  Radio halos are synchrotron diffuse sources at the centre of a fraction of
galaxy clusters. The study of large samples of clusters with adequate radio and
X-ray data is necessary to investigate the origin of radio halos and their
connection with the cluster dynamics and formation history. The aim of this
paper is to compile a well-selected sample of galaxy clusters with deep radio
observations to perform an unbiased statistical study of the properties of
radio halos. We selected 75 clusters with M > = 6e14 Msun at z=0.08-0.33 from
the Planck Sunyaev-Zel'dovich catalogue. Clusters without suitable radio data
were observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and/or the Jansky
Very Large Array (JVLA) to complete the information about the possible presence
of diffuse emission. We used archival Chandra X-ray data to derive information
on the clusters' dynamical states. This observational campaign led to the
detection of several cluster-scale diffuse radio sources and candidates that
deserve future follow-up observations. Here we summarise their properties and
add information resulting from our new observations. For the clusters where we
did not detect any hint of diffuse emission, we derived new upper limits to
their diffuse flux. We have built the largest mass-selected (> 80 per cent
complete in mass) sample of galaxy clusters with deep radio observations
available to date. The statistical analysis of the sample, which includes the
connection between radio halos and cluster mergers, the radio power-mass
correlation, and the occurrence of radio halos as a function of the cluster
mass, will be presented in paper II.
