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

Ive been a radio operator for over 40yrs and over time collected ALOT of equipment. Ive always done my share of research before making a purchase .Back in the day research was done mostly by making distant contacts and comparing how radios sound today we have the internet. This radio is very new in design and very compact which is a plus for smaller vehicles. Myself a truck guy it looks alittle lost in the cab. I have opened this radio and peaked it out . Mind you this radio doesnt have alot to really tune alittle power and modulation thats it .The best i could do with this radio was about 6watts dead key and just under 15watts on Sb audio maxed is clear crisp and loud but doesnt provide the big swing we look for. All in all this radio looks great and has many features. This radio is not my long range choice but i will keep it in my truck and put it though the motions. A great radio at the price But wait till the export radio becomes available that maybe a radio to compete with but till then my 959 Galaxy cant be beat. This radio would have been a 5 STAR radio if it had the punch like i said wait for the export radio that maybe the one 73s Rick

This is a nice looking radio with a lot of options. First Ill explain a problem that I had because I didnt understand very well about single sideband transmission. When I installed my radio I ran it through the Diagnostic feature that is built into the radio (nice feature!). This feature allows you to test the Antenna load mismatch, RF power level and battery voltage. When I checked the RF Power output on the amplitude modulation function (normal CB mode) of the radio it showed a PASS in the diagnostic mode. However, when I switched to either the Upper or Lower Sideband function, the RF Power showed a Failure. I called Tech Support at Uniden and they said the radio must be bad and that I should return it. So I did. But, the second radio did the same thing. So I went to Amazon and asked a Community Question about what I was experiencing. Several knowledgeable people responded and educated me about SSB. Bottom line is that when the radio is in SSB mode, there is no RF Power produced until you speak into the mike. Consequently, the diagnostic will show a FAIL when testing SSB transmissions. The other thing that has been mentioned in many of the reviews is the brightness (or lack of brightness) of the digital display. And, this is a very real problem. While it is nice to have seven color display options, only one option (white) even comes close to providing enough illumination to be used in daylight, and it is still not quite enough. And that is after turning LCD Brightness and Contrast to the maximum levels. The fact is that on a sunny day, it is hard to read the display. Doable, but difficult. Another complaint in many of the reviews is the beep that occurs every time that you change something on the radio. But, that beep can be shut off!!!! (if your radio was manufactured after 2015). However, I have not found the beep to be annoying. In fact, since it is hard to see the display in bright light, it is convenient to hear the beep to know that you made what ever change on the radio that youre trying to make. And here is a comment about the Single Sideband function. I decided to get the 980 ssb because it was only about twenty three dollars more than the Bearcat 880 . And I figured that I might find the ssb function useful at some point. And while that may someday prove true, right now Im discovering that there is not much benefit in having the ssb function. If what you really want is just the CB and the 880 already puts you at the extreme of what you want to pay for a radio, but you are struggling because you think you might benefit from having the 980ssb, rest assured, at least from my point-of-view, you will not miss the ssb function. This 980ssb seems like a really good radio overall and I do not hesitate to recommend it or its non ssb counterpart the Bearcat 880 (which is exactly the same radio less the ssb function.)

Used radio didnt work at all not NEW! will be throwing it out garbage....will buy else where like a real CB store.Update my apprehension was wrong a bit,wasnt garbage like I thought it was.The radio was in fact tuned,was able to reach far out in other states.

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.

Uniden makes good radios these days. I worked for Radio Shack in the 70s and In the 1970s youd find these at your local McCrorys or FW Woolworths and other retail outlets. Though it was originally sort of a low-end near Kraco and Midland. Uniden (and Midland) has changed its style and operating procedures and moved up a lot. Plusses. Uniden gives you an adapter cable so you can use other brand manufactured microphones with this radio. That puts a touch of humanity in their brand. I like that. Its a well-thought out and diplomatic gesture that endears me now to their brand. It comes with a decent manual that explains all of your features. Kind of important because there are few knobs, more buttons and its a much more complex apparatus than what you found in the 70s - 2000s. Its light, relatively compact for a full bore SSB radio. The radio is strict in its power limits. There is no fudging this radio but a really great mike paired with it will give you some additional performance. I took this on the open road and got some great distance with the same K-30 I tuned using a Cobra HH RoadTrip. It came in handy during a 20 mile long traffic jam, and proved itself to be a skip radio as well. I didnt intend to go hunting for skip on the road but the receiver is incredibly good! I managed to converse with a guy 30 miles away as if he were next door to me. Another guy about 120 miles away was easily reached and heard. For a radio with strict technical limits, this radio reaches out and grabs them. I might add I just used the stock mike that came with it. No screaming, whistling or any drama on my part. Power wise it puts out 4 watts on deadkey. You can maybe peak it out maybe 6 or 7 AM if youre loud. Im not loud so I didnt see that kind of performance. Triple that on sideband about 12 watts output give or take. Its intended to perform as a stock radio so its within strict power limits that are not really going to budge except by use of an amped up mike on AM. Minusses. Its till big. I had to leave it on my car seat. Its made for underdash mounting so the speakers on the bottom (as with most radios), and so an external wouldve been better than reading everything upside down. The digital metering is quirky. Its supposed to measure RF/Signal Strength and SWR but I found that the onboards did not agree with the SWR/Signal Strength and Watt meter I picked up at Ham Radio Outlet. The weather channels stock out of the box are all squelched so unless youre close you may not pick them up. I dont know how to unsquelch them, yet. So there you have it. I have to figure that one out as the manual doesnt explain this phenomena. As a stock bargain priced SSB its worth the money. It performs as good as models that cost twice as much so at the price at about $120 give or take, its a good deal. Performance is mediocre compared to some of the models out there that likely will outperform this unit. However, you get what you pay for! It suits me for the road but just doesnt fit anywhere in my car! So itll end up a base station as soon as I home brew an antenna for it.

UPDATED REVIEW: I picked mine in September 2014. My initial review gave 5 stars, but my Bearcat 980 stopped transmitting after 6 1/2 months. Ive used CB radios for close to 40 years, so Im pretty familiar with whats out there. I take good care of mine. My closet has a small warehouse of about 30 different CB radios accumulated over time and put to use in various applications - mostly camping and boating. An additional CB radio was not needed, but I got too good a deal to pass this one up...or so I thought. The Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB mobile has an amazing number of features. The built in SWR meter and mic gain alone will save you $100.00 in additional components that you otherwise would have to buy. The best part is that they really work! I tweaked the mic gain adjustment and regularly got compliments on the audio quality of my transmission using just the stock microphone. Theres no need for an amplified mic. Other features include talk back, SWR warning, PA, RF gain, scan, weather channels, bright/dim control, color selection for your read outs, noise limiter/noise blanker, diagnostics (voltage in and RF out), etc. It has so many features, Im was reluctant to use it in the car. Id be so busy playing with all of the features that I could easily take my eyes off the road. Its short life span was spent exclusively as a base. On the down side, the radio only put out 3 watts instead of the legal limit of 4 watts on AM. Similarly, it put out about 10.6 watts instead of the allowable 12 in SSB mode. The below-specs output seems to be a common problem with new radios. On the other hand, the tolerances on this unit were great. It was consistently right on frequency. Other high profile manufacturers have problems with their radios drifting off frequency. Not Uniden. In the big picture, I was willing to live with the 3 watt output and enjoy everything else this unit did right. Unfortunately, my Bearcat 980 died an early death. It stopped transmitting after 6 1/2 months. Uniden requires that warranty repair be initiated by the seller. My seller ignored my requests and simply did not respond. Amazon stepped up to the plate and refunded me my money with no non-sense. Amazon is now selling these for $105.00. That would be a steal for a single side band radio, but I have seen too many reports on various radio websites about Uniden Bearcat 980 failures. Considering the reliability issues that are coming to light, Im going to pass on replacing this one - even at the bargain price Amazon is now offering them at. I now using a 23 year old Cobra 148GTL in the spot where I previously had the Uniden Bearcat 980. The 148 GTL sits next to a 34 year old Realistic Navaho TRC 490 SSB base. My Uniden Bearcat 980 experience confirms for me that they dont make CB radios like they used to.

Purchased for husband’s birthday. He installed and began using it pretty quickly.

For the price, the radio is a good buy, but be warned, that the LED screen during daylight conditions, can be difficult to see.

*** UPDATE *** 9/24/14 I have been using this radio for 2 weeks now, have made contacts all over the US of A on SSB and locally on AM. I am getting great feedback on the audio quality using the included mic, and everyone says it is very clean sounding. The scan feature is a huge plus for finding our local forestry and logging operations, to communicate with log truck drivers and heavy equipment operators when hunting. The WX channels come in better than my table top unit as long as scan feature is used to pick the best station. Good to have different display colors to pick from, the red for night driving is a very nice touch. All in all - this is possibly the best radio from Uniden (Bearcat) since the PC-122. This radio has really outstanding reception, good noise rejection is very stable on frequency output. Compares nicely against my IC-736 Base HAM radio for reciving weak signals, only way I beat it is by turning on my preamp. The radio transmission on AM and SSB is close to perfect as one could ask, minimal adjustment to bring in clearly and zero drift. Audio output with stock mic is as expected, but improves dramatically with power mic. Is slightly smaller than my Cobra 29LTD (original version) and slightly larger than my PC-122 it is replacing, is much more sturdy considering SMD devices that have been used through the build. Talk back is interesting, does nothing for transmissions but does allow you to hear your audio to make audio adjustments as needed. Using 5 FireStik antenna, FireStik coax with premade end for stud mount vs. PL-239 ends, 18 length. Waiting on FireStik 3/8 stud to complete the radio build out. Going with the coax / sealed stud end for weather protection as mount is on front window gutter of my truck. Wish they would have powder coated the mounting bracket, the bright gold metal finish is standing out like a sore thumb, sending out for paint next week.

Unidens mid-size Bearcat 980 SSB sets a gold standard for modern consumer-grade CB radios. The array of features, such as scan functionality, CB/PA/NOAA Wx, customizable screen colors, on-board diagnostics and single-sideband, are -- in my area, at least -- usually found in much more expensive radios. The 980s most direct consumer-grade competitor might be Cobras 29. The Cobra has many of these features for a similar price, but lacks the sideband that affords the 980 effectively 80 additional channels. Signals, even at the edge of reception, are incredibly crisp and clear. The sound quality is impressive, if slightly soft in my soft-top Jeep. In my first attempt at raising someone on the radio, I made a contact from my driveway that measured less than a tenth of a mile shy of five miles. The other party reported my signal was strong, loud and clear. (That’s a barefoot radio and the stock mic, pushing out on a four-foot Wilson Silver Load fiberglass antenna.) Its not the fault of the radio per se, but I do have to keep the squelch up a little higher than I’d like to drown out RF interference picked up via the antenna while Im in town. Id prefer to keep the squelch almost all the way down and use the RF gain control to dial in signal reception. But, since the 980s RF gain consists of five steps (push-button) rather than a dial, its a bit more difficult. As a result, the squelch stays up higher, and the RF gain a bit lower (setting 3 out of 5) than Id like. Out of the box, before any adjustment, my SWRs ranged from 1.0 (Channel 1) to 1.5:1 (Channel 40). Ive only two complaints with the 980: First, switching from night to day mode is slightly cumbersome. The CB-only Bearcat 880 employs a simple button to toggle back and forth. With the 980s single-sideband functionality, this is moved into the menu to make room for a clarifier knob. It’s not complicated, but it’s more than I’d like to do when the vehicle is potentially in motion. Second, the plastic used for the volume and fine clarifier knob feel of lesser quality than Id expect in a radio of this size or price range. Theyre holding up just fine, but its a shame that at least one of the controls youre most likely to use should feel inferior. Overall, this radio is a bargain!