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Reviews For: CCRadio-SW

Category: Receivers: General Coverage

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Review Summary For : CCRadio-SW
Reviews: 6MSRP: 149.95
Description:
SW/AM/FM Portable Radio
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.ccrane.com/CCRadio-SW-AMFM-Shortwave-Radio
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064.5
K1QQQ Rating: 2019-08-31
GOOD RADIO Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This radio is NOT in production. I bought one several years ago and only took it out off and on to put some electricity into it. Recent the thing died. Just dead. I found CCrane no longer makes it and can not service it. BUT in my case they made an exception... I do not know what was wrong but on repair circuit boards were replaced. They can not service them as no parts any longer. Mine probably took the last of something. For a reasonable charge it was made to work again. Otherwise most have good luck with them it seems. I give a plus to CCrane as they still try to market radios that are good performers in the day of consumer junk. I don't think anything they sell has not been reviewed for performance. In a general coverage AM only radio it makes a nice radio to snoop around and snoop for distant stations AM Broadcast 530-1700 khz and of coarse shortwave. Ooops..I forgot FM 88-108 mhz...I can't give it a 5 from my experience of failure.
AC8YJ Rating: 2019-08-30
Great AM radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for at least 10 years. The RF gain on this is pretty impressive, this is an excellent radio for commercial AM band listening, it has a nice tone for voice overall and is decent on commercial FM. This radio is OK for general commercial SW listening as it's on AM on the HF frequencies. Only reason it receives a 4 is that it does not have weather bands, there are models at CC crane that have that feature for only 20 dollars more, I don't know if they are as good on commercial AM though. If you can get one used cheap, I would recommend it 100%
KAPT4560 Rating: 2016-08-07
A good portable. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine is about 10 years old now. I showed it to my dad after I got it and he immediately went and got one for himself.
It has been a good receiver, sensitive with good fidelity, but has needed a couple of repairs over the years. CCrane services these units by the circuit board assembly and not the component.
First I removed the annoying beeper from the circuit board. I wake up to radio, not alarm so it isn't missed at all.
Second, the display began fading out. By pressing the front panel, it would sometimes come back on. Obviously a poor connection somewhere. I opened it up and found some fractured solder joints on the main board. By reflowing the solder joints, the issue has not returned.
Third, at times the volume would blast full volume when the v/control was in a certain spot. Not nice to wake up to. I found that the resistance shoe in the v/control was delaminating.
CCrane wanted to replace the audio board with a used one for $150. I found a relatively similar dual 10K pot on Mouser to replace it for much less.
Don't look to Redsun/Tecsun for any customer support in the US. They consider anything over 2 years old disposable.
This radio has gone with me to the cabin for DXing and is a great back-up radio with a clock. It is not waterproof or to be considered an outdoor radio.
For those that would like CW/SSB reception, there is a TG-37 BFO that plugs into the IF jack on the back cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24Yi2kp5cA
I built the similar Ten-Tec 1050 BFO before they were discontinued.
A communications grade receiver this is not, but it is a nice daily clock radio and a good travelling radio.
The CCrane twin-ferrite coil really helps lower fading. Keeping the NiMH batteries charged is easy. It does FM stereo with headphones. Always pleasant sounding.
I have the newer Eton/Grundig S450DLX and the CCraneSW is very similar in looks. All these Chinese radios share similar components.
This radio is marketed under other names like Roadstar, K-PO, ELTA and Kaito.
The Roadstar TRA-2350 isn't totally identical to the CCraneSW, but the service manual for it is here:
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/762278/Roadstar-Tra-2350.html
KG6YRC Rating: 2015-07-03
Replacement for satellite 750 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
bought this radio as a replacement for a satellite 750 which was way below what I expected. you can read my review of it on this web site. The CCRadio SW is great no ssb, no direct entry key pad, but I knew that when I bought it. I won't go through a long list of the good things about this radio, just tell you to read the description CC Crane has on their web site. It's as good as they say and maybe even better. Well worth the money, would recommend this radio highly.
K1OE Rating: 2015-06-08
Really nice radio! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I agree completely with the other existing review of this radio.
I have owned mine for more than a year. This is the only radio of this type that I own/use, so my consideration isn't comparative.
The radio feels high quality. The sound is very nice. It does what it is designed to do. I simply like it! I listen to it every night. It's a very satisfying experience.

(I wish it had cw/ssb capability, but I knew it didn't when I bought it.)

73, John
KD5MTB Rating: 2014-10-15
Great buy for the Price Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have owned my CCRadio-SW for about a year. I bought it as a back up radio to take with me to Ecuador. Once I had it, it quickly became one of my favorite radios. I am not a radio collector. I am an avid sw radio listener and radio user, so I try to squeeze the most out of every radio I use. I have the CCRadio-SW attached to a G5RV Jr. antenna along with 2 other radios, my Panasonic rf-2200 and my Kenwood R-2000. This makes for accurate radio comparisons. On the SW bands, it holds it’s own with these radios. On the Am band it is easily equal to my RF-2200. (NOTE: I compared my RF-2200 to the GE Superradio III and the 2200 is easily better at AM reception. So I am giving the CCRadio-SW very high marks in AM reception.)

The negatives of the CCRadio-SW are few. 1. It does not have SSB (not a problem for me though). 2. It does not have direct key entry so tuning takes a little more time. (Using the memory function can get around that if you have 50 or less favorite Freqs that you like) 3. The beep at the end of each sw band can not be turned off. 4. It has an odd connector for using an external antenna. (But the radio comes with 2 connection adapters and they are also available at Radio Shack)

The positives are many. 1. Super Great AM reception. 2. Way above average SW reception. 3. Separate treble and bass controls. (These almost act as a filter in making noisy reception better.) 4. A large speaker so this radio has great sound. 5. Dual clock. (Although not visible when the radio is on.) 6. The tuning dial lights up whenever you change Freqs with the tuning dial, making it a great radio for low light and night time use. 7. The tuning dial light can be turned on to stay on as long as you want it on. Also, the the buttons light up (if you want them to) for great night time use. 8. The tuning knob has a smooth positive feel. 9. About tuning this radio: The SW bands are divided into 3 positions on the AM/SW band selector. Although it does not have direct tuning I think that each of the 3 positions may activate different circuitry for each band group thereby using different filters to improve reception. (But I don’t know this for a fact, it is only my guess because this is such a well thought out radio.) 10. The Narrow/Wide selection has well chosen band widths. Equal or better than the RF-2200. On most radios I find the narrow option makes listening very unpleasant. 11. A solid carrying handle.

Powering the CCRadio-SW: It comes with an AC power cord. You also have the dual option of both 4 AA batteries and/or 4 “D” cell batteries. It also has an internal battery charger. I have both rechargeable AA and “D” batteries at all times in mine. The charger is on the slow side so whenever I am not using the radio I have it charging. It is a simple one button push to start the charging system. Battery use is very reasonable with this radio. And, if the “D” cells run out, the AA batteries are there as a back up.

When you consider the cost of this radio, it is my opinion that it is one of the best buys out there on the market today. It is well thought out and very user friendly. It has a sound, quality feel to it. It’s performance, and all of the features that are included, put this radio in a place of prominence on my radio shelf. Although it is seldom on my shelf. I use it every day.