Home > Consumer Reviews > CC SWPocket AM/FM Shortwave Pocket Radio

CCrane/Redsun (its Chinese manufacturer) definitely has a winner with with the CC-SWP(Pocket) radio! I needed a small AM/FM/SW radio for travel and have compared several portable receivers including the Kaito KA11, Grundig G6 Aviator, Grundig YB-550PE, Sony ICF-SW35, Grundig eTraveller VII, Kaito KA1101, Kaito KA1102 and the Eton E100, etc. I am still not completely done with all my evaluations, but I definitely think that the CC SWP (CCRANE Shortwave pocket) or the Redsun RP-300 radio (available directly from China) is a great, extremely small (and one of the smallest available!) and also inexpensive and yet a very excellent receiver! I am extremely impressed right out of the box how well it performs even for quite weak signals with both very good sensitivity as well as selectivity.

PROS:

1) A single conversion, PLL (Phase-locked loop), fully digital pocket-sized radio that comes with a velcro slip case, carrying strap, earbuds and a VERY readable manual heavily edited by CCRANE (available on-line on their website too).
2) Excellent weak signal reception on ALL bands (am/fm/sw1/sw2). It really performs very well!
3) It has a fine and very useful tone switch (Music/news) with stereo through the earbuds as well as a two position Local/DX switch (RF gain attenuator for SW frequencies). This "tone" switch works well on both FM as well as on SW frequenices, thus providing a very effective frequency filter for detecting weaker signals on SW.
4) Lock switch and backlight control (with 8 second duration orange backlighting illuminating the display, only from the left side however).
5) A dedicated DISPLAY button with a different set of information provided by sucessive key pushes with the radio either on or off.
6) Numerous tuning methods are available including a fine tuning knob for AM and SW and including an ATS (automatic station retrieval tuning system), but unfortunately NOT for the automatic storage of available radio frequencies, direct keyboard frequency entry, etc. Coarser tuning is also available from the up/down scanning keys themselves. FM frequencies however only have the coarse tuning step available (0.10 MHz) regardless of the tuning method used.
7) Very high quality and very readable display with many many icons for indicating battery life (at a low battery condition) and a signal reception TUNE icon (as on the two digital Sony radios still available) and that works extremely well, wide/narrow (Music/News) tone filter setting (AM/SW), etc. Clock time and station frequency are not displayed simultaneously, but can be found on two separate DISPLAY screens.
8) Very long battery life (up to ~70 hours) using only 2 AA batteries
9) Easy channel memory presetting and automatic preset recall system using the tuning knob for the recall of 200 (00-199) preset memory locations.
10) It has an easy to use reset control pin hole on the bottom of the radio.
11) It has an internal group of setting for storing key performance features such as 9/10 kHz steps for international travel, 12/24 hour world clock time, wake-up alarms with times and a stored radio frequency or separately using an internal buzzer alarm, sleep mode (0 - 90 minutes in 5 minute increments), etc. These items are indicated on the unit's dedicated DISPLAY key indicated earlier above.

CONS: These are all extremely small however and of no great significance to me whatsoever!

1) Smallish speaker, but the sound quality is very good for its size.
2) Volume controls are a little awkward and uneven in level changes. 16 digital levels are also indicated on the screen. In addition, on other radios switching bands from SW to FM for example can be a very instantaneous ear blasting situation, but not so on the CC SWP radio which has a time delay built in between switching the individual bands giving the user a reaction time to change (usually lower) the volume levels. If the uneven volume levels are of concern to you a $7.95 volume control switch can be bought directly from CCRANE to adjust the levels analog-style with a "potentiometer" {pot) and the volume buttons on the keyboard once set initially can be left alone entirely. Plans are also apparently underway for a second version of this radio to be issued by Redsun in China with the volume control level unevenness issue due to be corrected. Personally I have not found this issue much of a problem at all especially with the easily connected volume control switch which is inserted in series along with the earphones for easy listening.
3) Most keys are initially hard to get to function unless a significant pressing is made. As time goes on they are definitely getting easier to push much more reliably however.
4) Shortwave reception is done in two very broad, but separate bands with a small frequency gap from 7.50 to 9.0 MHz (this gap region is NOT a super important part of the overall SW radio spectrum however). The two bands for SW are SW1: 2.30 - 7.50 MHz and SW2: 9.00 - 22.00 MHz which covers the vast majority of the available shortwave meterband spectrum.
5) It doesn't recharge the batteries internally and the battery compartment door is NOT attached to the radio, but the door nonetheless fits very snugly as the unit is quite well made and yet also very inexpensive compared with many other radios.
6) There is no external antenna jack available, but the internal ferrite rod antenna and the telescopic whip antenna seem to both pick up stations very reliably.
7) Band scanning is a little bit slow compared to several other portable receivers, but reception is NOT muted during scanning so stations can be very readily identified for listening).
8) FM stereo reception is always supplied to the earbuds. There is no control switch to ever be able to turn it off. For the stronger FM stations that is just fine, but for very weak FM it is of course somewhat problematic.
9) It doesn't come with an AC/DC adaptor charger unit, but one is available at least and quite inexpensively.

This is a very good-looking pocket radio! GREAT LOOKING, and a nicely built exterior.

BUT, that volume problem . . . I wrote to CCrane regarding my complaint about the lack of low volume control on this Signature radio and they responded - but no resolution to my complaint.

I like to run my radio on my bedside all night long . . . at a volume that I can hear, but not enough to disturb my wife - but this radio's electronic control starts with 1 bar (barely audible) then jumps to 3 bars (heard across the room) volume.

Therefore, I have brought my KAITO WRX911 (BLUE) back into the bedroom and banished CCRADIO-SWP to the bathroom for the morning news, or whatever.

Currently, CCRANE is advertising "orphans" (returned CCRADIO-SWP units) at $29.95 each, subject to availability.

I was looking for an upscale pocket radio to replace 2 "tried & true" Sangean portables (the 200 & 210) with a speaker and a reputation for above-average reception. Since I have a CCRadio Plus already, I was excited to see this "baby-size" version of their new CCRadio SW. I'm not a shortwave junkie, so the AM/FM combo suited my needs just fine. Here's the deal with this one..........

It looks fabulous! I like the overall design and the buttons are clearly marked. The power button is positioned just where it should be. The size is great for pocket use and the display is large enough to show all it has to, along with the clock (12hr). The illuminated dial feature works at the push of its button and stays on for a few seconds unless you push it a 2nd time which switches it off! I love the generous amount of station memories allowed, which can be set totally randomly(allows band mixing as well). Scanning the favorites is a snap by turning the tuning dial, with use of the M. Scan button. Speaking of tuning, the always helpful 1 khz fine tuning knob is a nice addition. Otherwise standard 10 or 9 khz tuning is used for AM. As with most of these radios now, the local/DX switch does NOTHING for AM sensitivity. Speaking of AM... its reception is on par with that of any Sangean portable, and as mentioned the 1 khz tuning can help with adjascent frequencies. I don't know the technical jargon here, but I noticed that on some frequencies when listening to a distant station, they'll be an annoying "hum or squeal" which cannot be eliminated by fine tuning. FM reception can only be described as fair.

One of the sour notes is its poor FM sensitivity. We have alot of FM stations around here, and the "biggies" pop-up with annoying images ALL over the dial! YES, the local/DX helps some... but not enough. The whip antenna is not very long... and doesn't do the job of what a Kaito portable of this size can do. What annoys me the most of this radio, is the electronic volume. There's no dial, just the up & down button. The overall sound is very good for a speaker of this size, but trying to listen at a selected low level is nearly impossible. It goes from dead silence, to a 2nd level, which if you were in a quiet setting with others around you, would be louder than if you could simply raise the volume by a hair. The preceeding levels raise predictably, and a bar graph shows the increments. Listening with earbuds is almost worse, because the left bud has low volume and the right is higher. So on the lowest setting, the right is already borderline too loud. Raise it another notch to make the left palitable, and you'll blast yourself on the right!! Haven't tried it with headphones.

Everything else works reasonably well, except a good solid press is needed on most of the buttons before they'll respond.

For the price, you can't go too wrong... depending on your needs.

I use this radio while in bed at night.

(1) Digital volume control too sensitive. From too low to too loud in one step.
(2) AM reception OK; but not fantastic. A bit disappointing for C Crane.
(3) "Lock" button gets accidentally pressed, gets stuck in LOCK position. Need to remove batteries to reset.
(4) Should have a Speaker Off button so that if the earphone plug works loose, the speaker does not disturb others.
(5) Instructions say the alarm does not work while the earphones are plugged in. I've been awoken at 12:00 AM by the alarm thru my earphones. Need to reset it to 9 AM so it won't go off at night.

It is nice that you want me to review your product. The CC SWPocket AM/FM Pocket Shortwave Radio radio has many nice features.
The reason I purchased the radio is because my main needs/wants are as follows:

1. I needed a small radio.
2. I needed one with a sleep timer to put under my pillow at night.
3. I wanted one with a station scanner.
4. I wanted one with ear buds capability.
5. I wanted one with AM/FM capability.

All of the above items were on this radio.

Dislikes:

1. The volume buttons are too small.
2. The volume buttons are too hard to push to change the volume.
2. The volume buttons are placed in a good position so as to find them without looking, BUT being so small, too hard to push and too close together it is difficult to use.
3. A rotary volume control would be better.
4. When turning on the radio the timer alarm feature is nice, but it is too loud.

Therefore, the dislike of the volume buttons is the reason I am going to return the radio.

Also, I think your advertising of a "Pocket Radio" is misleading. We don't have any pockets that the radio would fit into.
However, that is not the reason for returning the radio.

Suggestion, you might want to design a radio that a sightless person could use. If you know of one, please let me know.

Also, PLEASE do not sell or give my name or my email address to anyone.

Jeanie Hanquist