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

I purchased the Uniden Bearcat 980SSB radio about a week ago and have had some mixed results after 24 hours or so of operation over the period of the week since then. The serial number on this unit is X000CIQY01 and the unit looks brand new, not refurbed or rebuilt. The radio is a real sharp looking piece of equipment, the controls and buttons have a good feel, and the price is good for being both an AM and SSB radio. Sound is good and mostly the radio can hear and talk as good as any CB or ham radio I have owned. I dont have any calibrated test gear but I believe it meets its published specifications. How-some-ever, the operation and display to have some curious faults. The RF control doesnt exist in the sense that the operators manual describes. The RF control is described in operation in two different ways in the operators manual, one way on page E-5 and another way on page E-10. The button depresses on the RF gain and a small indicator lights up with the indication of LOCAL, comeing on in the upper left hand corner of the display section of the front panel. This indicator isnt mentioned in the manual. There is no corresponding LED coming on and variability using the Channel Selector Switch as the manual describes for the RF control, rather its just a sort of On and Off with the RF gain at maximum all the time when not in LOCAL. The AGC circuit in the radio seems to work well though and the radio is very sensitive on receive. The display has 7 colors you can select which is real fine if you have time to play with this while driving, which would have about the same result as texting while driving, probably resulting in a bad car wreck. First and foremost, you cant see the indicators in the daytime. Any ambient sunlight washes out the display and you will be lucky to see the channel you are on with the settings on high brightness and maximum contrast. I like the Green setting but in fact I dont really care. I was using a PRO505 before and it had Yellow I think and was very readable in daylight. The display is dazzling at night and maybe I should mount two of these radios, one under each front wheel well of my car, for extra bling. I havent been able to get the scan to work yet, so perhaps it really does, but I will work on that with the car parked this weekend. All of this sort of leads up to the final problem which is the method in which the operator gets to most of the settings. The MENU/OK and SELECTOR knob combined with the other assorted buttons and contortions make this a pain-in-the-butt radio to set up. I suspect some young software guy who doesnt operate mobile CB, did the semi-demi-drop-down menu for this radio. Who else but a nerd-bird would think that pressing the PTT while the function button for MIC GAIN was activated for 5 seconds after pressing, and you are scrambling to run the SELECTOR knob to the desired MIC GAIN setting, would be a cool thing to do? So overall I would again say its a good radio but Uniden messed up on this one when they rushed it to market. I have read a few reviews and it is total microcomputer controlled and no schematics or service manual are available. You cant fix it and you cant mess with it, so Uniden has you by the proverbial (fill in as appropriate). Therefore I am thinking of removing the 980SSB from the car just as soon as the Galaxy 959 AM/SSB unit arrives. I will use the 980SSB as a base station rig. Probably will never take the top off until one day the microprocessor goes nuts and then just to look at all those surface mount parts. I design microprocessor driven systems plus a lot of homebrew RF, so this aint my first rodeo.

It works better than I expected.

Cant add much more than the other positive reviews except that when powered by a power supply indoors (12.5 volts) output power is 3 watts AM, 9 watts SSB. When running off of truck/alternator (13.8 - 14.3 volts) output power is dead on 4 watts AM, 10-12 watts SSB and have not made any internal adjustments. Also, as far as the screen scratching easily, I agree. My solution was to get a screen protector for a Sony PSP handheld game system and trim it to fit with an x-acto knife and a straight-edge. Made contacts from Midwest to New York, Northern Idaho, Ontario-Niagara Falls and Puerto Rico on SSB with good reports on my audio. I have this paired up with a Solarcon I-Max 2000 antenna and no radial kit running barefoot. Overall very happy with this radio and purchased another. Recommended. ***UPDATE*** My second radio stopped transmitting and the screen started going nuts 15 days after purchase. Amazon was great and sent out a replacement with 2-day shipping. I have to knock off 1 star for the transmit and screen going out. I do understand anything made on an assembly line will produce a few lemons out of the bunch but I have read of this happening to others and hope it is not a common occurrence. My first radio is still working great. I will update if anything else goes wrong. I do give amazon 5 stars for their great customer service. *****UPDATE 12/17/2016***** I purchased another one of these and it was way off frequency on receive and transmit. Contacted amazon and they sent another one very quickly. The replacement looked used (packaging looked like it had been removed, radio had large grey, possibly paint, thumbprint on back of radio, would not wipe off). This one was way off frequency also and was sent back for a refund. This is a newer design Amazon is currently selling and the model is 980SSBW (maybe the W designates worse), the older ones were model 980SSB and they are good radios. Uniden also dropped the warranty from 2 years on the older model 980 to one year on the newer 980s, that is very telling of the quality. I recently had a bad experience with two different Galaxy DX-979s (See my review, they both had receive problems). All the CB radio manufacturers seem to be making their radios in Vietnam now and I think the quality is suffering. I wonder if they use calibrated frequency counters when building these new Uniden 980s or maybe the workers are rushed or dont care. Uniden needs to step up their game on these radios. If Uniden would make their service manuals available maybe these radios would not have to be sent back when the frequency is off. I dont know what is going on with the radios going out used. I was told by an Amazon customer rep that returns dont get resold, but There are other reviewers that stated they received used radios also. Maybe Uniden is repackaging factory serviced units as new. I really like the two 980s I purchased in 2015 but these new ones are lesser radios in my opinion.

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.)

Uniden pulled out of the am/ssb market a long time ago leaving a large vacant hole. Evidently they have decided to return to the market with the Uniden Bearcat 980SSB mobile. Initial impressions (just looking at the pictures) are that it looks like the typical cheap looking chinese stuff Ive seen pushed on us for decades. Call me old fashioned, but I prefer a analog s/rf meter vs. the digital ones. Like many CBs sold today, you can play around with color schemes to find one that suits you. It doesnt have any great mods and reminds me of Radio Shack CBs which were pretty darn hard to modify, if at all, keeping their nose clean with the Feds. It does come with weather bands (Ooooooh). Personally, Id rather have a smaller meter and a frequency readout rather than channel numbers, but thats just me. From reading about half the reviews and doing some digging around I came to three conclusions: 1. The BEEP is annoying, but apparently there is a fix for that out on the internet 2. Most of these seems to arrive dead-on frequency which youd really (REALLY) want if you couldnt mod the clarifier for SSB transmissions, otherwise youd get a bunch of sidebanders kinda angry at ya. 3. Unless someone comes up with anything else, the Beep mod is it. Okay, Review Part 1 is over. Expect updates to occur from time-to-time as I find things I like or dont care for, not to mention performance. Ill also keep updates fresh on my Blog. Nuff Said, Woody UPDATE: 031813 Were on PART II of this review, and I expect it to have many parts [ed. - many = more than 3]. In my haste to get Part 1 off, I should have proof read it AND used my reading glasses because I never saw the tiny frequency readout under the large channel number, so I sit corrected. Ive yet to dive into any reading material, so I may have to correct myself another time - well have to see about that, or what time I will have to read. The radio has a channel 9/19 push button switch, which has been around forever (or maybe it just seems that way), and except for traffic from Mexico or further South, Ive never heard anything useful on channel 9 for decades. Some radios Ive run across let you set another channel for channel 9, like the local hangout channel, and I do like being able to jump to 19 for a quick update on traffic from time-to-time. With this rig, being computer controlled, it would have been nice if you were (for example) on ch.38 LSB and switched to channel 19 that it would be smart enough/or programmed to change the mode from sideband to AM for you automatically and then back again when you return to 38 LSB. Much like a Blogger, or anyone who writes regularly, they should have proof-read the box the radio comes in. For instance it has three modes: AM, USB, and LNB. I know Ive been away from buying new rigs for awhile so maybe there is an LNB mode, but I doubt it. As far as the color schemes go, to be specific, you have 7 options, and I like the fact that it has a 9 cord on the hand microphone. While were on things I like, I may as well mention the adjustable Backlit control. As for the physical outlay it is just okay. Depending on how and where you mount it depends on whether or not it is more-or-less okay with you. The ON/OFF, squelch/volume control is located on the top left side of the front panel with the microphone jack being just below which is convenient but I would have arranged the placement of the push buttons differently. Along the bottom of the panel you have push buttons for: S/RF/SWR Calibration CB/PA Mem/Scan 9/19/Normal ANL/NB, and AM/USB/LSB Above the AM/USB/LSB button youll find buttons for: Weather Mic Gain RF Gain, and Talkback These are farthest away from your reach, in a typical under the dash mount so I would have preferred the bottom row to be (in this order): AM/USB/LSB ANL/NB Mic Gain RF Gain, and 9/19/Normal With the remaining buttons along the right side, farthest from your reach, but not necessarily often used, and Im torn between leaving the on-off/squelch/volume to being on-off/clarifier/volume, and yeah, Im being a bit picky now. On the box it mentions that the radio is wireless microphone compatible and directs you to learn more about it on their website. I learned that theres no picture of it, that its not available yet, and costs $99.99. A very nice surprise is the warranty - 2 years. Its not very often youll see that, so I suspect they dont expect to get many sent back within that period, and I was also surprised to see that they furnished you with a 6-pin to 4-pin microphone adapter as well. There is some slight confusion regarding the clarifier. On the box it states that its 1.0khz clarifier (+/-), but in the manual it says its 1.5khz (+/-). As far as the scan feature goes (usually not any farther than I could throw it), you do get the option to select certain channels for it to scan, thus making the feature worthwhile. Adjacent channel rejection as stated in the manual is 60dB which is better than many CBs made in the last 20 years or so. And that my friends, ends Part 2 of the review. Ill have to make some room in the truck and figure out where to mount this before proceeding. UPDATE: 032413 [Part 3 & 4] One of the first things you notice when taking the radio out of the box is its size (smaller than a Grant), in fact, it reminded me of another radio Ive owned and reviewed in the past - Midlands 79-290 AM/SSB mobile rig. I didnt have the actual size of the Midland to compare with, but I think these two are fairly close in their respective footprint. While the 980 does not have a removable front panel, the layout is strikingly close as well. Both radios have the Volume/Squelch control at the top-left of the front panel and the microphone plug below it. A set of horizontal buttons run across the bottom where, in the bottom right corner, youll find the coarse/fine clarifier control and above it the channel selector knob. I guess if youve never held the Midland the similarities in physical size and control layout wouldnt be so obvious. Im not inferring that these are the same radios on the inside - The 79-290 came out in the early/mid 1990s, had dual finals, and a removable faceplate; features completely different than the 980, as well as being fairly easy to modify for expanded frequencies, FM, and a open clarifier. Nonetheless its something to wonder about.....Did the company that won the bid to make the 79-290 also win the bid to make the Uniden Bearcat 980? As others have commented before, this is a good looking radio - right out of the box, but doesnt have that rugged feel to it. Give it six months in your vehicle and it wont look like the girl you took to the dance, the black plastic will show dust, dirt, and scratches easily. Used at home with a power supply, unless you own a cat that always finds an itch to scratch, it should maintain the newness factor longer than if it were in your car or truck. Ive read about low SSB output straight out of the box on some models, and how to adjust it internally, as well as that infernal beep - which Im pretty certain is fixable now. I dont mind that its a straight 40 channel rig because I usually run a 40ch AM/SSB mobile in the truck along with my HAM gear - I just hope its on frequency when I get it powered up [perhaps Sunday Ill have a chance to clear off some bench space and do some initial testing]. As far as microphones go, I may use the factory mike and call it a day, or use one of my dependable, yet older, microphones - but Ill have to test the factory mike first. Back in the 90s I owned a Uniden PC-122 am-ssb mobile. It was a little tiny thing compared to anything else available, and I did a audio test with a friend of mind using an Astatic D-104m, a Turner +3 hand mike, and of course the stock microphone which came with the PC-122. The winner? The stock microphone on the PC-122. My friend said he had never heard me sound so natural on sideband in all of our years to communications and that Id better not replace the stock mike. I took his advice and during the period I owned it, I received many questions like What kinda mike are you using cause its one of the best sounding microphones Ive ever heard, and other similar comments. No one believed me when I told them it was just a stock mike on a Uniden PC-122, so heres to crossing my fingers that Ill get the same results with this one. [....And now - finally to the end] In our last exciting episode I believe I was comparing this to Midlands 79-290, somewhat feature-wise, but mostly the footprint (the space that it takes up in your vehicle) and comparing it to my daily companion: a Cobra 138 GTL 40ch. mobile. First, the weight difference. Neither radio had mounting brackets or microphone attached, so I was weighing the radio only. The 980 was (to my surprise) 2lbs. 6oz while the 138GTL came in at 5lbs. 8oz. I can only speculate that the added plastic and SMDs in the 980 was the reason it was so light weight. Once again, its weight was similar to the Midland. I spent a week with the 980 in the truck and came up with these non-scientific results using Wilsons lil Wil mag mount on the roof of my SUV: Either the receiver was too Hot, or the Adjacent Channel rejection NOT, but I experienced/noticed an unusual amount of bleed over from channel 19 as compared to the 35 year old Cobra. YES - that damn beep was driving me freaking crazy. Why they couldnt have put an on/off control, and/or volume setting to the beep is beyond me. For instance, with Cobras re-designed 29 mobile you can easily disable the beep via the menu system in the radio. I never found a perfect visual setting for being able to see everything on the front panel, during mid-afternoon driving time (I have the same problem with my GPS). Receive audio was done with Icoms SP10 external speaker, which Ive always used when mobile so it was the only fair choice I had to compare it with the Cobras, as it too used the SP10. Except for the extra bleed over, I couldnt really tell a difference, although I missed the receive tone control on the front panel of the Cobra. Transmitting audio seemed about the same. Those that replied to my A/B test were split down the middle - about 50% preferring the Cobra, and 50% the 980, both using a non-amplified noise-blanking hand microphone. Noise Blanking. When it came to this category Id have to call it even (which is good, because many transceivers have lousy noise blankers in them). The weather function worked very well, in fact, much better than any other CB Ive had with a weather reception feature. The purchase price was very reasonable compared to some online price gouging Ive seen. And.....Thats about it. The only really BIG question is: How long will this last? My Cobra is about 35 years old and still working fine. I dont expect the 980 to do the same, but it would be nice to buy a new rig and have it last longer than a year or two before its junked. When it really warms up (down in Texas you dont have to wait too long), Ill put the 980 back in the truck and see how it holds up under the heat. [I once owned a rig that was truck celing mount and I had to park in an outside parking lot. When I got out of work, Id start the truck up, crank up the A/C and turn the rig on. Reception was a garbled mess, as was the front panel - I couldnt read anything, until the cab temp. cooled down. Once it dropped about 5 degrees Id turn the rig back on and it acted normal again. So Im curious on how well the Uniden handles the Texas heat. Look for an update then.] SUMMARY - In some respects the Uniden Bearcat 980 surprised me, because if youre a regular reader of this Blog, or my Amazon reviews, you know that Im not a big fan of anything made in China. The fact that its not as deep as a full-sized rig may help those with limited mounting positions/space, but theyll have to take the daylight driving vs. seeing the screen into consideration as well when choosing a mounting location. Perusing the Internet via Google I found a mod to kill the beep, but no one replied that they tried it too and it worked, so Im still dubious about that one, and really, thats about the only Mod I found for this transceiver. If I were in the market for a new AM/SSB rig I would definitely consider this one (and probably buy it), but Im not, so the 138 is back in its usual spot in the truck. Nuff Said, Woody

Overall a good radio in all honesty, especially for the price. On SSB, they do not tend to drift. Ive enjoyed two of these things. However, Ill get down to some cons... Do not, under and circumstance, clean the screen with anything other than a microfiber cloth. These screens scratch VERY easily. In a mobile truck application where things get a film of dust on them, good luck.... Next Ill point out the screen backlighting is not quite bright enough for sun contact in a mobile. Warning you on that as well. Lastly, my oldest one Ive owned has developed an issue to not turn on when I turn the power knob. All I get is a screen flicker, or a flash, then back out again. It at times takes multiple tries before I get it going. Its like a pull start motor....sometimes difficult to get the thing going but once going it has NO issues when it is going. Strange. My oldest unit is only 1yr, 5mo old.

wouldnt hesitate to buy another one. At the current time non mod able, BUT!! htast fine. As a basic am/ssb cb radio its a good one. Has great recieve like an old uniden grant or cobra148gtl. Good single final radio. DOes the 12 to 15 watts PeP on ssb out of the box and deadkey 5 and 8 to 10 on AM out of the box. Mine was a rev2 board. Power is adjustable to a point but honestly as a stock radio its fine as is. Some folks said they were junk because they were not like export type radio out put. Not everyone is looking for a 50 to 75 watt radio. Excellent as a base station, and works great in the mobile, ANL/NB that works....good tone . decent audio with stock mic. I didnt have the bluetooth mic that you can get. My review is of the stock out of the box unit. The board is surface mount parts but looks to be able to take a bit of a beating if in a big truck or in heavy equipment. I have installed 2 of these in stock form in big trucks and had one for my self at home. If you can find a good deal grab one if your a daily talker on the radio...

Radio functions OK. The radio needed a power microphone for use on SSB as modulation level is low. The stock mic would only drive the SSB transmitter up to a few watts. Things not seen in the instructions... To use the channel scanner, You must first turn the squelch up. The scanner will not start if there is any noise coming from the speaker. The RF gain is adjustable if the RF gain button is held down and the channel knob is turned. Numbers appear on the face as the knob is turned indicating the RF gain level. After 9 months had trouble with the radio not turning on. Switch would have to be clicked on and off repeatedly for the radio to come on. Took the bottom cover off and sprayed DeOxit into a small crevice on the closed up rectangular volume control. Found a small metal tab on the side of the volume control that was touching a rectangular pad on the daughterboard for the face but not soldered to it. Soldered it on. After having an external speaker plugged in for 9 months found the internal speaker no longer works. Think the speaker plug contacts are not springing back properly. Left that as it was and plugged the internal speaker back in. Radio turns on OK now, still using it.

I chose this radio after reading all the reviews. I like talking on side band, it is a kick to talk to people around the US or world for that matter. This radio does come tuned a little low, but the frequency is dead on. I had it peaked at 15 watts on side band and around 12 on AM. I removed the beep chip as well. So much better with out the beep every time you turn a dial or push a button. The mike that comes with it is great, however you do need to dismantle it and take out the little piece of paper the factory puts right over the mic int the front, doing this makes the mike A LOT louder. No need to purchase a power mic. The swr meeter is acurate, dont believe the reviews. When tested with a digital/analog meeter by a professional the swrs read 1.3 on the radio and 1.2 on the meeter. So it is accurate! I paired this with a 7 foot fire stick on my s10. First day out I talked to southern Florida and I live In Denver! If you like to talk long distance or local, this is a very good radio!

Very nice easy to install more than I expected for the money. Very happy with it.