Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This radio has been reviewed on Radiojayallen, http://radiojayallen.com/c-crane-cc-skywave-radio/, and is being discussed extensively in the Yahoo Group Ultralight DX: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ultralightdx/info There is also a number of photos showing the complete disassembly of the Skywave in the photos section of that group. What set this little radio apart from the competition is that it is the first radio to use the new Silicon Labs Si 4736 DSP chip, which offers the best AM performance on a radio of this size to date. The FM tuner is clearly superior as is SW when measured against other radios this size. If you are into MW DXing, this is about the best radio for that in its size class I have ever seen, and even competes favorably against some larger portables. While it does delete LW, it offers AM, FM, SW, Air Band, and NOAA Weather in the smallest handiest package available. It is easy to use, has great audio, and comes with a set of C. Crane earbuds which are among the best out there. The quality of the build is superior and solid as well. It is easy to use and has several features I really like such as being able to toggle the display between frequency and time, or, you can select frequency or time for the default display. While there is an optional AC Adapter, you can also recharge the radio (if you use NiMH batteries) through a USB port on a computer. It does not come with a USB cable for this purpose, however. AM,FM,Air, and Weather are not affected (at least as far as I can tell) when you are using the radio off of AC Adapter or Computer USB power. But, you will get some hash on shortwave, so it is best to use shortwave on batteries. The antenna is a wimpy 16" , but does an excellent job with FM, and surprisingly good on Shortwave. This is not simply another Chinese radio which has been rebadged for sale in the USA. This radio was also specifically designed for C. Crane, as evidenced by the photos of the internal printed circuit boards showing the C. Crane logo. It is manufactured for C. Crane by Redsun, and there are no derivatives or copies out there. There are a few things I did not like about the radio. First, the backlit display cannot be made to stay on full time. It has a ten second timer which allows the light to come on when you press a button or tune the tuning wheel, but it will always shut off after 10 seconds. Secondly, I had to press harder than I would like for all the key presses to register. Sometimes I would hear the key click, but the key function would not activate, so I had to press it again, harder. Lastly, at this price point the radio is literally twice the cost of some comparable Tecsun offerings. Is it worth the added cost? I would say that the performance enhancements coming from the SI4736 DSP Chip do make it worth the cost, but that is something everyone will have to decide for themselves. If you are a fan of AM radio, this is about the best you are going to get in a travel radio in terms of reception quality, audio quality, and freedom from digital artificats.