C.Crane Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna | Full Review & Demo!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- The C.Crane Twin Coil Ferrite AM Antenna is a unique item for those enthusiastic about their AM reception. Passive loops work well, but this device will push those limits. Allowing multiple mounting options for the radio hobbyist.
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Features I like about this Antenna System:
Portable! Yes, it can operate on battery power for up to 45 hours.
Twin Coil Antenna element similar to the ones in their premium radios.
The main antenna element can be mounted up to 75' away from the control box.
Can be mounted outside with certain precautions.
Included AC adapter to power the system.
Direct connection provided for radios with antenna terminals.
Amazing gain during daytime and evening hours.
Can be used along with a passive loop, great for experimentation.
Includes a Ferrite stick to direct the gain to radios without external connections. Works incredibly well.
Build quality is top notch.
Mounting hardware included.
The Fine Tuning Control is excellent.
Works very well to Null out adjacent stations.
Overall, if your serious about your AM reception and wish to improve it, then this Antenna system is for you.
It is an investment, but one that gives so much back in listening pleasure. I use it every day to explore the AM band for the chance to log new low power & distant stations.
Thank you for watching, hope you enjoyed this review and demo.
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It's a reflex to treat the fine tune knob like a volume control and just turn it on and leave it "low" - but if you get in the habit of swinging the fine tune control to the 12 o'clock position right when you turn it on, then you've got plenty of +/- room to fine tune it once you get it roughly tuned with the bigger knob. And hey, thanks for this review!
Nice to see a review on my old patent.
Just stopping by and reminiscing.
Have a good day Todd.
lol. Small world! I just unpacked your 'Justice AM Antenna' about 10 minutes before I read your post. Bought it (hardly used) on eBay for half price of what a new one cost. Couldn't pass it up. Looking forward to using it!
Hello , I have come across a mint Justice unit at half the price. Is the Justice unit identical in specs to the C Crane unit ?
That’s awesome!!! It’s sad they seem no longer available... what happened? I wish I could get one...
@@scottbelcher9026 I'm unsure. I cut ties with them approx 20 years ago, and run our own company now, specializing in different technology. Great antenna. I have serial # 1. I have serial # 1 of all the radios, antennas and gadgets I designed back then. It was one of my demands.. I even have CCRadio serial #1, because I was the designer and engineer of that radio.. Heck I have about 15 different serial #1 products at least. haha.. have a good day.
@@chancha807 The Justice one is better, cause it has my name on it. lol. The one you have is a bit rarer.. When I cut ties with them, I requested they remove my name off of their products for marketing. Have a good day! The very rare ones, are the in-house built small production ones.. Production built a lot of them by hand back then. Good luck!
Great demonstration, Pete. I watch this every six months or so and, one of these days will break down and order one. This antenna really rocks. Thanks for demonstrating its versatility and efficacy.
I love using it with my PL-360: th-cam.com/video/KKc0niJjLDM/w-d-xo.html
Great antenna so glad C Crane is still selling them, have one on the way. Off the market for a while, it's back get it while you can. And before I forget GREAT review and the only in depth review and demo.
Thank you Grayman423, I appreciate the comment.
This antenna is fantastic. I use it for my modern radios and also for my vintage tube radios. In all cases it improves reception and clarity remarkably. It is well worth the asking price at CCrane.
A great video, thank you sir.
All of your videos are great, they are helpful and informative, I like them all... but this one deals with one of my favorite DXing tools, the Crane TCA! I own two of them, and have used them in various configurations for many years; at one point I had them on outside extensions (when Crane was steeply discounting the 25' and 50' cables and connectors some years back I grabbed a bunch!), and brought them together at the receiver through one of my other favorite MW DXing tools, the Quantum Phaser from Gerry Thomas at RadioPlus.
Having the antenna elements outside and away from the house noise, mounted in trees about 20 feet up, separated from each other by 20 or 25 feet, and aiming one sorta N/S and the other sorta E/W, I could phase them with the Quantum unit and direct them to give me a kind of aimable searchlight through the MW band. That set-up brought me much Dxing happiness, haha! Especially numerous 'graveyard channel' DX catches over time. One of my favorite 'set-ups', that one.
But combined with other tools or by itself, obviously, the TCA is a truly fantastic DXer's weapon. Solid as a rock too, built to last (never had a single malfunction in years of experimentation and use). At twice the price it is worth it; at its retail price it is a *steal* for what you're getting... and it will add to any AM radio's capabilities to boost signals and kill noise and interference.
Even truly great portable receivers like the Panasonic RF2200 (with its Gyroantenna and air variable tuning making it a king among MW receivers), or the GE Superradio line, or Crane's own CC2E and EP/EP-Pro (as shown in this awesome video), can be aided. The better the portable receiver, the less it needs (or gets) real help from any additional antenna system... but the TCA can always be of service even to the best of them.
Sorry to be rambling like an idiot in the video comments here, but your video just got me feeling like praising a great product from a great company. Thank you for the great video. Happy DXing!
73 de N0TLD
I found the big brown round flat pan select-a-tenna at the Goodwill for $3.99 if you can believe that! True story. No wires to connect, just a proximity location near the radio and fine tune the dial will pull in even the hardest to pick up AM stations. It is fun to play around with!!
Brians Mac select a tennas are good, classy looking,
The CCRadio EP Pro actually has the antenna you were experimenting around with built in. The antenna you are demonstrating is a quality piece of work. Nice to use on radios lacking a quality antenna or replacing those radios where the onboard antennas are damaged and not fully operational. WK0Y
Very helpful video. I purchased this about a month ago and still learning how to use it. It is remarkable.
You're Welcome jesse. A step above the small passive loops.
Todd new to sw just bought a pl680 I love this radio..I just watched this video 3 days ago. Searched on eBay 1 person had it used but barely used box and all parts I got it for $40 shipped...I have mla30 but I'm really looking forward to getting this. C crane antenna ty for all your videos very helpful for us that are new
This will be used for your MW DXing. It is superior to loops, and wires. I love it.
Comb FB market place I found one used only 3 times for $50 with shipping. One was available new in box, for $20 but person selling only wanted local pick up. Still I got one.
I have the Tecsun Pl-365, the upgrade to this, bought it here where I live in Australia, and was amazed at the features. Lots of fun, and keeping my eye on the upcoming Tecsun PL-368. Wanting to purchase this twin coil as I am really impressed by your results. Love your videos mate, thank you for your time and best efforts.
I did some videos with this paired to a Tecsun PL-360 th-cam.com/video/KKc0niJjLDM/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/ETCUUZO7Ka0/w-d-xo.html . I too am looking forward to the 368.
This looks like a good unit for my home stereo.
Cool! Steve and Johnnie used to advertise this all the time on WGN Chicago, 50KW. I could not believe that station you hauled in was 1KW! I might get this. I'll be using a Sansui, TU-999 vintage AM-FM tuner. Thank you!
The past months, I received an e-mail from Ccrane announcing the return of this useful antenna. I will have to be patient with the actual situation in Argentina, but I think it worth the money. Thanks for sharing Pete!
Todd, thanks for doing this video. The C.Crane antenna significantly improved reception. More than I thought it would. It would be interesting if you did a demo outdoors as well (i.e., away from any interference).
Your observation about the EP Pro possibly responding better during the day than night might be in agreement with what I've read from another guy trying the twin coil with that radio. He said there really isn't any difference from the internal ferrite so he may have tried at night. He surmised the rod's coil arraignment along with its slight tuning capability offset any significant advantage from the tunable external antenna.
This was an excellent review and thank you for doing it. I have this unit and it is a quality piece of kit.I have managed to get trans atlantic MW stations with it and my tecsun PL360 although my location is in Nova Scotia Canada.
Going to pick one up for my table radio. Thanks for the Demo.
Thet is a great antenna for experiments ! Excellent review! Thank you Mr.Todderbert👍!
You're Welcome Toney, you would do the same for someone else :) this is an awesome antenna for experimenting.
ccrane website is actually linking to your video man. Nice.
They are an awesome company.
Great demonstration! In fact, the best comparison on this antenna on TH-cam. I purchased one because of your demonstration. I am still looking for something that I can use as a rotor to place it in the attic. I would love to go high with it. However, I don't want to climb up and have to set it as I am dxing. Also, I do not want to spend more money than the antenna for a rotor. I am trying to find some cheap way to accomplish a spinning device. You got me excited about Medium Wave dxing again.
is there one for FM? i walk to the other side of the house and the signal disappears :(
To do far better than this very cheap....wrap 120 turns of 26AWG magnet wire close wound on a cardboard paper towel tube. Connect a 250 ft longwire to one end of coil and ground to other end. Place coil near radio during the day. You can also connect a longwire to each end of the coil. That's how I do it. String out longwires through the bushes or between trees, along fences, or along lower tree limbs. I went from getting only four AM stations to about 50 during the day.
To give you an idea on the range of a setup like this...in NW Louisiana I could pick up New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City stations during the day and many others.
I will definitely try this. How did you come up with 120 turns for the coil? Did you calculate it, or did you do so by experiment?
Could you ground it to an 8ft copper rod driven into the ground?
@@64samsky Yep! That will work great! Clean the area you are going to fasten the wire to with sandpaper or a file!
@@tz9392 You want it to go 10 to 12 inches across the tube! The number of rounds does not have to be exact. You can also us 16AWG (# 16 Automobile wire like you use for tail lights!)
That's an age-old setup that can certainly boost signals, and is easy and cheap enough. It is a useful weapon in the antenna armory... but I wouldn't say it is 'far better', at all. It's just a different tool. It might be louder, might ping your s-meter a bit more but louder is not automatically 'far better' than a good MW loop antenna... because it doesn't generally improve your signal-to-noise ratio.
That much wire can be a case of diminishing returns. Most portable and midsized radios can overload very easily on too much antenna, distorting audio and causing imaging (stronger signals show up on multiple frequencies where they don't belong), and in severe cases signal overloading and even static build up on a lot of wire can zap input transistors/detectors.
Of course, not everyone has the room for 250' of wire, so laying it out in various bends and angles to get it all to fit in whatever way you can make it fit the space you have only adds to its non-directionality, unpredictability and tendency to pick up just as much noise as signal.
And then it can't be moved and aimed... and that's one of the main advantages of small loop antennas like the Crane -- directionality, aiming them not only to boost a desired signal but to also null out other unwanted signals on the same frequency, or a loud, splattery signal on a nearby channel, to kill interference or other noise.
At MW frequencies long wires need to be much longer than 250 feet and in a *straight(ish) line* in order to become meaningfully directional (approaching a wavelength at least, which at MW is two or three times that)... and therefore being non-directional they will pick up as much noise as signal, so the induction-coupled long wire will not help you dig a weak signal out of the noise, not by itself (and even with added wires, not easily or cheaply).
The Crane loop (like any small loop, ferrite or air core) on the other hand can be aimed easily to bring a fringe station right up out of the noise, and to separate/clearly hear different stations occupying the same frequency. You can't do that with a single long wire, and even if you lay out other wires they need to be long enough, and switched or phased to have the same ease of tuning as a small loop.
I LOVE the induction coupled long wire antenna but I'm just saying, it's not better. It's another useful tool for the listener.
I seem to remember a Dynamax twin coil. It was powered and tuneable. It had the little two wires and ground, but it was expensive and clunky.
Lol the Sangean looks like my thermostat😂
That is pretty cool! Thanks for charing that!
You're Welcome Josh, I am sure you would do the same for others :)
Thanks for such a quick reply.Thanks for the info.
I thoroughly enjoyed this review. Having owned the original twin coil version of your antenna I can attest to it's performance and durability. I have logged quite a few new stations with it. Thanks!
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I somehow forgot the login password. I love any assistance you can offer me!
@Carl Damien Instablaster =)
@Arthur Layne i really appreciate your reply. I found the site thru google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
Takes a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
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Great review especially the receive demo. It helps make the decision to buy one of these ASAP.
Works great. I want one!
Somehow I missed this one and am seeing it for the first time. I’d love to see this up against one of the low end radios
I used it with a Tivdio V-115: th-cam.com/video/XAglosoNJOA/w-d-xo.html , I also showed a lot of gain differences with the Tecsun PL-360: th-cam.com/video/KKc0niJjLDM/w-d-xo.html
Where can I buy one of these? Amazon, eBay and the C. Crane website said it's sold out/discontinued.
Hey, Todderbert. Guess what... I was driving back home after going out with my GF, while my car's OEM clarion radio tuning 1080 KHz. at 07:10 UTC. I realized it was a news station and It was in english. (I'm from Mexico City). After some research, I suspect it was KRLD, from Dallas. It's 50 KW. Some impressive. I never expected catching such a far signal from a car's stereo. Greetings...
Excellent, sometimes car radios can be very sensitive on the MW band.
Beautiful piece.
It would be nice to see the DX-286 using this antenna.
Just got this antenna today along with both versions of their reflect antenna (amazing how three different sources and they all arrived the same day) as far as the twin coil goes, wow this little antenna packs a punch on reception, doesn’t seem to get along well with my sangean hd-18, but the Grundig Satellit 800 and tecsun 880 pl also found out by accident the adapter included with the reflect 2 actually works with the tecsun which gets me more interested if it can help getting that mta frequency I’ve learned started recently
woulod likevto see the powered antenna vs. the collapsible antennae
There is an explanation in the patent information on what the "Twin Coil" part of this antenna system does. It seems to pick up more energy from the ferrite rod than if it was wound with just one pickup coil. If you have two coils versus one, does that give the "passive gain" of the system an extra 3 db? I would imagine the rest of the gain for the Crane Antenna would come from the active electronics powered by the battery?
Ha ha is that Liam Howlett from the prodigy talking about Keith?
Todd, for this video what size patch cable did you use to connect the PL-360 to the C.Crane twin Coil Ferrite antenna tuner.
Three foot.
Is this a 1/8" to 1/8" mono cord.
Yes, it was from one of my modular synths. Used as a patch cable for single channel audio.
CAN I USE THIS ON AN OLD RADIO SHACK RECEIVER.
Is this identical to the c crane , sangean justice ?
Yes.
Nice demo. How does the performance of the MLA-30+ antenna compared to this antenna? Thanks
Great review! I've always been interested in this product by C.Crane ever since I saw you use it in your previous band scans and reviews. This really shows it's potential. Added to the wishlist - I'm sold.
Yes, that yellow patch cable is a simple mono to mono 1/8" . Used with modular audio synths.
You should have used the ferrite antenna that came with the radio. My countycomm radio works awesome with the ferrite antenna that came with it. That c crane antenna is pretty sweet though.
👍
Does this antena work with FM?
Work with TECSUN R-9700DX ?
Also like your advice,could you recommend the best budget Am analoge radio to catch international stations? Good reviews. Thanks😊
The Tecsun R9700DX is decent: th-cam.com/video/pR9UaloEljU/w-d-xo.html , if you need cheaper, then the R9012: th-cam.com/video/rZ5XSWgV-9M/w-d-xo.html .
The Twin Coil Antenna is designed for the AM Broadcast Band only. For Shortwave, just clip on a long wire to the antenna mast, or if the radio has an external SW antenna jack, you can connect the long wire directly to the radio, such as the 9700DX. I use the Kaito T-1 wire for Shortwave with excellent results, at Amazon: amzn.to/3pNHa23
@@todderbert many thanks 😊
Is the cord a 1/8" to 1/8" monor cord that was used to connect the PL360 to the antenna tuner.
Yes.
910 sounds like Allen H. Wieners station up in Main WXME transmitting from the Art bell memorial transmitter. Courtesy of the CBC Nova Scotia also WBCQ around 7.495 international shortwave. He is good friends with BoB Crane. It could also be a certain oldies station in Canada. I hear them at night very well I can not remember their frequency. If anyone wants to purchase one oer has any problems with their equipment just Call Bob Crane's granddaughter Amanda Justice. She will take good care of you. She is customer service for the C. Crane Company/ Radio Labs. Since Bob retired, he is still playing with radios though. Just not full time anymore. His Daughter and son in law are now running the company along with their two companies Radio Labs and Yuneec Drones.
You sold me. I just retired a couple of months ago and I FINALLY have time to listen to the radio. I have a quite a few dating from a 1937 The Halicrafters Dky Champion up to a several Sangean sets and my elderly awaited C Crane Skywave. You produce some excellent videos i really enjoy them. I might have to get one of those Tecsuns. Looks nice.
Awesome, thanks for the feedback. I plan on purchasing the new Tecsun shortwave radios when they become available.
Please in hindi
Could this be used with a low power am transmitter? I am having trouble figuring out what kind of antenna to use with my low power am transmitter. Anyone got any suggestions? Broadcasting on 1620.
might want to research that, but I'm guessing a long wire of some type.
todderbert Thanks! I have been looking but I haven’t wrapped my head around it yet. Will keep looking! Thanks for the great videos.
If you hook up this receiving antenna to any transmitter you will destroy it! You need some sort of a longwire with an antenna tuner.
Consider a comparison between antennas connecting to the same radio during the same broadcast conditions. You kinda did a little of that with the Sangean alert. (internal vs passive)
Done: th-cam.com/video/KKc0niJjLDM/w-d-xo.html
Good review- Now I am waiting for the shoot-out with the Tecsun passive loop.
Will see, the passive loop is good, but the Twin has a lot more gain. Daytime use is the best. I also like moving the element and not the radio for tuning in and nulling out stations. Very handy.
Enjoy your videos. Have you ever tried this antenna on old tube radio? I have a 1938 Zenith which would require a direct connection. I have a 50ft longwire connected but I get a lot of noise in the daytime but it works good for nighttime. I was wondering if this antenna would improve my reception in the day.
It may help. Directional Nulling is huge with this antenna. You would be adding the equivalent of a Superadio's antenna to your radio. I would do some research on the use of this type of antenna with a tube receiver. I have never tried it since I do not own a tube radio. Not sure if plate voltage "hum" (if I got that term correct) would be an issue with this setup.
Do a video with the twin coil ferrite on the Midland ER210.
I wonder if it would work with the er200?
@@rickyhouchens9955 sure it will. Any AM radio with a built in ferrite antenna or an external AM antenna jack.
Where did you buy this ?can’t seem to find it on Amazon
Direct from the Company.
Great review! I really like my twin ferrite tuner... Manage to pick up stations about 1,600 miles from my QTH in AZ.
Excellent Mitch, that is some serious DX.
Thanks! I have an adapter coming so I can hook it up to my RSP1A.... Should be interesting to see how that goes.
Awesome, I would like to know how that setup works out.
@@todderbert Will keep you posted.
Hi. Nice video and the C Crane twin coil ferrite antenna seems to be a quality product and a nice MW antenna. Appreciate the time and effort you put in to all your videos. I own a Tecsun PL-310 ET ( it's in fact, my first one !) and I am wondering whether this antenna would help improve it's MW reception quality. By the way, I have used the invite link provided to join your Discord group. Thank you.
Glad to have you over at Discord. The Twin Coil will help your 310ET during the day for sure. It is an investment. If you only have the 310ET I would recommend picking up the Terk AM Passive loop. It is a nice rig, for a decent price.
@@todderbert, appreciate the prompt reply and feedback. I have already ordered for an AN 200 MW loop antenna by Tecsun. Along with radio, I had also purchased the AN 48x active loop antenna (Tecsun). After a bit of experimentation with it I observed a marginal improvement in SW reception (sometimes) but it's small ferrite core antenna is useless for MW reception.
@@ennemm9265 You can see more of the Twin Coil in action with a Tecsun PL-360: th-cam.com/video/KKc0niJjLDM/w-d-xo.html
That pl_360 is a bit noisy.
Waw cool 👌
Great performance but, compared to a passive loop, what a mess of cabling if you want to use it all together in one place. Can’t find an MDIN 6 cable shorter than 3 ft.
Meant for Long distance installation. Though you lose the ability to Turn it for better reception.
I put mine on an antenna rotar
@@brendanb1541 Like outdoors on the roof kind of rotor? I'm talking about making a sort of rotating desk-organizer pen-cup kind of thing with the radio on the bottom, stationary, and the antenna element rotatable above maybe just behind it. A nice compact table setup for a portable radio up to, say, D808 size.
@@radellaf yes, up on the roof. I plan to mount my mla-30 up there too. Then I can turn it from indoors.
@@brendanb1541 Yeah, that’s a pretty different and more elaborate setup. Makes sense for the mla-30 (which also covers MW). I picked up the twin coil for its portability. Seems to outdo the Terk loop.
My outdoor MW is a 50’ wire, plus a ground, that does a bang up job bringing in stations. Weakly N-S directional, but being on the East coast, that’s good enough.
I’ve thought of picking up a mla30 but, really, if I get any more into outdoor antennas I’m going to go all out and put up a multiband ham radio vertical or V dipole. If the sunspots are active enough, a 10/15/20m would be doable. 40 is getting challenging, though there are trees available…
What happened to their old AM antenna that didn't need an AC adaptor?
This runs on a 9V battery as well.
@@todderbert Not a selling point IMO
@@scottmerrow7617 It's an old design...
Cool.
📻🙂
Or 590 wvlk in Kentucky lol
Does it work on shortwave ? If not why.
No, it is "tuned" for the AM broadcast band. You may want to look into those inexpensive MLA-30 MagLoop antennas, I have had decent luck with those on SW.
@@todderbert Thank you very much ! Love your show keep up the good work you do . Calling from the republic of ARMENIA.
갖고싶다
Sadly it appears they no longer make these...
K-zoo in the house!
Why do you always go only to your faverite stations, you never look for any other you only gose to the ones you have near by
What a weird comment. I am sure he tunes all through the MW band all the time with this hobby, he just uses a handful of stations for these video demos. When he's not making videos I imagine he tunes all over the place looking for interesting signals. I mean, he's a bloody radio hobbyist, why would he have all these radios and antennas if he 'never looked for any other' stations? But you know, even if he didn't... why the hell do you care? What's wrong with having favorite stations? Weird comment.
He tunes all over the band in dozens of these videos.
100 bucks