I have ordered a C.Crane Skywave SSB yesterday chose 1 day shipping should be here at anytime today the same date of this post. I have always wanted a C.Crane radio. First time owning one. So I chose one with SSB since I listen to a lot of single side band. It is not a replacement to me Eton Elite Executive. They will be sitting side by side as I alternate between them. I am so anxious for it being delivered!
C Crane I Bought A C.Crane Skywave SSB
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KC5AKB
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Haley
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I have had mine since they came out, my first C.Crane also. With SSB and NOAA it is a great emergency radio. I have plenty of portables , but this one is almost always with me ! Fantastic receive for such a small radio , the bandwidths are really well chosen. I listen to a lot of military utility with mine. I will say one word of caution, when retracting the antenna be very careful——it’s really thin. Enjoy your new radio !
I just ordered one also Could not resist - been missing my little Sony ICF100
This will be great for in bed listening
This will be great for in bed listening
I hope you enjoy it. I enjoy mine despite the fact the speaker cone is made of some sort of plastic material. I emailed C.Crane about it and their reply was this
(click to enlarge)
It does have very good reception across all bands. Both my Eton Elite Executive and C.Crane Skywave SSB sit on my radio table. I like to switch between them. Heck the other night I was hearing KNX 1070khz Las Angeles crystal clear.
Did yours have a manual?
Just received mine and no manual at all
So far I figured most out by trail and error
Just received mine and no manual at all
So far I figured most out by trail and error
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Mine has a manual. Call C.Crane have them ship one to you. You should have the reel antenna, black carry pouch, and earbuds as well.
Just in case they won't here is the link directly from the C.Crane website for the online manual
CC-Skywave-SSB-Instruction-Manual.pdf (ccrane.com)
One thing I recommend you do is check to see if yours has the latest firmware which should be SSB-6 by following these instructions:
To find out which firmware revision your model has, press and hold the #1 button for 2 seconds with the radio turned OFF. The display will then show the revision number.
The telescoping whip fully extended is tuned for 1/4 wavelength at 127.7874MHz. I found that value by converting 21.5 inches to meters which is 0.5461m. Then multiplied 234 times 0.5461m which came out to be 127.7874MHz which is about center between 118Mhz to 136MHz.
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W0JOG
Member
Why would you care what frequency the extended whip is a quarter wave of?
I've had a Skywave since shortly after it became available and continue to be most pleased with all mentioned above plus a lot more. It is probably the best radio I've found in a decade or more and serves me daily as prime receiver for mostly BCB listening at night while in bed. It pulls in distant 50K BCB signals as good or better than any radio not desk-bound or hooked to a long wire. Does pretty well on short wave coverage when signals are there. My only complaint in probably a thousand hours of use or more is the loss of reliable tuning. Since it gets a lot of running around the dial with the little tuning knob, it has taken to jumping past where I was headed and otherwise losing its frequency. Annoying but not enough to fault the radio for the Chinese flimsy vfo design. I'll probably buy another when the VFO finally dies.
Don't expect any find of more-than-novelty tuning of SSB though. What do you expect from a tiny radio anyway?
V
I've had a Skywave since shortly after it became available and continue to be most pleased with all mentioned above plus a lot more. It is probably the best radio I've found in a decade or more and serves me daily as prime receiver for mostly BCB listening at night while in bed. It pulls in distant 50K BCB signals as good or better than any radio not desk-bound or hooked to a long wire. Does pretty well on short wave coverage when signals are there. My only complaint in probably a thousand hours of use or more is the loss of reliable tuning. Since it gets a lot of running around the dial with the little tuning knob, it has taken to jumping past where I was headed and otherwise losing its frequency. Annoying but not enough to fault the radio for the Chinese flimsy vfo design. I'll probably buy another when the VFO finally dies.
Don't expect any find of more-than-novelty tuning of SSB though. What do you expect from a tiny radio anyway?
V
I am 'wired' that way since I was a teenager. Always curious about radio stuff. If I want to know the unknown I'll try to figure it out. As for SSB, it's more than just novelty to me. I enjoy listening to discussions amongst ham radio operators, decode some weather fax, hear some Emergency Action Messages on like 11175. Just be cool and let people enjoy radio in their own way.
Actually it does quite well on SSB For what it is:
I heard a couple of EMAs on the HFGCS frequencies and listened to some Hams on 40 Meters this weekend.
I also listened to some R Havana Cuba in SSB just to see how well it did at it.
Thanks - I just grabbed that! Will call today (I emailed but never quite trust that)
I emailed their Customer Service and they are sent out a manual
They seem to respond well! (I had always heard good things about them)!
They seem to respond well! (I had always heard good things about them)!
KB2GOM
Active Member
Agreed. I heard an EAM this week with the whip antenna
It does even better with the reel-up wire antenna that comes in the package. Manual says attach it to the base of the whip antenna.
One way to deploy the wire antenna is to clip clothespins to the top of curtain rods and then drape the wire in the "V" on top of the clothespins.
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