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C.Crane CC Radio 2 by C. Crane Company   Click on any photo to enlarge

Part 1 by Russ Johnson

Introduction
We at Radiointel.com were excited to have an opportunity to review the new CCRadio2 (CCR2) now available from C. Crane. The CCRadio2 replaces the CCRadioPlus (CCR+) from the C. Crane line up. The CCRadio family has always included audio from VHF television band. I was curious how they would react to the loss of this band once the digital television conversion took place. Some models, such as the Sangean DT-400W substituted the weather band for TV audio. As the CCR+ already included weather, I was indeed curious as to what their approach was. The substitution of the amateur radio 2-meter FM reception for VHF television audio was a very novel approach to this dilemma. We must give C. Crane kudos for their creativity here. So, let's take a look at the CCR2.

At first glance, one would say - yeah okay, that's really not much difference from the CCR+. In many regards, this is true. The controls are pretty much laid out the same and the appearance is identical. For those not familiar with the CCRadio family, let's go over the basics.

General Description
This is a hefty portable radio covering AM, FM, Weather and Amateur (Ham) 2-meter FM bands. The radio weighs in at 3.8 pounds with batteries. The physical dimensions are 11"W x 6.5"H x 4". For the remainder of this review, we will refer to Amateur (Ham) 2-meter as VHF. It runs via AC power or 4 'D' cell batteries. The large 5 inch, 6 watt speaker dominates the left side of the radio. The display (3" x 1.5") for the CCR2 is on the right side of the front of the radio. The light button is in the upper left corner of the display. Underneath the display, to the right, are up/down tuning buttons used to tune the radio in its largest tuning increments. The up/down tuning buttons also do double duty when the radio is off for setting the clock. Bass and treble controls are located beneath the up/down buttons. A cluster of four smaller buttons are situated to the left of the up/down tuning buttons. These buttons are used to set the clock, alarm, timer and switch the display between clock mode and frequency read out mode.

The right side of radio (adjacent to the display), provides a fine tuning knob. This knob also is used to adjust the squelch for VHF. A lock switch is located below the tuning knob. The volume control knob is located towards the bottom of the right side and a stereo headphone jack (1/8") is provided at the very bottom. There are no controls on the left side of the radio.

Turning the radio around, we find a group of three color coded jacks on the left side of the rear of the radio. From top to bottom: green is Auxiliary In (audio input), black is Timer Activation and red is Line Out. Just to the right of the Line Out jacks are External AM Antenna terminals (ground and antenna). The battery hatch is provided at the bottom of the rear of radio. A recessed hand grip area is available towards the top. The AC cord jack is at the extreme right and the whip antenna (for FM, Weather, 2-meter) is at the very top right.

Up on top are the five pre-set buttons (five for each band) in the center, the "mode switch" on the left, which switches between bands and auxiliary input. The weather alert button is in between the presets and the band switch. The power/sleep button is to the right, above the display. By the way, a reset button is on the bottom of the unit.

Per C. Crane, the C. Crane Company is the manufacturer of record for the CCRadio-2. While it is assembled at Sangean's facilities, it is done to their specifications and is designed exclusively for C. Crane Company.

The CCR2 comes in two colors: black mica and titanium (with black knobs/buttons). It sells for $159.95 from C. Crane (as of Summer 2009 at the introduction of the radio).

Basic Operation
Operating the radio is intuitive with most features easy to figure out without the manual. The sleep feature allows you set the radio for auto shut-down after 120, 90, 60, 30 or 15 minutes. I am a big fan of "sleep" settings as I have a bad habit of walking away from radios and just running batteries down. This is even more important with the CCR2, as I will explain later.

The up/down tuning buttons allow you to jump in increments of 10 kHz on AM, 100 kHz on FM and 5 kHz on VHF. The main rotary tuning knob allows you to fine tune on AM in 1 kHz increments and 50 kHz on FM. There is no difference between the up/down buttons and rotary tuning on VHF or Weather.

The CCR2 also provides scan tuning by holding down the up/down button for a half second. In scan tuning, the radio will scan and stop when it finds a station. As mentioned before, there are five pre-set (memories) available for each band. Simply tune in the desired frequency, press and hold the desired pre-set button until you hear a beep.

What's on the display?
Rather than try to describe the display and the various icons, etc, we are posting page 8 of the Instruction Manual which describes what appears on the display.

Differences vs. CCRadioPlus (CCR+)
There are some noticeable differences that an experienced CCR+ user will pick up on quickly. First is the aforementioned substitution of 2-meter amateur FM band for the obsolete VHF TV band. The next big change is the significantly improved display lighting. The display light on the CCR+ was anemic at best. Not so on the CCR2. Three levels of green backlighting are available…very bright, bright and dim, in addition to 'off.' The dim setting is roughly equivalent to the one level that was available on the CCR+. This is a major improvement. The backlight remains on for 2 minutes when the radio is on battery power and continuously when on AC power (note: version 1.1. of the instruction manual is in error as it indicates that the backlight turns off after 15 seconds).

The strength meter is somewhat different on the CCR2 vs. the CCR+. On the CCR2 there are 12 bars in total, numbered every two steps (2…4...6 > 12). The CCR+ meter has 14 bars, with every second bar numbered (1...2...3 > 7).

While I am not technically knowledgeable enough to describe the inner workings, there is a difference in the internal ferrite antenna tuning for AM listening. The manual indicates that the CCR2 automatically fine tunes the 8 inch ferrite bar antenna for a few seconds when a new frequency is tuned in. The signal icon under the strength meter will flash while the tuning is occurring. C. Crane refers to the internal ferrite antenna as a Twin Coil Ferrite ® AM Antenna. This shouldn't be confused with an external AM antenna sold by C. Crane under the same name.

Another change is that the CCR2 display defaults back to clock mode after 15 seconds. So once you tune into a station, the display will no longer show the frequency after 15 seconds and instead shows you the time. More on this later. The CCR2 does not provide the battery charging feature and LED Lamp jack that was available in the previous CCR+ model. Maybe it's my imagination but it seems like the hand held grip in the rear is more secure and "grippier" on the CCR2 vs. the CCR+.

While this may be attributed to unit-to-unit variation, I found the rotary tuning dial to be somewhat more flimsy on the CCR2 vs. the CCR+. Some of this may be due to the dual use of the rotary tuning dial on the CCR2. In addition to being used for manual tuning, it is also a "push and hold" control used to set the squelch level for VHF. On the unit I tested, the tuning knob has a more distinct "click feel and noise" vs. the smoother action of the older CCR+ model.

Gone from the CCR2 are the loud beeps that announce when you have reached the band edges. In addition, the beeps that indicate the selected band (via the band button) are not present with the newer CCR2.

The whip antenna is slightly longer on the CCR2 as compared to the CCR+ (22"vs. 20.5").

To my ears, the audio on the CCR2 is noticeably brighter and crisper than with the CCR+. Overall intelligibility is better.

Performance Notes-AM
We think it is safe to say that most purchasers of the CCR2 do so for improved AM reception over other radios they may own. I have a few tests that I put the CCR2 though to see how it performs on AM.

I am always interested to see how a new radio will perform in rejecting the sidebands of my local AM pest station (WLXN - 1440). With the radio rotated for maximum rejection of this station, I was able to detect noticeable interference from 1410 through 1460. A relatively weak station on 1410 was legible through the interference and a fairly strong station on 1460 was easy copy. These results were similar to the CCR+. As a point of comparison, I also tested the Katio KA-2100 (rebadged by C. Crane and sold as the CCRadio-SW). The 2100 did a superior job in fighting off the sidebands on 1410, 1420 and 1450…however the ability to receive the stations on 1410 and 1450 were noticeably lower.

Next up was to see how the radio fought off the local pest when the radio was not rotated for maximum rejection. Here I found that the adjacent channel interference stretched from 1370 to 1510. The results on the CCR+ (1380 to 1510) and the KA-2100 (1370 to 1510) were similar.

We have a weak TIS (Traveler's Information Station) in our general area on 1610 and this is a good test for overall sensitivity. In comparing the three radios, the CCR2 copied the TIS best, followed by the CCR+ and then the KA-2100.

On 1060, there are two stations that can be heard in our area. By rotating the radio, it is usually possible to null one of them out in favor of the other. While it was close, the CCR2 passed this test over the CCR+ and by a significant margin over the KA-2100.

For fun, I played around with a couple of loop antennas I have to see what kind of reception improvement could be noted via inductive coupling. First, I used a typical small loop (the old Radio Shack AM loop, which is similar in size the Terk or Select-A-Tenna). The small loop did not do much in terms of improved reception, which I attribute to the large 8" internal ferrite antenna. Next, I tried my giant 27" loop (the discontinued Edek) with the CCR2. I was able to squeeze additional gain with the larger loop which could be helpful in DX situations.

The CCR2 has an external antenna connection for AM which is described in the manual as "directly wired through filter network into RF front end." Like most radios I have, my local AM station (5 kW, 3 miles away) overloaded the CCR2 badly with an external antenna connected and the station appeared all over the AM dial. I am going to see if putting a rudimentary attenuator between the antenna and the CCR2 can knock down this signal enough to make the external antenna option worthwhile.

As a general statement, I can state with confidence that the overall intelligibility and 'legibility' of stations received on the CCR2 was noticeably improved over both the CCR+ and KA-2100. I also noticed the background noise level on the CCR2 was lower as well, resulting in less listener fatigue. I did notice that our local pest on 1440 appeared on the radio at 540 as it does on most radios I own. It also appeared loud and clear on 1640 which was unusual. I could barely hear it on the CCR+ and not at all on the KA-2100.

All of these tests were done in the mid-afternoon. I believe that testing radios for performance during night hours is misleading as even the worst AM radio can perform decently when the skip improves.

Performance Notes-FM
I am not a huge FM listener, but I did try a few 'time-honored' reception tests that I have relied on over the years to compare various radios. The test that I always try first is reception of WDAV (88.9) a weak classical music station in my area. I found the CCR+ did a better job of holding consistent reception of the station than the CCR2. Additionally, I discovered that the CCR2 was more finicky in terms of whip positioning than the CCR+. As I compared some other weak signals, I found similar results - with somewhat better reception on the older CCR+.

In terms of selectivity, I did not discern much difference between the CCR+ and the CCR2. The KA-2100 was dramatically better than both of the CC Radios in this regard.

As on the AM band, I noticed overall brighter audio with the CCR2 vs. the CCR+.

Performance Notes-Weather
I was able to copy weather channels 1, 5 and 6 from my North Carolina location on both the CCR2 and CCR+. Interestingly, the strength meter reading registered much higher on the CCR+ but the intelligibility was superior on the CCR2.

Although not tested, the CCR2 provides a Weather Alert System. In some areas, NOAA sends an emergency tone that will set off an audible or visual alarm on radios equipped to receive the alerts. There are two pages of information on this feature in the instruction manual, so it is beyond the scope of this review to get into that much detail.

The manual makes it clear that using the Weather Alert System will consume power even when the radio is off. It is recommended to have the radio running on AC power when in this mode, so as not to drain the batteries.

Performance Notes - VHF
While using the radio indoors, I did a lot of scanning on the 2-meter amateur band before I was able to receive any signals. Ultimately, I found transmissions on five frequencies and put them into preset. Setting the squelch at position 3 worked well. When I was able to receive stations, the reception was clear.

I found reception on this band to be significantly better when I had the radio outdoors. Reception of amateur 2-meter signals was much clearer and many more stations were readable.

It should be noted that the 2-meter band is not as popular as it once was. Users in more urban and high-population environments stand a better chance of regularly hearing stations on this band. Rural and suburban users may not hear much on this band….but it is fun to scan around and land on amateur 'ham' radio operators communicating in your local area.

Clock Features
C. Crane has built a lot of features into the clock side of the CCR2. When the radio is turned off, the 12-hour format clock (hh:mm:ss) is displayed. When the radio is on, the display reverts to the clock view after the frequency has been displayed for 15 seconds.

There is a sleep feature provided which shuts the radio off after a period of time. You can select the shut off time to be 120-90-60-45-30-15 minutes. Using this is important for me, because with the volume turned down on the CCR2 - you might not know the radio is even on….since the display now reverts to the clock view after 15 seconds.

The CCR2 has an alarm available as well. The user can select to be wake up to a favorite radio station or to a beeping tone. If the user selects the tone alarm, it will beep in what C. Crane calls the Humane Wake System. The tone beep volume increases every 15 seconds for one minute. After a minute of silence, the beeping repeats. This minute-on, minute-off cycle will continue for one hour until the alarm is shut off. If the on-off beeping proves to be a bit too annoying, the sleeper (or former sleeper) can put the alarm in snooze mode which will pause the alarm for five minutes.

A timer function is provided in the CCR2. This allows the user to set up the radio to turn on to one of the preset stations (any band) at a predetermined time and then shut off later as programmed. Those who want to record certain programs will find this to be a useful feature.

What's to like?
The CCR2 is a quality product that offers great reception on all of the available bands. The design change that corrected the failing display problem (soldered connections vs. tape) in the original CC Radio and early CCR+ models has been incorporated into the CCR2…so that issue should be a thing of the past.

The variable display backlighting is a major improvement over the CCR+. I actually find the bright setting to be overly bright and prefer the medium setting. To each his own…it's nice to have a choice.

The radio is easy to use and the average user can figure most of the functions right out of the box. Some of the more complicated functions (mainly clock functions) can be mastered quickly.

Here is one that some might put in the "What's not to like" section. I am glad that the very loud band edge beeps and the beeps associated with band change are gone. I find these annoying and certainly would bother a sleeping partner. However, I can understand where the visually impaired will miss the beeps.

While I admit to being skeptical about claims of "audio that's optimized for voice clarity" - I did find this to be true. Improved intelligibility was certainly noticeable when compared to the CCR+ and KA-2100…and if you can't understand what you are listening to, what's the point!

What's not to like?
This is a personal thing - so for many users, this might actually fall into the "What's To Like" category. I buy my radios for their "radio capabilities" not for the clock. I would prefer that the frequency readout remain displayed while the radio is on rather than the clock. C Crane tells us that this change was incorporated into the CCR2 based on user feedback. I can understand this, as the typical user of the CCR2 is likely someone that has the radio sitting on a bedside table and is using it primarily as a clock radio. Again, it's a personal preference. Getting the frequency to return to the display for 15 seconds is accomplished by pressing the Clock/Frequency button (or the up/down buttons).

A minor objection I had with earlier models is still present in the CCR2. When you push the preset/memory buttons, you hear and feel a hard clicking noise. Anyone using this as a bedside radio has a good chance of disturbing their partners, as the click noise is quite noticeable.

Ideas for the CCR3?
Well for me, I would like to see the display default become user definable. That way, radio nerds like me could set it up to show the frequency when the radio is on. Typical clock radio types could have the display default to the clock. Having a small clock viewable on the display along with the frequency would be nice.

I would like to see the preset/memory buttons have a much softer touch and feel.

I can imagine that the decision for the 'fourth band" may present an ongoing challenge for C. Crane. The substitution of the 2-meter ham band for the obsolete VHF TV band was a very novel solution. However, I believe that many users will not find enough activity on that band to make it worthwhile. Perhaps ultimately going to 3-band radio (AM-FM-Weather) and adding some additional features (user definable display default, user definable band edge/band selection beeps, 9/10 kHz choice on AM, more pre-sets, external FM antenna connection, etc.) would be the way to go.

Summary
I believe users of the previous CC Radio models will be well pleased with the changes and improvements incorporated into the CCR2. Those unfamiliar with the CC Radio line will find this to be an attractive quality product that provides them with excellent reception and clock/alarm/timer functions that provide them with a lot of flexibility.

Russ K3PI

Part 2 by Jay Allen

I was pretty excited when I read that C. Crane would be updating its C.C Radio Plus…replacing it with an upgraded model called the CC Radio-2. The most obvious catalyst in this was the demise of analog TV broadcasting which rendered the VHF TV band on the "Plus" model obsolete. In its place the CC Radio-2 offers the 2 Meter VHF HAM band (144-148 MHz). But there are numerous other upgrades as well which I'll cover in a bit. But first…

What's The Same?
The cabinet for one thing. The "2" is housed in an identical-looking cabinet as the Plus. This is a sturdy, attractive radio, available in "Titanium" or "Black Mica" colors. It features 5 Preset Station buttons along the top edge, along with the band selector, Weather Alert switch, Power/sleep button and the telescoping rod used for all bands except AM. A large Tuning knob, Volume knob and a Lock switch to prevent accidental activation when packed in luggage and a stereo headphone jack are on the right edge. Pressing the Tuning knob in turns it into a Squelch level set knob for the HAM band. On the back a are a recessed handle, Aux In/Out jacks, a Timer activation jack for an external recorder, such as Crane's Versa-corder, external AM antenna and ground screws and the battery compartment. The front panel is laid out like the previous model with the aforementioned Light Button, Clock, Timer and Alarm function buttons, Up/Down Tuning buttons, Bass and Treble controls and the large display.

Other basic features remaining the same are AM/FM and Weather Band reception plus a Weather Alert feature which can be activated to automatically alert you to dangerous weather conditions. The 2 also retains all the basic clock and timer functions with which you can program the radio to turn on and off at pre-selected times with alarm and snooze functions as well. I enjoy the Weather Band immensely...I can receive several frequencies clearly…the information is up to date and contains more detail than you get from regular TV or Radio weather forecasts…and it's always right there.

What's New?
Most noticeable is the BRIGHT new LCD display…I mean this thing is eye-popping and incredibly easy to read, even outdoors. If you prefer more subdued lighting, such as on a night stand, there are three levels of illumination selectable by the front panel Light button, with which you can also turn the illumination completely off if you so desire. In typical fashion, when running on A/C Power the illumination remains on unless you turn it off. On battery power it remains on for 2 minutes after any button press…the 2 minute timing is a welcome feature. My early copy of the Owner's Manual states 15 seconds but Crane has already corrected this in an updated manual.

The 2 Meter HAM band. This is an interesting addition to this new model. This band will let you tune in on the world of radio amateurs and I did find a few signals to listen to. Setting it up is a bit of a learning process but C. Crane helps with basic advice on how to proceed and some pre-tuned frequencies are helpful as well. There are many resources on the web to help you find local repeater frequencies that will work in your area. The Squelch is calibrated from "Off" to "12"…on my sample the lowest setting "1" silenced the inter-station hiss, but still seemed to let any listenable signal through. You can increase this squelch level to block out weaker signals if you want to concentrate only on strong local signals. In an emergency this band will be active and could provide much interesting information…I heard a few rag-chewing sessions as I casually explored it.

Improved AM and FM Reception
Sensitivity: The best way to check for AM sensitivity is at midday, when skywave reception is minimal and signals are reasonably stable. Daytime signals are generally weaker than nighttime ones and a range of weak signals can reveal a radio's ability to not only hear stations at the threshold of audibility, but to render more typical signals…the ones you might actually listen to, with less background noise. This also assumes your local RFI…the buzz and static caused by almost everything electrical these days and radiating from power lines is not the limiting factor in hearing weaker signals…in the presence of excessive RFI, differences in radio sensitivity matter less and less. Sensitivity is definitely improved in the new model. C. Crane has designed a version of its Twin Coil Antenna for the C C Radio 2 and I've got to say it seems to work. You can see it working as you change stations…when a new (AM) station is selected the word "Signal" beneath the Signal Strength Meter flashes and you can see the signal rising and falling. After a few seconds the flashing stops leaving the signal meter at the highest level possible on that station. I carefully compared the new "2" with my original "Plus" and can attest that, although the improvement is not night and day, the new model is definitely a bit more sensitive than the previous model. I scanned the entire AM band checking signals at the threshold of audibility as well as stronger signals which still were weak enough to be heard with some noise…the "2" always outperformed the "Plus" on a direct side-by-side comparison. Again, sometimes the improvement was small, but it was very real nonetheless. This new model is about as sensitive as my vintage GE SRI and SRII radios and that is an achievement in a current-production, digitally tuned radio indeed.

I also checked basic adjacent and alternate channel selectivity on AM and had no trouble separating adjacent channel signals unless the undesired signal was much stronger than the desired signal. For better selectivity you'd have to go to a world band radio with multiple IF frequencies.

On FM I did extensive side-by-side tests among the CC Radio-2, the older model CC Plus and a few other reference FM portables and found the new "2" to be superb on FM. Again I found it just a bit more sensitive on FM than the older Plus model which also made it a bit less fussy of antenna rod adjustment to get clear reception on problem signals.

Overload rejection is the ability of a radio to resist interference from strong local signals when you are trying to listen to weaker signals. Overload can manifest itself in many ways…strong signals may simply spread out over a larger portion of the dial than they should obscuring nearby stations, or "images" may appear…ghosts of signals showing up at additional spots on the dial where they interfere with stations you want to hear on those frequencies.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to design a portable radio to have extreme sensitivity while still having a high overload threshold. It can be done (think "car radio") but suffice it to say that most portable radio designs are a careful balance between sensitivity and overload rejection. Generally the vast majority of listeners do not live in intense signal areas, but for those who do, overload rejection may be more important than sensitivity. I decided to enlist the help of a good friend of mine who is in a unique position to provide what we need to know about how the CC-2 handles overload and how it compares with the previous Plus model and a few other high profile portables. Steve is a broadcast design engineer…he's the guy who designs radio station installations including directional arrays…he knows how RF works. He also happens to live in a high signal overload area and is intimately familiar with the signals are at his location. He wrote a report on overload which is so informative we have decided to print it in its entirety. I think you will find it to be fascinating reading.

I will summarize that Steve found the CC2 to be significantly improved over the Plus for FM overload resistance and a little better on AM overload resistance and this is excellent news, but neither were as good as the CC Radio SW or a vintage GE SR II for immunity to strong signal overload. I repeat…no radio is best at everything, so choose the one that works best in your environment.

Sound
I'll be honest…I never was enamored with the AM sound of the older "Plus" model. Crane's goal of tailoring the audio response for the human voice was a bit heavy-handed in my estimation. True, it cuts down dramatically on background noises if they exist, but it also cuts out lots of audio that need not be cut out for most signals people might actually listen to. My take…if you have Bass and Treble controls, let the radio sound as full and clear as possible for good signals, then you can use the treble control to cut down excess noise when it is necessary. I hope Bob Crane is listening to this…their own CC Radio-SW has far better audio than the CC- 2 and the 2 could sound as good as the SW model with a wider frequency response, especially on AM.

Fortunately the new "2" has a much fuller sounding bottom end on the AM band than the Plus did…with its bass control centered it has at least as much bass as the Plus does with its bass control fully advanced. So this is my only quibble with this radio…it now sounds much better with its fuller bass…if it had a crisper high end on AM it would be just about perfect. I will also quality this by saying I am an audio fanatic…many listeners will find the sound of this radio to be perfectly satisfying and I'm glad that C. Crane is at least moving it in the right direction.

How Does It Compare With The CC Radio-SW?
A natural question. I compared my CC Radio 2 with a Redsun RP-2100 which is essentially identical to the CC Radio-SW. Each has a different set of strengths. Note that the CC Radio-SW contains a form of Crane's famed Twin Coil Antenna as does the CC Radio-2 but circuit differences let the 2 slightly out-pull the SW model on AM. The sensitivity difference is easy to hear under careful test conditions …on my midday tests out of town AM stations were noticeably freer of hiss on the 2 than on the SW, and the 2 also heard some very faint signals which were not there at all on the SW. However, the SW model was still very good on AM overall…better than other currently available portables anywhere near the price.

On FM the Redsun is truly superb with excellent sensitivity, good selectivity and very good image rejection. Luckily the CC 2 gives it a good run for its money. I have to give the nod the the SW model on FM but again, they are quite close.

From there the models begin to diverge. The SW model offers very capable Shortwave reception, dual IF bandwidths and powerful, full range audio which frankly trounces the sound of the 2. Yet the 2 offers Weather, 2 Meter HAM, and full digital features. A radio nut like me wants to own both because each has its strengths and weaknesses…like every radio I own. The perfect radio has yet to be made.

Bottom Line
The new C. Crane CC Radio-2 is a unique product - unique in that it provides exceptionally sensitive AM/FM reception, the 2 Meter VHF HAM band, Weather Band with Weather Alerting, full digital features such as memory presets, clock and timer functions and it can operate on its built in AC power supply or 4 D cells. And specifically, as of this writing, the CC Radio-2 is the most sensitive digitally tuned AM portable you can buy. It is well made and feels solid and natural to use. As an AM radio junkie I find it an especially fun radio to band scan with knowing that it will hear anything that is there to be heard plus it adds digital tuning accuracy.

If you have a favorite AM station which you can hear in your car but not on any radio in your house, try the CC Radio-2. Sometimes homes are filled with devices that generate interference making reception of weak AM signals impossible, but…if the signal is there, the CC Radio-2 will let you hear it.

A special thanks to C. Crane Company for providing the radios for our reviews.

Jay Allen

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