C. Crane has lowered the price of their new CC Skywave SSB from $169.99 to $149.99. I’ve confirmed with C. Crane that anyone who ordered the Skywave SSB at the $169 price level will be reimbursed $20 on their invoice.
I ordered a radio from the first production run and just received it.
While $149.99 is still topping the price range of compact portables, the radio package does include a nice protective soft case, a pair of CC Buds and (best yet) a CC Reel Antenna. I did not realize the production unit would also include the external antenna–very happy to report this as the CC Reel Antenna is my favorite on the market.
I’ll be testing my CC Skywave SSB over the next week and reporting back here! While I’ve had the pre-production unit on the air for a few months, I’ve yet to check out the final! Looking forward to it!
Just got my new CCrane Skywave SSB radio. Same size as my wife’s CCrane Skywave. AM, FM, WX and Airband all work just as well on the Skywave SSB as the regular Skywave.
So far, I am very satisfied with the SSB reception on the new Skywave SSB. It has one strange quirk – when you press the SSB button, it takes about 3 to 4 seconds to go into SSB mode. Five dashes appear on the display during this wait. After that, it is great. I enjoy aeronautical communications and I get good reception of San Francisco radio and aircraft flying between the west coast and Hawaii. This is on the built in whip antenna. Also been tuning through the ham bands and it does a nice job. There is an extra 0.5 KHz bandwidth on SSB mode so it is possible to do some casual CW listening. I like how the “Band” button works on shortwave. When in AM mode, it cycles through the shortwave broadcasting bands. In the SSB mode, it cycles through the ham radio bands. It even selects LSB on 160-30 meters and USB on 20 through 10.
The only other receiver I have to compare it with (other than my wife’s Skywave) is my 18-year old Sangean ATS-909. The ‘909 is a bit more sensitive on MW AM broadcast band but selectivity is as good or better on the Skywave SSB. FM sensitivity is great and the FM selectivity of the Skywave SSB beats the ‘909 hands down. Using the built in whip antennas, the Skywave SSB is more sensitive than the ‘909 on shortwave. Haven’t tried the included roll-up antenna on the Skywave SSB yet. Having a squelch is really nice for monitoring the VHF Airband. One thing the Skywave SSB does that the regular Skywave does not do – you can scan 10 VHF Airband frequencies on the Skywave SSB.
So far, I am very satisfied with this new, tiny shortwave receiver.
I got my Skywave SSB in the mail today.
I put it on my desk, which is a very RFI rich area, and did an auto-scan of the shortwave band using the whip.
It immediately hit the Cuban numbers station on 17480. 1530 local time, 2240 UCT.
Given the conditions and my location in a Montana valley, I was impressed. I think it is well worth the asking price
How is the CCrane reel antenna superior to, for example, those sold under the Tecsun and Sangean brand names?
For a couple of reasons: 1.) it works with any radio that has a telescoping whip antenna 2.) it feels a little more sturdy–the reel mechanism feels beefy compared to others.
I suppose, however, if all one’s radios have external antenna jacks, then the 1/8″ plug would be preferred. Though (somewhere) I have the 1/8″ to clip-on adapter for my Sangean and Grundig reel antennas, I never remember to pack them. I don’t mind simply clipping the antenna directly to the whip.
Correct me if I’m wrong (seriously) but I think the CC Reel antenna is also the only one that is capacitor loaded.
Thanks for the reply! I do have a Tecsun that has a clip rather than a plug. I don’t know about the capacitor, though.
C. Crane notes this is an “Introductory Price” ($149.99) with a list price [remaining] $169.99. It appears to me this may be a temporary price reduction but time will tell …
No matter what, CCrane products are still overpriced.
The extra cost is significant for me in Australia, around $80.
Whilst their products may be a bit high compared to say Tecsun or Degen, C Crane is cheap compared to Sangean who’s only production world band receiver is priced at over $200 (the 909X)
The performance of the C Crane is also well proven, considering it’s compact size. I have bought the previous model to put in one of my bags as I would normally be carrying another radio that does SSB anyway.
I’m waiting for many reviews on the new CCrane before taking the plunge.
Have you looked at/considered the Digitech AR1780 available from Jaycar? It’s similar in functionality and size to the Skywave SSB and at a much lower price. I have one and I really like it. Admittedly, I’ve ordered a Skywave SSB because I can’t resist comparing radios.