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

Uniden’s 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 980’s most direct consumer-grade competitor might be Cobra’s 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.)It’s 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 I’m in town. I’d prefer to keep the squelch almost all the way down and use the RF gain control to dial in signal reception. But, since the 980’s RF gain consists of five steps (push-button) rather than a dial, it’s 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 I’d like.Out of the box, before any adjustment, my SWRs ranged from 1.0 (Channel 1) to 1.5:1 (Channel 40).I’ve 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 980’s 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 I’d expect in a radio of this size or price range. They’re holding up just fine, but it’s a shame that at least one of the controls you’re most likely to use should feel inferior.Overall, this radio is a bargain!

EXCELLENT receive audio. I have mine plugged into a hifi speaker that came off the side of a plasma TV, sounds great. I’ve gotten great audio reports on the TX quality. I’m 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, here’s 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. We’re allowed 4 Watts, so that’s what I want! All that I’ve 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, I’ve 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: http://www.kitsandparts.com/transistors.php I have some ideas in my mind of adding an external heat sink to the back of the radio, I’m 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.

Feature rich ssb radio and good quality if your looking for a decent ssb cb radio.

*** UPDATE *** 9/24/14I 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.

Works like it should with Wilson 5000 antenna