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

EXCELLENT receive audio. I have mine plugged into a hifi speaker that came off the side of a plasma TV, sounds great. Ive gotten great audio reports on the TX quality. Im even pretty happy with the stock mic. The display looks great. The changeable display colors are a lot of fun! Will be great when the radio eventually goes in the truck. You can match the color to the rest of your instruments, or go nuts with some of the wilder colors. ;) The brightness and contrast controls are really slick for setting it up so as not to cause fatigue or distraction. Now, heres a few concerns and criticisms, but for me, it does not sour me on this radio in the least: Mine out of the box does 3W dk. Have not gone inside and turned it up yet, though I plan to. Were allowed 4 Watts, so that’s what I want! All that Ive read indicates the adjustment will work out fine. I did, however, do the beep mod, in which you unsolder one SMD resistor to get rid of the ABSOLUTELY USELESS, ANNOYING, and LOUD BEEP every time you twist a knob or push a button. This radio is annoying as heck, esp. with an external speaker, until this is done. Google for it, the instructions are out there, youtube. This radio does indeed have the Mitsubishi RD16HHF1 Mosfet final, Ive confirmed it in mine. I had some concern in reading in forums that these radios blow finals, but once I learned what the part was, I was ok with it as I already have a couple of these parts in my bin. Replacements are a whole $4.75 from RF parts, or 2 for 10 from this guy, without RFparts minimum order: www.kitsandparts.com/transistors.php I have some ideas in my mind of adding an external heat sink to the back of the radio, Im not really convinced the final has adequate heat-sinking, just the thin piece of aluminium that makes up the rear panel of the radio. This is a great radio for the tinkering hobbyist, and its the most inexpensive new SSB CB out there.

I live in Mesa, AZ where it can get up to 120 degrees and the interior of my car can get up to 205 degrees. The display cant handle that heat and now I dont have a working display. When it cools off in the winter, the display partly comes back but not all the way. I think the edges are permanently damaged.

Ive had the exact same model of this CB for many years without any issues. The display on the old one started becoming dim when it got warm and I was unable to read it (a known issue with this model), so I opted to purchase a new one just like it. What a mistake. First, the display is very dim on its highest setting. Hard to read in bright light. (that never happens outside!) Second, I was unable to get an SWR below 2.3. Three different antennas--same thing. Power output was ~2 watts, half of what it should be. On a different radio, SWR about 1.1 on each antenna with ~4 watt output. I was really hoping this would be a good radio like the old one I have. I love its features and the fact it is SSB. With a couple mods and better QC, this would be the radio to have! Returned it for a refund as I dont know what I want to get now. My 15 yr old Cobra SSB still works great!

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

Let me start by saying I am not a CB expert. I dont crack radios open and adjust and tweak. I use then as they come from the factory. With that being said, this is one of the best out-of-the-box CB radios Ive ever used. It has a ton of features. The audio is good, the range is excellent, the output power is a perfect 4w. Sideband works well what little Ive used it, not slot of sidebanders around where I live. I love the scan and memory-scan feature. Probably my favorite feature about the radio. The mic is not bad. Ive had no one complain about not being able to hear me. Ive since switched to the wireless mic, which is also excellent. All in all, I would highly recommend this radio. It is priced right for all the features packed into it.

Cant get a signal dystatic would like to get my money back or replacement

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!

every good ham shack should have a CB, because in an emergency situation, its a bad idea to limit your communications to just amateur radio operators. This a decent SHTF tool. No complaints from me.

Awesome looking radio. Easy to adjust vr pots for best performance. Great on side band, no drift. You will not find a new radio with the features of the Uniden Bearcat 980. Now the 4 star comes from the SMT board this radio uses. There are NO MODS out for the radio because the radio is run by a cpu. The radio beeps EVERYTIME you push a button or change the channel. The beep can be turned off by removing a very small resistor on the smt board, hard to see but easy enough to do. There is no mod for extra channels. But for a first time ssb radio or a great sounding stable ssb radio this can not be beat. Get a power mic and your good to go. Size is about the same as a cobra 29 ltd but not as deep. If you want a LOUD radio to freeband with this is not for you. I love mine and will live without extra channels

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.