Uniden BEARCAT 980 40- Channel SSB CB Radio with Sideband NOAA WeatherBand,7- Color Digital Display PA/CB Switch and Noise Cancelling Mic, Wireless Mic Compatible

THIS IS THE SECOND 980 SSB I BOUGHT FROM AMAZON....IT WAS RECENTLY ON SALE FOR $122.00........I JUST COULDNT PASS IT UP........THE FIRST ONE I BOUGHT IN 2013...........I NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS AFTER INSTALLING IT IN MY PICK-UP TRUCK ALONG WITH A K30 ANTENNA.....THE NEW ONE WILL BE INSTALLED IN MY AUTO....ALONG WITH A WILSON LITTLE WIL ANTENNA.........GREAT SSB CB RADIO......THE ONLY BAD THING IS THAT UNIDEN MADE IT SO YOU CANT MODIFY IT.......DAM IT!!!!

Worked great for three days then broke... Swr was 1.0 with a 108 whip, for whatever reason I was talking to a local on 19 am and out of nowhere the reception seemed to vanish, and the on radio broadcast indicator didnt go past the second line. Did the self diagnostics and it failed. Requested a replacement, hopefully mine was just a fluke, Ill update if the second is better. Update, so I got the new one PROMPTLY from amazon, took one day! So kudos for getting me back on the air so quickly, the new radio seems to run cooler, indicated the same swr as the first (1.0-1.1). New one seems to receive better with less interference and static, and I get good reports of the audio, as well as an increase in range. I believe the first one was just a dud, time will tell with this one! I would still recommend this radio, its nice, modern, and the comparatively lower (legal!) output is PERFECT for driving an amp if thats your thing. With my 102 whip drill mounted to my roof it throws out roughly 10 miles! Plenty far.

I like all the lights on front , plus Radio seems to receive very good just made contact about 14 miles away and other party sounded like he was in my front yard, very loud, Im getting 2 mod to 4 watts output. Im using 102 whip up about 30ft to tip of whip. cant beat whip for receive.. Other party said he had good strong copy on me also running barefooted radio. I just wish remote mike had squelch control on it would be great then. It even let me know my linear was ok during transmit ,later radio started loosing Audio at times. off & On problem sent back to seller for repair or refund, liked radio functions

I started out getting a cheap CB with no extras to see if I liked it. After playing around for a few days I decided I wanted the extra goodies. This radio is fantastic; I chose it over the comparable cobra. The Bearcat 980 is the same thing, except with SSB. Ive read that most people dont use SSB, but if you are planning on using this with an exclusive group this option may suit your needs. I put this on my 2000 Chevy Astro and am using it with a 4 Firestik. Here are a few notes: 1) Forget the cigarette lighter plug, buy some 14 gauge wire from the auto store and run it directly to your battery. This will GREATLY reduce the electrical interference from your engine. I first used the cig lighter and the interference was terrible. 2) This unit has a built in SWR meter, antenna checker, ANL AND NB (further reduces interference from outside sources), weather alert, all channel scan, and RF gain control. I use all these features regularly. These are the major goodies youre paying the extra money for and they make it 100x more enjoyable. 3) Make sure to tune your antennas SWR to prevent damage to the radio. 4) The aesthetics and build quality are great - being able to change the colors is way cool.

It works better than I expected.

First set up as an inverted V in the attic, and the SWR was bad enough that I couldn’t use the radio; the company was no help. I changed the configuration to an L and the SWR improved and showed that the legs had to be shortened. I just folded the ends just before the plastic insulators to shorten the legs by about 3”. The SWR went from above 3:5 to about 1:0 to 1:1± on all channels (by the radio’s SWR meter). I am within five miles of an industrial area with a major rail to truck terminal, and I know that at least one business uses 19 to contact incoming trucks, so I should get a lot of traffic on 19, but so far, I don’t. I’m giving a four for the SWR, but I’ll edit this review if I don’t feel that I’m receiving correctly.

After researching this unit on line I decided to take the plunge and purchase this radio. Past experience with multi-mode CB radios dictated that one always had to unlock the clarifier in order to keep the radio on frequency. I can say with this radio frequency stability is NOT an issue. Out of the box the radio was within 10-15 Hz to my Kenwood TS-850 HF Transceiver, this radio uses SMT and gone is the through hole 30+ year old circuit design. Bench testing the radio revealed that the radio does 3 watts unmodulated and 4 watts modulated on AM, SSB the radio did 11-12 watts. As I stated frequency stability is excellent, drift varies between +/- 10-15 Hz (at least with the radio I purchased). Viewing the output on my scope and spectrum analyzer revealed a very clean signal on both AM and SSB. The radio has some very useful features such as weather alert and the ability to scan all 40 CB channels. The built in diagnostic feature is very useful for testing voltage and SWR. One feature I would suggest to Uniden is the ability to adjust the volume and or disable the beep whenever a button is pushed or channel is selected. Uniden definitely raised the bar circuit design wise with this radio, and I would recommend this radio to someone looking for a modern SSB CB radio.

I cant believe that I didnt review this a long time ago. It has been a reliable radio, I have been using this for several years in my Jeep without issues.

LED is too hard to read cant see it during the day. Settings are set to the brightest colors brightness contrast still cant see it. I really should return it.

Read the fine print, radio does not come with wireless mic/sold separately, its only compatable for it..for the price, it should be included...just BS...Wireless mic cost approx. $100 more. The whole pint for this radio is to have the wifi mic