I have the PR D15 and I am very happy with it. AM and FM are superb. Tone controls, .1 increments in tuning and it takes rechargeable batteries that can be charged inside the radio. This is my DX ing machine and it's a good,solid unit. The FM is a lot better on the PRD15 than on the PRD5. The AM has the slight edge on the 5,but not by much.
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Portable radio recommendations
- Thread starter austingrace
- Start date
When you say the PR-D15 charges batteries in the radio, What do you mean by that
Like if I get 6 C 2500 mAh Energizers would it charge in the radio?
Like if I get 6 C 2500 mAh Energizers would it charge in the radio?
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Well 4 years later and I can give a definite answer.It's the cc ep. I say give this one a look before you go any where else. I still can't find a better sounding radio period. The cc 2e is right there with it but double the price. I still say the ep beats the 2e on reception on AM for sure. I really dislike the auto coil antenna tuning the 2e does. I also prefer the ep's am audio as well. I really don't like digital radios if I can be honest. I was not a huge AM listener before the EP. If ccrane can get rid of the overloading this radio does then it would be perfect. But for $84you can't go wrong.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
Well 4 years later and I can give a definite answer.It's the cc ep. I say give this one a look before you go any where else. I still can't find a better sounding radio period. The cc 2e is right there with it but double the price. I still say the ep beats the 2e on reception on AM for sure. I really dislike the auto coil antenna tuning the 2e does. I also prefer the ep's am audio as well. I really don't like digital radios if I can be honest. I was not a huge AM listener before the EP. If ccrane can get rid of the overloading this radio does then it would be perfect. But for $84you can't go wrong.
At some point I will look into the overloading issue - if you want to go it alone it is probably the AGC not being aggressive enough. That or the RF gain being too high for the IC to handle. I think it would be a pretty simple fix.
Gotta go along on the CCrane ep.. It;s a great sounding radio and has the best AM reception I ever heard. Only issue is the dominant local station will eliminate any adjacent stations. We have a 10,000 watt 1070 two miles from here. It wipes out WBAL 1090 about 140 miles away. On the Sangean PRD5 there is no such problem.
I don't have the 2E from Crane. As much as a radio geek that I am I can't justify the price on that radio. Is it really much better than the ep?
I don't have the 2E from Crane. As much as a radio geek that I am I can't justify the price on that radio. Is it really much better than the ep?
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rbrucecarter5
Guest
I don't have a CCrane 2E. But I can speak to the EP, because I have one. It is based on the Sanyo LA1260, which has always been a bit problematic. The Radio Shack 12-603's used them, and also had a tendency to overload in the presence of strong local stations. The AGC is really messed up in a 12-603, and it is another radio that probably needs my hacking touch. LA1260 is an interesting chip, because it has a degree of RF amplification on the AM antenna input. This gives it the potential to be a great DX unit, but I suspect the EP adds too much RF gain in its separate, external RF stage. I intend to re-bias that stage to have less gain, and I bet it doesn't take much to make it stable in the presence of strong locals. The main reason to have a tuned RF stage is to overcome noise, and to provide some image rejection. It is not necessarily to make the radio more sensitive, although it can help. But more sensitivity doesn't help if you are overloading. If you can bias a transistor stage, and don't mind surface mount boards - give it a try. The EP is unusual, because it is a double sided board. So be careful with through hole components.
I had a CC-EP for a while. It was definitely as sensitive as my best portables (CC-2E, Sangean PR-D15), but the imaging was terrible on the upper half of the AM band. For example, I'm 29 miles from 50 kW 1200 WOAI, and 11 kW 1160 KRDY, which is 14 miles from me, was bleeding over it. I had to rotate the radio to null it out so I could hear WOAI in the clear. The twin coil fine tuning only helped a little. Not even my cheapest radios have imaging that bad.
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I don't have a CCrane 2E. But I can speak to the EP, because I have one. It is based on the Sanyo LA1260, which has always been a bit problematic. The Radio Shack 12-603's used them, and also had a tendency to overload in the presence of strong local stations. The AGC is really messed up in a 12-603, and it is another radio that probably needs my hacking touch. LA1260 is an interesting chip, because it has a degree of RF amplification on the AM antenna input. This gives it the potential to be a great DX unit, but I suspect the EP adds too much RF gain in its separate, external RF stage. I intend to re-bias that stage to have less gain, and I bet it doesn't take much to make it stable in the presence of strong locals. The main reason to have a tuned RF stage is to overcome noise, and to provide some image rejection. It is not necessarily to make the radio more sensitive, although it can help. But more sensitivity doesn't help if you are overloading. If you can bias a transistor stage, and don't mind surface mount boards - give it a try. The EP is unusual, because it is a double sided board. So be careful with through hole components.
It's possible the LA1260 and similar chips (the newer version of the LA1260 -- can't remember the model # -- and the Sony CXA1019 comes to mind) were designed more to be used with 50-60mm loopsticks. I have a Sanyo walkman with an LA1260 that works terrific. Small loopstick, obviously. Every other radio I have with a similar chip (Panasonic and Sony alarm clock radios, Sony ICF38) also DX decently, but they also have 50 or 60mm loopsticks. No overload problems on any of them. But then, I'm not closer than 10 miles or so from the nearest AM transmitter.
Well guys. A lot has changed in a year. LOL So now I own the CC EP, the Sangean HDR16, the srf59 and the sangean pocket radio. I think it is like dt160 but not sure at the moment. My CC pocket died on me last month. I think I'm going to pick up that sangean pocket radio with a speaker as well. I like to have a pocket radio with a speaker on it. The EP is still my fav.
C. Crane is now advertising the CCRadio-EP Pro, which will be available in March 2018.
https://www.ccrane.com/item/rad_ccradio_cepro/999/ccradio-ep_pro
I hope that the "pro" improvement over the current EP will be elimination of images and bleed-through from strong locals. Interestingly, from the picture shown on the website, it looks like the twin-coil ferrite fine tuning knob has been removed in the Pro version.
https://www.ccrane.com/item/rad_ccradio_cepro/999/ccradio-ep_pro
I hope that the "pro" improvement over the current EP will be elimination of images and bleed-through from strong locals. Interestingly, from the picture shown on the website, it looks like the twin-coil ferrite fine tuning knob has been removed in the Pro version.
Some of the specs shown in that link for the CCRadio-EP Pro are not very descriptive.
Sensitivity FM > 5uv
AM MW > 0.2 mV/M
The sensitivity for what signal-to-noise ratio at the audio output of the receiver, and for which settings of the FM stereo/mono, music/voice, and bass/treble controls?
Bandwidth Wide > 6kHz
Narrow > 2.5kHz
The specification doesn't state whether those bandwidths apply to the audio output or the r-f/i-f circuits of the receiver, the amount of attenuation at the upper frequency limit, and for which receive modes they apply (AM/FM Mono/FM Stereo).
Sensitivity FM > 5uv
AM MW > 0.2 mV/M
The sensitivity for what signal-to-noise ratio at the audio output of the receiver, and for which settings of the FM stereo/mono, music/voice, and bass/treble controls?
Bandwidth Wide > 6kHz
Narrow > 2.5kHz
The specification doesn't state whether those bandwidths apply to the audio output or the r-f/i-f circuits of the receiver, the amount of attenuation at the upper frequency limit, and for which receive modes they apply (AM/FM Mono/FM Stereo).
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
Some of the specs shown in that link for the CCRadio-EP Pro are not very descriptive.
Sensitivity FM > 5uv
AM MW > 0.2 mV/M
The sensitivity for what signal-to-noise ratio at the audio output of the receiver, and for which settings of the FM stereo/mono, music/voice, and bass/treble controls?
Bandwidth Wide > 6kHz
Narrow > 2.5kHz
The specification doesn't state whether those bandwidths apply to the audio output or the r-f/i-f circuits of the receiver, the amount of attenuation at the upper frequency limit, and for which receive modes they apply (AM/FM Mono/FM Stereo).
Sounds like the same basic design as the EP. Those bandwidths come from two ceramic filters, selected by the user with the bandwidth switch: http://earmark.net/gesr/ccep.htm. Getting rid of the images and overload would be a very welcome improvement!
It's too bad they don't say what improvements they make to the EP. I doubt it's a SiLabs DSP chip -- the mechanically tuned DSP chips are OK in pocket radios, but I'm not sure how it would work in an analog tuned CCRadio.
I'm glad CCrane makes these radios for MW and DX aficionados.
I still think a Sangean is a better deal for the money, though.... but perhaps that isn't a fair statement as I haven't compared a CCrane to a PR-D5.
I'm glad CCrane makes these radios for MW and DX aficionados.
I still think a Sangean is a better deal for the money, though.... but perhaps that isn't a fair statement as I haven't compared a CCrane to a PR-D5.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
It's too bad they don't say what improvements they make to the EP. I doubt it's a SiLabs DSP chip -- the mechanically tuned DSP chips are OK in pocket radios, but I'm not sure how it would work in an analog tuned CCRadio.
I'm glad CCrane makes these radios for MW and DX aficionados.
I still think a Sangean is a better deal for the money, though.... but perhaps that isn't a fair statement as I haven't compared a CCrane to a PR-D5.
SiLabs is VASTLY overrated. I have their FM chip in a computer dongle. I have to use it on at least a two foot USB cable or it is swamped. It comes with a wire for an antenna. I tried hooking the wire to one side of a yagi - yes the band came alive, but the selectivity sucked, and it overloaded. I see the SiLabs chip as a good alternative for a low cost - or small - portable radio. I wonder how the AM FM version would work - they recommend a single turn loop fabricated on the PC board. The aperature area of the loop, however, would be too small for anything but local reception, and would be prone to self-interference from digital sections of the board. Perhaps it would do better with an external loop - if it was large enough.
SiLabs is VASTLY overrated. I have their FM chip in a computer dongle. I have to use it on at least a two foot USB cable or it is swamped. It comes with a wire for an antenna. I tried hooking the wire to one side of a yagi - yes the band came alive, but the selectivity sucked, and it overloaded. I see the SiLabs chip as a good alternative for a low cost - or small - portable radio. I wonder how the AM FM version would work - they recommend a single turn loop fabricated on the PC board. The aperature area of the loop, however, would be too small for anything but local reception, and would be prone to self-interference from digital sections of the board. Perhaps it would do better with an external loop - if it was large enough.
The PR-D5 has one (an Si4731), and it works well. No overload on MW, and that's with a twin coil 200mm loopstick antenna. I've noticed no overload on FM, either.
There also is a mechanically tuned (a potentiometer is used) SiLabs chip in the Radio Shack pocket radio, which I have... No overload there, either (60 or 90mm loopstick -- I forget which). FM on the pocket radio is quite good. My Grundig G2 has a SiLabs chip, and the only overload is on SW, which is often standard on small SW radios, and it easily remedied on the G2 by decreasing the whip. On FM it has no overload, and pulls in stations as well, or better, than any of my other portables.
I'd suggest you try out a PR-D5 and see how such radio can work with a SiLabs chip inside them. Perhaps they improved the design of their chips since you tried the dongle.
Jay Allen's review of the CCRadio-EP Pro is out:
https://radiojayallen.com/c-crane-cc-ep-pro-am-fm-analog-tuned-radio/
He says that the radio has a "more advanced DSP chip" and both AM and FM reception are now "as good as it gets in this class of radio." Jay doesn't mention overloading at all in the review, so that problem appears to be solved with the new chip. However, it looks like the EP Pro is a step backward in some ways compared to the original EP as far as DXing is concerned:
- The external antenna switches no longer disconnect the AM ferrite rod or the FM telescoping antenna.
- The radio now only tunes in 10 kHz steps and mutes when tuning on AM.
- On both AM and FM there are weak images of some stations on either side of their actual signals.
https://radiojayallen.com/c-crane-cc-ep-pro-am-fm-analog-tuned-radio/
He says that the radio has a "more advanced DSP chip" and both AM and FM reception are now "as good as it gets in this class of radio." Jay doesn't mention overloading at all in the review, so that problem appears to be solved with the new chip. However, it looks like the EP Pro is a step backward in some ways compared to the original EP as far as DXing is concerned:
- The external antenna switches no longer disconnect the AM ferrite rod or the FM telescoping antenna.
- The radio now only tunes in 10 kHz steps and mutes when tuning on AM.
- On both AM and FM there are weak images of some stations on either side of their actual signals.
Because it's analog tuned, the new CCraneEP is probably using a similar chip to the one in the Radio Shack Pocket Radio: a SiLabs chip that is designed for 'mechanical tuning', i.e. a potentiometer. What Jay Allen calls false peaks is no big deal really. The pocket radio has a bit of that, it's like it's catching the sidebands, then going across a stronger signal in increments. It's digitally tuning the AM spectrum, actually, but just using a potentiometer and a chip designed to imitate analog tuning.
Stereo on FM through the headphone jack is a nice plus.
Stereo on FM through the headphone jack is a nice plus.
Well guys. i just picked up the sr35 and love it. I'm also going to pick up the EP pro.
Well guys!!!!! I have finally found the gold mine for portable radios. The best pocket radios are the Sangean SR35 and the Jameson Electronics pocket radio. I wished I would have known about these radios years ago but it is OK> Also I'm buying the EP pro as well. But if you want portable dx machines that can do separation and sensitivity then it's hard to top the Sangean SR35 and the Jameson Electronics pocket radio.
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