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

Worked great for three days then broke... Swr was 1.0 with a 108 whip, for whatever reason I was talking to a local on 19 am and out of nowhere the reception seemed to vanish, and the on radio broadcast indicator didnt go past the second line. Did the self diagnostics and it failed. Requested a replacement, hopefully mine was just a fluke, Ill update if the second is better. Update, so I got the new one PROMPTLY from amazon, took one day! So kudos for getting me back on the air so quickly, the new radio seems to run cooler, indicated the same swr as the first (1.0-1.1). New one seems to receive better with less interference and static, and I get good reports of the audio, as well as an increase in range. I believe the first one was just a dud, time will tell with this one! I would still recommend this radio, its nice, modern, and the comparatively lower (legal!) output is PERFECT for driving an amp if thats your thing. With my 102 whip drill mounted to my roof it throws out roughly 10 miles! Plenty far.

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

I was pleased with the overall quality and operation of the radio. I have not experienced the weather alerts nor used the SSB operation. The one problem I had was the screws provided to hold the microphone to the side of the radio did not match the holes in the radio. They were too small or too large depending on which set was chosen. I close to tap the holes in the radio and use machine screws from my shop. This will not matter if you plan to mount the microphone holder on some other surface. Just drill holes to match one of the two screw sizes provides and you will be fine.

I am a Ham operator and wanted to pick up a cb for SSB work. Most are well over $200.00 US, I found this one and tried it out. I have been using it for months, no issues, no complaints, no worries. Great features, easy to read display and buttons. The mic is better than what I am used to on a cb. I am running it barefoot (no amp), and they tell me I sound fine . I can only get out about 1-2 miles with it, but that is my antenna, not the radio. I can tell you, the first day I picked up skip from about 5 states away, I knew it was money well spent.

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.

Just installed so I cant say yea or ney yet. Disappointed how dim it lights up in the daytime, even with full brightness. Hard to see in daytime light. Will evaluate after I get familiar with the 980 SSB. I took off 2 stars for dim lighting.

This radio is very functional and very powerful! The clarity with which I can transmit and receive is a substantial improvement over my old little radio. The menus are easy to navigate once you get the hang of it (Very short learning curve) and the display nicely tells you what you need to know. I have seen people complaining about the menu selection beep that you cant turn off and you cant adjust the volume of it but it hasnt really bothered me personally yet but I can see why a lot of people might dislike it! The only gripe I have with this radio that is definitely preventing me from giving it the fifth star is that the display is hard to see in the sun. I have this radio dash mounted and no matter what color I set the display to, its still tough to read whats on the display if its a sunny day. That really is the only truly negative I personally can find with the radio. The ability to change between a night and day profile for the color is a very nice feature though. I will most likely make a small shroud for the display to shade it a little bit. Overall, I would certainly recommend this radio especially if you plan on mounting it away from the sun so the display is more visible.

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.

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.

This new Uniden CB is amazing, the reception is so much better than the old ones from the 80s I got from Goodwill and the sound so much clearer I can hardly believe it. It will pickup stations on almost every channel and the sound is clear so I can actually understand what some of the folks on there are saying now. Besides SSB and weather band it has lots of extra features like a built in SWR meter and a voltmeter to display the power supply/ battery voltage. Even though it receives good, when I pressed the transmit key on the mic and talked into it nothing happened! The meter showed that it was transmitting full power but I didnt hear anything. Even though most CB mics have a 4 pin plug this one uses an odd ball 6 pin plug but they included an adapter so you can use another mic. I tired a different mic and it worked so I took the mic apart and the wiring seemed to be OK but I found a piece of white plastic stuck over the hole in the front that was keeping sound out. When I peeled that off it worked just fine. There is a black fiber piece stuck over the hole and the white plastic piece. Take off the white plastic piece, throw it away and put the mic back together and it will work much better. Also, when using the WX receiver it would only play one strong channel and the others were quiet even though I know there are more channels. The problem turned out to be the Squelch control for WX on the PC board being turned up too far. If you remove the bottom cover and look at the PC board there is a square metal box near the center with a lot of solder on it. Just to the right of it is a tiny trim pot called RT500 labeled Wx Sq. There is a special tool thats used to adjust it but a tiny Philips screwdriver will work too. If you look closely there is a center point on it that will be set point down at about the 5:00 position. It needs to be turned clockwise to the 6:00 position or about 20 degrees to turn down the Squelch in order to get weaker stations. Its not critical and if you turn it too far it wont hurt anything, you will just get noise on the channels that dont have a station. BTW, dont buy the used ones. While it looks like a good deal to get an open box item at a lower price they are bad ones that were broken by the first buyer then returned which is what you will get since Amazon doesnt test them.