CC Radio Plus Review

P

PWork

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Apr 24, 2002
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CC Radio Plus from the C. Crane Co. www.ccradio.com

After a few days (and nights) of using the CC Radio I can relay a few impressions. This is an AM/FM/TV/WX unit. The radio is extremely well built. The controls are easy to use. The sound is simply amazing. I've heard far worse stereos. The radio is built by Sangean, well known for their shortwave recievers. It comes with an AC power cord, or runs on four D cell baterrues.

Reception:
TV reception is quite good when compared to other radios with the TV band. Most I've seen only pick up two channels. The CC radio is picking up a signal from ten.

WX (weather)...Reception of our local weather alert station is strong and clear.

FM is crisp and clear. I'm picking up stations I've never been able to get from home.

AM....This is what the CC Radio Plus was designed for, and the folks at C. Crane and Sangean have outdone themselves. I never realized there was so much going on on AM. From here in west/central PA I'm picking up stations as far away as Florida, Quebec, Texas, and many others I haven't heard the locations of yet. It's going to take several weeks to sort them all out.

You can set five staions in memory on each band. There is a weather alert alarm for emergency weather info if you choose to turn it on. It also has a clock display and alarm features.

This is by far the best radio I have ever seen. Great reception and sound, and very well built. Needless to say, I am very happy with my purchase.

C. Crane has a lot of various gadgets in their catalog. Check out their website. www.ccrane.com

Paul
 
Now who's Mr. Bad Influence?

My wife has been bugging me to find a radio she can listen to the television on, she listens to books on tape while driving and would love to go from the morning news at home to the car to work. I guess she could keep it in her new bag...;)
 
Happy to be of service James.:p
Seriously, check out C. Crane's website. They have several radios with TV band.

Paul
 
Thanks for the review--I was thinking of taking the plunge, and this will help me a lot.

How's the battery life? 4 D cells sounds heavy by today's standards--is it working out in terms of longer listening times?
 
I haven't put a set of batteries in it yet. As stated above, C. Crane claims 250 hours. They could have probably made it to take four AAs, but Ds hold more power, larger battery = more power storage.
I'm really impressed with the quality and performance of this radio.

Paul
 
Hello, everyone. Yeah CC has nice toys in there. I am condidering getting one of their atomic alarm clocks.
One interesting fact is that Sangean makes some radios for Radio Shack. I don't hold the all of the Shacks stuff in high regard, but some of their radios are made by Sangean. So if you want to take a better look at the features on a radio check them out at your local RS. If you ever have any problems or just want to test drive a radio you can take it back if you don't like it. Also they have some great discounts a couple times a year. Good luck.
 
Note that some of Radio Shack's atomic radio controlled clocks are actually made by Oregon Scientific. :)
 
My wife surprised me with a CC Radio + last Christmas. The digital fine tuning rocks. I use it to filter out the annoying frequencies that my computer next to it puts out when I'm listening to AM. I haven't begun to use all of the features on it, but I like the idea of being able to use the line out to record my favorite talk shows. IIRC C Crane sells a recorder that plugs into the Radio + that can be programmed to automatically start and stop recording whenever your favorite shows come on the air. Pretty cool. I work in the middle of a windowless steel building and this radio will clearly pick up about half the local AM & FM stations where none of my coworkers' radios will pick up any stations at all. And even though it's not stereo, that speaker is so hi-fi that I don't miss it.
 
After reading this thread I picked one up as well. I really like this radio for work or in the shop! It does have great sound and I like the preset buttons and the great reception. Worth the money, besides, for me it's a work write off. :D
 
Since I last posted on this thread I've gone over to battery operation. AM reception is much better without household wiring interfering. I'm starting to think that C. Cranes claim of 250 hour battery life might be pretty accurate. The radio is frequently on all night and the baterries are still going strong after almost two months. Awesome radio. :cool:

Paul
 
Yeah Paul, I put batteries in mine right away and have been using the radio on and off for a few weeks now. Still going strong. I got the optional soft side carrying case with mine and I keep the cord in the little pouch on the back but I have yet to use it. I'm definitely impressed with their product! :) Thinking about looking at one of their other units for my kitchen.....the wife insists on a very small simple radio on the counter even though there's a perfectly nice stereo in the adjacent room.....
 
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