good advice. It would be a good starter radio that would
have most features you would want. Even better, IMHO was the DX-394 that
Radio Shack used to make - as far as I know, they no longer produce it, but
might be available at auction.

If you want to get into weather faxes etc. I think you would have to get
something more expensive, I don't know what more experienced people here
would say.

My DX-394 can use 10,5, and 1 khz steps in tuning. It has upper and lower
sideband, and two filters. It has volume and gain controls. You can enter
frequency directly and covers from 500 khz to 30 Mhz in 11 bands, and has
the ability to store frequencies for one button access. It has a LCD display
with LCD S-Meter. You can connect Hi impedance or Lo impedance antennas, has
a means of connecting an earth ground, and operates off AC or battery using
cigarette lighter adaptor, and has two audio outputs so you can use headsets
(not stereo output) or route the sound output to an audio input to an
external amplifier or stereo component system.

The DX 394 lacks passband tuning, notch filter, or audio filtering (Digital
Signal Processing) and cannot be connected to a PC for PC control. You would
either have to spend several hundred dollars for these refinements by
purchasing separate components or buy a much more expensive receiver.

I hope that gives you an idea of what is available. I might suggest you get
a copy of Passport to World Band Radio and read the receiver reviews. They
also discuss antennas and amplified (active) antennas and rate them. It
really IS a good reference with understandable writing about who,what why
when and where of shortwave radio listening. Best Wishes Maximus