C Crane CCRadio-SW (Model CSW-TCF) by C. Crane
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Digital camera reviews of C Crane CCRadio-SW (Model CSW-TCF)
Digital camera Review: CCradio-SW, a good choice.
Summary: 4 Stars
CCRadio-SW
I have used an old `CCRadio Plus' for years and also enjoy listening to shortwave broadcasts on occasion. I finally decided to simplify my life and get a CCRadio-SW.
I only use the built in antenna and do not have any test equipment, so this review and comparison will not be too scientific. I will use my favorite receivers, a Sony ICF-SW7600GR and the older CCRadio Plus, for relative comparison.
Here is my version of "CCRadio-SW, CCRadio Plus, and Sony ICF-SW7600GR compared". To be fair I must note that the CCRadio Plus has been replaced by a newer CCRadio-2 which has improved performance.
Audio Quality:
For listening to news radio, the older CCRadio Plus is a winner although it is a little flat on the FM band. The CCRadio-SW has a wide/narrow bandwidth switch and good bass/treble but it does not quite match the older radio's voice performance. For music and FM the CCRadio-SW's audio is superior. The Sony7600 has clear audio but is just small and is not something you would want to listen to AM on for a long time. The SSB audio of the Sony is outstanding. I have listened, comfortably, to SSB on the Sony for hours on end. The CCRadio-SW has no built in SSB capability.
AM Broadcast band:
This part was hard; my location has a good deal of electronic noise in the AM broadcast band. I tried to find the weakest stations and make a comparison from that. The CCRadio Plus seemed to have the least sensitivity of the three radios. The CCRadio-SW had the most sensitivity; I needed to use the RF-Gain control to dial it down a bit. With the Ionospheric fading and moderate RF noise, all three radios delivered understandable audio. For the marginal listening conditions, the Sony7600 would have to be my favorite. For reasonably strong/weak AM music, the CCRadio-SW wins. For reasonably strong news/talk radio the CCRadio Plus wins.
FM Broadcast band:
The CCRadio-SW had the best sensitivity and audio quality. The CCRadio Plus and the Sony7600 were about the same for sensitivity. The Sony's FM audio was poor as expected for such a small radio. The CCRadio Plus had good audio but did not match the CCRadio-SW for fidelity (audio bandwidth).
Shortwave AM bands:
For the comparison, I tried to find weaker broadcast stations across about 5-15 MHz. I also used the 5, 10 and 15 WWV time broadcasts as a relatively constant signal source. The CCRadio Plus has no shortwave band so it is not mentioned here.
To my surprise, the CCRadio-SW had, equal to or only slightly lower sensitivity, below about 10 MHz, and had slightly better sensitivity at about 14 MHz as compared to the Sony7600. I was unable to locate any stations that could not be heard by one or the other radio.
To be fair:
I want to be absolutely clear that these comparisons were all made while operating on internal battery and antenna. I say that because I have an old Grundig Satellit 800 receiver that performs poor, in the sensitivity department, along side the Sony SW7600GR, on the internal antenna. HOWEVER, when a long wire antenna is connected to the Grundig, the Sony gets demoted to the status of a toy. I did not test the CCRadio-SW with an external antenna.
My Conclusion:
The CCRadio-SW. This one awesome radio for the price. It has a dual internal battery capability of both 4-AA and 4-D cells. I like to operate on rechargeable battery power (less power line noise). The drawback of that is, rechargeable batteries tend to maintain a constant voltage right up to their end, then die. The `battery strength' meter is mostly useless, as is, for these cells. Having an option to switch over to a backup battery of AA
cells is a strong selling point.
I wish I could make your decision easy, but, it all depends on how you want to use you radio. All of these radios are good.
Ken Miller
Digital camera Review: Defective out of the box
Summary: 1 Stars
The unit I purchased arrived defective. The band selector switch did not change bands. The receiver would pick up FM stations, but the frequency readout was stuck on SW3
The sad thing is a very obvious QC sticker was on the back of the radio. Very disappointing total quality failure.
Digital camera Review: Didn't pull in AM well in my area.
Summary: 2 Stars
Beautiful Radio,Nice sound quality, But I bought it to pull in AM Talk Radio and it didn't get as many stations as a cheap sony I own and for that reason I was disappointed.I didn't have very good luck with the SW either. Problem is there are a lot of readio towers to the south & north of me and they probably drown out all other signals. May work better in your areaDigital camera Review: Disappointment personified
Summary: 1 Stars
I received this radio with the AM/FM switch defective. The switch itself "wobbled" in it's socket. When switching from AM to FM one had to repeat the switching to change frequencies.
Clock radio? The clock function, digital readout, of the time does not show when the radio is turned on.
AM reception is quite poor. One must reposition the unit to get reception, even so the unit emits a continuous "hum". FM reception was acceptable.
Digital camera Review: Do not buy.
Summary: 1 Stars
If you purchase this item through Amazon.com, C.Crane will not honor the 12 month warranty. I just spoke to Customer Service at Amazon.com and they will not honor the warranty either. Buyer beware.C Crane C CSW Clock Radio with Snooze Alarm