Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dean Bianco, who notes that C.Crane has recently printed and sent new catalogs to their customers.
Click here to read C.Crane’s latest email newsletter including news of their new CEO, Jessica Crotty.
The SWLing Post
Shortwave listening and everything radio including reviews, broadcasting, ham radio, field operation, DXing, maker kits, travel, emergency gear, events, and more
..what I DO NOT like about the C Crane 3, is the SECONDS clock display! It really bothers some INSOMNIACS, and should be a feature that the user can toggle back and forth, but NOT a default! what to think…?
I bought a CCradio 3 last year and find it to be a nice portable MW DX machine. Took it car camping several times in Michigan state parks this year and in areas with low RFI the MW RX is impressive for a standalone non-modified rig.
One weird thing is that for an expensive radio being sold in 2021 it does not have more than five memories per band. Come on now, how much would it change the production cost to add another 15 memories. My Sangean HDR-14 and HDR-16 each have 20 memories per band.
Also the CCradio really should have RDS for FM. When DXing FM RDS is an invaluable tool for station identification. Again my Sangean’s have RDS and they cost a lot less than the CCradio 3.
I knew of these limitations when I bought it but I wanted a good radio mainly for portable use but as it is kind of a limited radio and could be so much more.
On the other hand we were camping at Muskegon state park on the east shore of Lake Michigan in August of this year. Severe storms were predicted so I turned on the NOAA WX alert function in it and it does work great. Scared the crap out of me the first time it went off. It is nice having a radio that has AM, FM and NOAA radio with alert all in one package.
My catalog arrived over the weekend and, while thumbing through the pages, I learned a new-to-me lesson: inductive coupling.
That TERK Indoor AM Antenna on page 14 looked similar to the Kaito AN-200 that was hardwired to the bedside Music Hall RDR-1. Would it improve AM reception on my recently acquired C. Crane Skywave SSB by just placing near the radio?
Wowsers! From my second floor apartment in a city surrounded by mid-rise co-ops and condos, it was doing good work. I quickly printed out a web page listing 50kw AM stations and was picking off stations left and right. I can’t wait to get it to my building’s eighth-floor roof deck for some serious DXing.
Sure, it takes a little this and little that to find the sweet spot, but it does open the window on way improved reception.