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

*** 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.

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.

DO NOT TRUST the built in SWR meter! More than one person has reported the SWR meter reads 1.00 on all channels which just isnt right. Three will always be at least a small variance between 1 and 40 and it certainly wont read 1.0 across all channels. Buy yourself an inexpensive SWR meter or have a competent shop check it for you before you transmit out. Other than that this is a decent CB. The stock mic worked well enough on a mic gain of four. I got good reports with it. The sound was a bit tinny I thought. I now have a D104-M6B. I set the mic gain to one and turned the mic up to about three and it modulates very well. This is my first CB and I am enjoying it. Ive had this for about 9 months and no problems to report other than the SWR meter.

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.

Giant quality and features in a small package. This is the 1st radio that I have ever purchased and installed from the box to the vehicle without any tune ups, etc.except for tuning the SWR. Its been a fantastic radio so far. I am using an Astatic 302-636LB 1 noise cancelling mic & a Wilson 1000 roof mounted antenna. I live in a very rural area so I can usually pick up 1 weather channel in each of the local counties I travel. Ive had very good response from others on the channels as far as good quality of sound as well as decent distance. Im sure that if I peaked & tuned it, it may be even better however, for out of the box, you cant beat it. One of the best features is the size. It allows for many options when mounting since it is so small. So far... very happy.

This is a nice radio, it talks well even without tweaking. Power output is close to legal output, 3.8 watts deadkey on AM, right at 12 for SSB. The NB and ANL are effective and the scan function in conjunction with the memory channels is a nice plus. The case size is about ¼ bigger then DIN top and bottom but I was able to fit it into a DIN pocket with an awful lot of modifications (Key word being awful). As another reviewer wrote, I wish they did make it DIN size, its so close I sure they could have. I did find two faults, the most important one being that the SWR meter is inaccurate. Anything below 3:1 reads as 1:1 on the radio. The meter is only good to tell you if your antenna has fallen off, not good enough to tune it. The other problem is that the display washes out in sunlight, regardless of what setting you use. All in all, Im happy with this radio and think the price/value ratio is high. I hope Uniden keeps them coming.

Good product only with the right antenna, the recommended antenna is very weak only giving one or two mile range. You will need 10 mile range to make it a good radio

The Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB is a good sounding radio with exception reach with a GOOD antenna. I spoke with a man in Georgia from Phoenix. (Conditions we’re right) Accurate SWR built in with fine tuning adjustments. Many features you won’t need and it has “beep” canceling. STRONGLY RECOMMEND

This CB is awesome. You can digitally tune the antenna, but, its not like old school ones where its precise. It is a digital step that makes it slightly too high SWR or slightly too low. But, works great anyway. The SSB feature is totally amazing. Ive never messed with CB band SSB, and wow do you get some far out stations! Audio is pretty good. But, the display has to be a just the right angle for you - otherwise its too dim - even with adjustments. A quick thanks to Amazon.com. I ordered one of these, and had it shipped to my work - so I could sign for it. Unfortunately, I work where its starting to become ghetto, and someone stole the package right off of my desk, after the secretary signed for it. I filed another police report, (we have bad internal theft now-a-days). I contacted amazon to see if there was any chance of them having a serial number, for tracing. I didnt think they would, and they didnt. However, I was sent an additional radio at no charge! Let me get this straight - Amazon wasnt even to blame in the least, yet, they sent me a replacement radio just because they felt bad? Holy s***. One percent faith in humanity restored, 99 to go.

This CB works quite well. It receives signals better than I thought it would, and seems to be putting out a decent amount of wattage with a variety of antennas. a Cobra unit had outrput problems, so I had to send back...twice. It has a load of features, including weather and SSB, which I have yet to use. The only complain I have is that the readout is a bit dim to be seen in daylight, no matter what color you put it on. Too bad as it has a nice look t it at night. I was also able to figure out a way to mount it in a 2014 F150.