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

Muy bueno

Let me start by saying that I have owned many CB Radios over the years, different brands and styles, and I always end up back to a Uniden. This Uniden Bearcat 980 is a great general use CB radio, receives and transmits very well when paired up with a good quality antenna. The only downfall I have found with this CB is the display lights on the front, very hard to see the display such as channels etc. when in direct sunlight or bright light such as during the day in your vehicle. The display cannot be adjusted bright enough to counteract the brightness of daylight so it is downright impossible to see the display at certain times of day. I gave this radio 4 stars because it is absolutely a great CB, 1 star knocked off due to the dim display light that can’t be seen well in bright light.

I gave this radio 5 stars because its been years since Uniden has come out with a Single Side Band radio and this latest radio seems to be pretty stable with good audio reports. I have the radio for a couple of months now and so far so good. Ive been using 11 meter radios (CB) for around 40 years so Im not exactly a novice. The verdict of course is still out on its longevity and durability but seems well built and I intend to mostly use it for a base station application. I also purchased the wireless mic and both the mic and the radio have never failed to pair up and I have gone about 200 ft. from the radio without loss of signal, even with the radio inside the house. This is NOT a radio to tweak and tune, which is totally fine with me, so you hash & trashers might not like it. PROS: Digital tuner and as yet hasnt drifted, staying right on frequency on SSB with no warm up time needed. The ability to adjust the lighting and colors for various lighting conditions. Weather Band with alerts on CB mode. Alert does work but be ready to jump! Simple diagnostic mode for quick check on SWR antenna match. Fine AND course clarifier. CONs: ANNOYING beep on every knob - except clarifier - or button pushed. Passive frequency counter, which really doesnt need to be on the radio since the clarifier is locked. According to my Dosy meter, the RF Power isnt quite up to 4 watts AM or 12 watts SSB but so minute that I have no problem with that but some might. Ill try to update this review after several more months or until something fails.

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.

Great radio, weather is clear and really pulls the signal in. SSB works very well also(made a 15mile contact first time out). I would have given it a five star if the readout was brighter/less glare. The screen or polished face plate has a glass like finish and reflects something awful during the day making it almost impossible to view the screen without moving your head around to cut out the glare/reflection. Otherwise a great radio.

The price and features combination make this a great buy. I have bought 3 of them in fact. I know the radios strengths and weaknesses. Why does anyone need 3 radios? I have 2 cars and a base station. These make great base stations if you know how to invert the power and use a battery in your home. Many radio buffs do this. Base stations cost so much more money but dont really perform much better. I have other radios too, including HAM radios. This radio has a few things to be aware of. The beeps are great for driving since you can change or adjust the stations without looking at it. (The beeps can be turned off) On SSB (Single Side Band) the clarifier has 2 knobs on top of each other. One is a broad tuner and the other is the fine tuner. No more chipmunks talking in the distance! (The way people sound when they are no clarified properly) The broad tune clarifier has a center notch stop you can feel without looking. Brilliant in the car! The LED screen is just not very bright and for a mobile device this is a real problem. It can be made brighter using the adjustment buttons/knobs but even in daylight mode at the brightest setting it is hard to see. Still, this is not important when you are driving, you just need to know the channel and nothing else. It has a digital meter on it as well and built in SWR but I only use these when I am stopped and not driving. I tested the accuracy of the built in SWR as well by hooking up a SWR meter. It is VERY close to the actual SWR meter. I feel very safe after testing this over and over that the built in SWR is giving me good readings. Warnings: Do NOT use a power mic on this (With a caveat, read on), it has a built in power mic (Gain control) for any mic hooked up to it. It comes with a microphone adapter too so that other mics can be used. DO NOT run this with a Noise Cancelling Mic and run this on volume setting 4. It will over modulate and possibly damage the radio. I know this first hand. I blew the radio up literally with a Noise Cancelling microphone. Smoke out of the radio. I should say I bought 4 of these because that is the real truth, I learned a hard lesson.I found I could run a Noise cancelling mic if I kept the volume at 2 and never above 3 on the volume (gain) control. There are 4 volumes levels on this control. I would have liked to have seen a more finer adjustment for this (10 volume levels instead of 4), but this works. Getting the SWR is critical for AM broadcasting. If you get the SWR right your signal is cleaner and matches up better with the carrier wave you are sending out. You talk further and better with a nice SWR (1.0 is perfect, but anything below 1.5 is acceptable, most people who understand SWR can get their antenna tuned to 1.1 or 1.2), and this radio has that all covered nicely. In short, this is a great radio, and as a radio operator for over 40 years, I really like this radio.

The volume on the radio does not work out of the box couldnt tell if the rest of it worked or not there was no volume

PROS: - Super sensitive receiver - Digital display - PA and speaker outputs (I have a AUX speaker and the fidelity is superb!) - Scan function (can scan LSB, USB, and AM) - SWR and antenna calibration is awesome - Mic gain for adding accessories and cutting down on noise - Microphone clarity is very clear - RF gain Local button is spectacular for knocking down DX noise - Display color changes CONS - Annoying beep on every button (there is a video on You Tube to remove a small chip and this loud beep will go away)I did the mod and the beep is about 98% gone...barely audible. Easy. - Weather station call up seems to be a tad on the weak side OVERALL - Been working with CBs since 1975 and I can say this one is by far my favorite. In fact, I am using it solely for my base station with a small 12v battery and Battery Tender charger (works awesome!). I am running a Firestik II (4) on top of my chimney about 30 up and I can pick up DX on skip and local traffic with ease. I live about 1 mile from the interstate and I can pick up chatter crystal clear. - ANL/NB seems to be a little weak, but does cut down on noise

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.

Excellent price verses truck stops!!! Great product right out of the box