{"id":14497,"date":"2015-08-26T12:53:28","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T16:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=14497"},"modified":"2015-08-26T12:53:28","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T16:53:28","slug":"bobs-review-of-the-c-crane-cc-skywave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/08\/bobs-review-of-the-c-crane-cc-skywave\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob’s review of the C.Crane CC Skywave"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CCrane-CC-Skywave\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SWLing Post<\/em> reader, Bob C., recently shared his review of the C.Crane CC Skywave portable radio:<\/p>\n

Well, I just received my new CC Skywave radio and it\u2019s terrific! I own a lot of portable radios (including several Tecsun DSP sets), and the Skywave is a new favorite and will likely become my standard radio for travel.<\/p>\n

Good fit and finish, great ergonomics, and easy to use. I was pleased to find that, despite what\u2019s written in the ads and on the back of the radio, you can set the radio to receive FM down to 76 MHz by selecting the a 9 kHz MW spacing.<\/p>\n

Great for international travel. The following is my brief review (by band):<\/p>\n

Mediumwave<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Skywave is far better than any of the Tecsuns and is almost as good as the C Crane 2E (my best MW receiver). At my location (40 miles N of Chicago), the distant groundwave fringe includes WLW, WJR, and KTRS (St. Louis) \u2013 in descending order of reception potential. Most radios can get a whisper of WLW (though not discernible), while the other two are rare. The C Crane 2E gets WLW and WJR well enough that you can listen; KTRS is detectable. The Skywave gets WLW and WJR and you can tell that KTRS is there. That indicates that the Skywave is among the best. And there are no birdies nor whistles on the band. Nice.<\/p>\n

FM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just as sensitive and about 99% as selective as any of the Tecsun DSPs. The shorter antenna doesn\u2019t seem to hamper reception at all. And, with no soft muting and a more logical tuning setup, it\u2019s a pleasure to work with. Lastly, the stereo reception threshold on the C Crane DSP chip is significantly lower than that on any of the Tecsun rigs, so most signals decode stereo and simply sound better. Where I live, I have tons of signals that are 0.2 MHz apart (i.e. 101.9 Chicago, 102.1 Milwaukee, 102.3 Waukegan \u2013 and local) \u2013 the Skywave has no trouble separating these and providing a usable signal for all three.<\/p>\n

Shortwave<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seems to do just fine. I have not had any overload issues with my unit and can pull in all as many SW signals and most of my other small portables. The lack of SSB is an inconvenience, I suppose, but I guess you can\u2019t have it all!<\/p>\n

NOAA\/Weather radio<\/strong><\/p>\n

This band is great to have and is perfectly functional. I will say that this isn\u2019t my most sensitive WB radio, but it\u2019s not deaf by any definition. It\u2019s just a little less sensitive to distant fringe WB stations than some of my other sets. But it does dependably pull in anything within 60 miles, so we\u2019re only talking about ability to pull in distant fringe signals (which can be fun).<\/p>\n

Air<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve played around with this a little and it definitely works better than expected. O\u2019Hare tower is about 25 miles away and I get it clearly, along with aircraft that are (from what I can tell) basically anywhere within about 60 miles. The ability to scan is very helpful; however, catching a signal when someone is broadcasting is tricky. A little online research into local ATC frequencies goes a long way toward having fun on this band. The Skywave seems to work the Air Band better than the G6 and G3, my only other radios with this band.<\/p>\n

So, overall, this radio has been a very pleasant surprise. No disappointments whatsoever.\u00a0<\/strong>Kudos to C Crane Company for doing such a fine job with yet another radio.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on the CC Skywave, Bob! Like you, I really love this little radio for travel and gave it a favorable review several months ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That’s an excellent tip about widening\u00a0the FM frequency range down to 76 MHz by selecting 9 kHz steps on mediumwave. Brilliant!<\/p>\n

Readers should be aware that some Skywave owners have noted a\u00a0vulnerability to overloading and imaging in urban markets or where blowtorch stations are nearby. If your listening post fits this description, you may want to hold off until C.Crane has addressed the issue.<\/p>\n

The CC Skywave can be purchased directly from C. Crane<\/a>. It is also available at\u00a0Universal Radio<\/a> and Amazon.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SWLing Post reader, Bob C., recently shared his review of the C.Crane CC Skywave portable radio: Well, I just received my new CC Skywave radio and it\u2019s terrific! I own a lot of portable radios (including several Tecsun DSP sets), and the Skywave is a new favorite and will likely become my standard radio for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,26,129,43,154,1154],"tags":[190,2303,3458,2304],"class_list":["post-14497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-radios","category-reviews","category-shortwave-radio","category-shortwave-radio-reviews","category-travel","tag-ccrane","tag-c-crane-cc-skywave","tag-c-crane-cc-skywave-review","tag-cc-skywave"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-3LP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22534,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/free-shipping-for-the-c-crane-cc-skywave\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":0},"title":"Free shipping for the C.Crane CC Skywave","author":"Thomas","date":"November 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"C.Crane has just sent an email with the promotion above: free shipping on the CC Skywave through December 6. As I've mentioned quite recently, I think the Skywave is an excellent little portable for travel. Certainly a nice gift for the shortwave listener! Click here to view this promo on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Deals"","block_context":{"text":"Deals","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/deals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"fullscreen-capture-11302016-102121-pm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Fullscreen-capture-11302016-102121-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Fullscreen-capture-11302016-102121-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Fullscreen-capture-11302016-102121-PM.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7780,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2013\/11\/ccranes-latest-shortwave-radio-the-cc-skywave-to-ship-in-january\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":1},"title":"CCrane’s latest shortwave radio: The CC Skywave, to ship in January","author":"Thomas","date":"November 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I just received my paper copy of the C.Crane catalog in the mail and noticed an announcement for their latest shortwave portable, the CC Skywave. Here is the catalog description: \"The Skywave is the ultimate travel radio\u00a0with great AM\/ FM, Shortwave, Aviation\u00a0and Weather. Performance is excellent\u00a0and it is small and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"This image of the CC Skywave, clipped from the CCrane online catalog","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/CCrane-CC-Skywave-226x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11639,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/coming-soon-c-crane-cc-skywave-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":2},"title":"Coming soon: C. Crane CC Skywave review","author":"Thomas","date":"December 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"C. Crane has sent me their new CC Skywave shortwave portable for review. I've been using it\u00a0since Friday and have started putting together a quick review. If you have any thoughts or questions, please comment and I'll try to address them in the upcoming post. Update: Click here to read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_7856 (1)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_7856-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_7856-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_7856-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":27441,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/08\/breaking-the-cc-skywave-ssb-is-c-crane-developing-a-holy-grail-travel-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":3},"title":"The CC Skywave SSB: Is C.Crane developing a Holy Grail travel radio?","author":"Thomas","date":"August 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier today, intrepid SWLing Post contributor, Cap Tux, spotted an interesting link on Google when he searched for \"C.Crane Skywave SSB\": Turns out, it's a product sheet for a new C.Crane radio: the CC Skywave SSB. Ther is no mention of this radio on C.Crane's website yet. Here's a screenshot:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Products"","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/CCrane-CC-Skywave-SSB-Closeup.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/CCrane-CC-Skywave-SSB-Closeup.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/CCrane-CC-Skywave-SSB-Closeup.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55018,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/making-a-good-thing-better-the-c-crane-cc-skywave-ssb-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":4},"title":"Making a good thing better: The C.Crane CC Skywave SSB 2","author":"Thomas","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last month, C.Crane sent me (and the infamous Jock Elliott--read his review here) a pre-production CC Skywave SSB 2 portable shortwave radio. In full disclosure and to be clear: these pre-production units were sent to us free of charge by C.Crane who is a long-time sponsor of the SWLing Post.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CC-Skywave-SSB-2-3.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CC-Skywave-SSB-2-3.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CC-Skywave-SSB-2-3.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CC-Skywave-SSB-2-3.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/CC-Skywave-SSB-2-3.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22550,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/trying-to-chose-between-the-cc-skywave-and-tecsun-pl-310et\/","url_meta":{"origin":14497,"position":5},"title":"Trying to chose between the CC Skywave and Tecsun PL-310ET?","author":"Thomas","date":"December 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Joe, who recently asked in our comments section: \"The CC Skywave is more than double the price of the Tecsun PL-310ET. The two radios appear to have similar features and performance. Can anyone suggest a reason why one would want to pay the extra\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/CC-Skywave-And-Tecsun-PL-310ET-Side.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}