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COULD USE SOME HELP!

J

junior44

HELLO! IM NEW TON HE FORUM AND TO DXING!
i could use some help or advice!
i bought a c crane E3 PRO and tried ir out today!
I COUL ONLY PICK UP 2 TO 3 STATIONS ON BOTH AM AND FM!

I LIVE IN A SENIOR APPARTMENT COMPLEX AND WAS WONDERING
IF FOR SOME REASON THAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM???

ANY HELP OR ADVICE WOULD BE APPRICIARED!

THANKS! REGARDS! ED!
 
junior44 said:
HELLO! IM NEW TON HE FORUM AND TO DXING!
i could use some help or advice!
i bought a c crane E3 PRO and tried ir out today!
I COUL ONLY PICK UP 2 TO 3 STATIONS ON BOTH AM AND FM!

I LIVE IN A SENIOR APPARTMENT COMPLEX AND WAS WONDERING
IF FOR SOME REASON THAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM???

ANY HELP OR ADVICE WOULD BE APPRICIARED!

THANKS! REGARDS! ED!
Click to expand...
Huntingdon does not seem to have many strong stations, either AM or FM. It is possible that there is a source of electrical noise in the building causing interference. While the C Crane radio should have better performance than an average radio, you should be able to get some idea of what to expect by comparing it to another radio, yours or possibly a neighbor's.
 
What kind of construction is your complex? If it's steel and concrete, or if it's covered in stucco or some similar material, you will have a problem. Both will have excessive losses between outside and inside. Any electronic device that generates noise will make the problem worse. If you can take the radio outside, do so and see what you can receive.

I speak from experience; my house is the latter. I'm in Mesa AZ, 25 miles from Phoenix. I can't hear anything on Ancient Modulation unless I take a radio outside. FM is better only because the major stations run 100 kW on top of a 1500 foot mountain.
 
Lots of apartment complexes in that general area of the country were built of concrete block, with an exterior facade of bricks. Horrible for reception. I second what KeithE4 said - the radio you have will run on an A/C adapter, but will also operate on batteries. Try moving it around your place, maybe try positioning it near a window to see if reception improves. When using it with batteries, take it outside and have a walk around all sides of your building or complex to see what you can pick up. Your profile says you're in Huntingdon, PA, not really close to any major cities. How is the reception a car radio in that area and how many stations do you typically get in a vehicle?
 
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Set the radio next to a window, at night especially, and tune around on the AM band. See if that makes a difference. When I used to be a janitor, I worked in Steel and glass office buildings. Inside the building, AM was poor. Seeing the AM radio right next to the window brought in tons of stations at night.

FM can also be affected to a certain extent by steel framed buildings. They're a very localized version of what radio people would call "terrain shadows", where something very solid and metallic (or a hill, for example) can block direct signals from the FM stations. Moving the radio around, or moving its FM whip antenna around, should help bring in some more stations.

During the daytime, your AM band performance will be locals only. And if you don't have many AM stations, that's all you're going to hear.
 
junior44 said:
HELLO! IM NEW TON HE FORUM AND TO DXING!
i could use some help or advice!
i bought a c crane E3 PRO and tried ir out today!

THANKS! REGARDS! ED!
Click to expand...
Welcome to the board, Ed. You're always among friends here.

As others have alluded to, you might want to place your radio as close to the window as possible Especially for AM. If, by chance, yu have an exposed water pipe, placing the radio next to that will also help. Otherwise, when the weather warms, simply go outside and compare your results with indoors. If reception is markedly better outside than inside, that will confirm that the building is your problem.

FM should be less affecteed than AM by your building.. Putting the radio by a window is still a good idea. An even better idea is checking to see if your radio has a "DX-Local" switch, and make sure it's set to "DX" (The switch will not affect AM reception).
 
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Do you have the EP-Pro model?

According to the manual EP-Pro has an INT/EXT antenna switch on the back. Normally this would be set to INT.
As others have said, terrain and a small number of FM stations may impact FM reception. On AM, try the radio out at night and see if you hear more AM stations. It may simply be that you are in an area where daytime reception of FM and AM stations is minimal. At night you should hear more AM stations fading in and out, as they have done faithfully for 100 years.

9/10 kHz switch should be set for10 kHz in the U.S
Understand correct use of wide/narrow switch on AM

Look carefully at page 13 of the manual.


If you have a car with a good radio, what can you hear on that radio? EP-Pro should be comparable to that, provided it is located away from electrical noise producing things in the house (as others have said). If you have a back porch or a backyard gazebo away from power lines, try the EP-Pro there.

If all these things have been tried and the radio is still apparently not working properly, contact C Crane.

I am very happy with my CC Radio 2E. Here in Annapolis MD, just tuned in WBZ Boston, WBT Charlotte, WLW Cincinnati, and all the usual suspects. New York is not coming in at this moment. Note I did have to step away from the computers on my desk to do this.
 
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Ed-
I re-read your original message. I apologize for mentioning back porch, yard and a car, since you are in an apartment. It is possible your apartment and the building have a significant amount of electrical noise and signal blockage caused by the building construction. However, unless the exact one you received happens to be defective, I think you made a smart choice for an AM-FM portable radio. If you have an opportunity to relax outside the radio might be a good companion. There are places in the US without a large number of moderate to strong signal AM signals during the daytime. This means you could be out in the country and might get some fresh air and bright stars.
 
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