I have a collection of portable shortwave radios - it's grown pretty rapidly in recent years as I've finally reached a stage in my career where I can indulge a little. This of course proves the universe has a perverse sense of humor since there's less and less to be heard on "shortwave", especially the broadcast bands, but I digress. All of these little radios are broad coverage communications receivers that cover longwave, mediumwave (AM), shortwave (usually with SSB), FM broadcast, and some of them have VHF air band which I actually enjoy using.
Two of my favorite small, travel-size portables are the C. Crane Skywave SSB, and the Digitech AR-1780. Note, the AR-1780 is nearly identical to the XHData D-808, and I have other posts on this site about it. What prompted me to write today is my Skywave SSB was recently broken (maybe a post for another time) and I shall not be able to buy a new one for a few weeks. This has led me to use the AR-1780 a good bit more, and to think hard about what I like, and dislike, about both radios.
Now there are a lot of similarities between these radios. The general consensus on the interwebs seems to be that the Chinese manufacturer of the AR-1780 cribbed much of the design from the Skywave SSB. I am not sure if there's proof of that, but you'll see it repeated on multiple web sites. The radios almost certainly use some of the same DSP components. Among the similarities:
1. Both radios cover LW, MW, SW (with SSB), FM, and VHF AIR band.
2. Both radios have unusually good AIR band performance.
3. Both radios offer 500 memories, and the memory allocations, page functions, etc. all work identically on both radios.
4. Button operation and even location are very similar (though not identical).
But there are some differences, and some of them are kind of important in real world usage:
1. The Skywave SSB operates on only two AA batteries, whereas the AR-1780 uses four. This could be important if you are traveling.
2. The Skywave has a relatively short telescoping whip which limits sensitivity, especially on shortwave. The whip on the AR-1780 is longer and you can tell from the performance. See next note.
3. The Skywave lacks an external antenna jack. Given that the whip is so short, this really hampers the ability to improve reception with an external antenna. You can, of course, clip a length of wire to the whip. The AR-1780 has an antenna jack, and plugging in an external antenna helps with MW, SW, and AIR band. I have read some suggestions it doesn't help on anything but shortwave, but I can tell you in real-world usage that it helps with the other bands.
4. The AR-1780 outperforms the Skywave on MW AM pretty handily.
5. The Skywave SSB has the ability to scan one bank of up to 10 AIR band memories, which is a major plus for monitoring multiple frequencies. The AR-1780 does not do this and I am sorely missing it right now.
6. The Skywave SSB can tune all of the NOAA weather radio frequencies. The AR-1780 doesn't have them. And not only does the Skywave have them, it is one of the best performing weather radios I have ever owned.
7. The AR-1780 has RDS display on FM, which is a "nice to have". The Skywave SSB does not.
8. The Skywave SSB is significantly more expensive than the AR-1780, running about $170 (not including shipping - if you have Amazon Prime the shipping is no charge), while the AR-1780 runs about $120 including shipping from wherever you have to get it (mostly available either from Jaycar's US site, or various Ebay dealers).
I am not sure this list gets anyone to "the" answer, if you were looking for a clear choice between the two radios. I think the AR-1780 is probably the better value, but if NOAA weather is important, and if you like the AIR band scanning on the Skywave, the premium you pay for it may be worth it. I like both radios; the AR-1780 is a little better for me indoors where the ability to plug in my external antennas helps a lot, while the Skywave is super nice for sitting outside on the patio and letting the scanner run through my AIR band frequencies.
