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

The reviews about this radio are mostly accurate. Radio has little Modulation swing out of it using the Stock mic, but put an Astatic Road Devil noise cancelling power mic on it and it gets out very very well and is very has very clear audio out. The channel scan functions work very nicely for entire 40 channel scanning, or the Favorite channel scanning modes. SSB Frequency is dead nuts ON frequency right out of box which I have never had a radio which did that (not my 2510, or Yasu). Very easy radio to use on sideband because of that. I had to tune my Sideband power up a bit as it was only 5 watts out when I got the radio so I turned that up to the legal 12 watts and left the AM power side at the legal 4 watts out. I am using this radio as my Base station radio because it is so easy to use (for my wifey) and hooked up to my Antron 99 which is 36 feet high (Full wave height) I can talk barefoot 30 miles no problem. Running a little extra power (linear) is also simple with this radio and you WILL be heard using the power mic on the radio. I run a local Emergency Radio Club for emergency response team coordination and help and Typically NEED to be able to scan favorite channels members may be on during emergencies and this little gem of a radio fits that bill EXACTLY for that need... I am highly recommending this radio to all new radio team members because of its ease of use, dead on frequency, channel scan ability, and it is priced right here on Amazon as well IMO.

I cant believe that I didnt review this a long time ago. It has been a reliable radio, I have been using this for several years in my Jeep without issues.

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Muy bueno

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

I really like this radio. Much better than I expected. Not quite the equal of my vintage Grant radios, but not as far short as I expected. Blows away Cobra. Stable and fairly sensitive. Good reports after removing paper inside mic. Really like the feel of mic and cord. I use the heck out of the handy and fine performing weather radio. For me, the best performing colors are the palest blue in daylight and the darkest green at night. The red puts out a bit less light but is not as readable to me. Get a clue and save the menu functions for when you are parked in a safe haven. Youd be better off texting than messing with menu functions while driving. Not designed for modifications, but R M Italy makes some dandy accessories that have been perfectly compatible with the fully factory stock and unmolested radio, at least in SSB, with a very low SWR(read on a separate highly accurate meter).

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

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!

Absolutely awesome CB in concept, but poor in execution. Its like they took a list of everything a CBer would want and handed it to engineers who know nothing about CBs. The good: * Solid SSB. No drifting due to temperature changes. * Great audio. Everyone says I sound perfect. * WX works well. * Numerous colors for display. * Built in SWR meter. * PA feature (non-amplified) The bad (and there is a lot of it): * The annoying beeps everyone talks about. What were they thinking? * You will have to buy an external speaker. Stock speaker is absolutely useless in even moderate wind/road noise. Pathetic 2.5 and 16 ohms. Even for an indoor base station this barely adequate at best. * Display is just as bad as the speaker. Even at night it is too dim and disappears when looked at from the slightest angle. Daytime viewing is absolutely unacceptable. Why this was allowed to be built this way is beyond me unless Uniden just didnt give a damn whatsoever. * QC is just as bad as the speaker and display. Out of the three units Ive owned, one had the display stop lighting after six months of extremely light use (as pictured). Then the AM/WX decided to stop working after six more months of sitting in storage. The annoying beeps still work just fine, though. * The second unit I had would not transmit beyond 1/4 mile from a rooftop base station antenna. Many buyers report the unit not putting out full power, even TXing as low as 2 watts. * Noise filtering is hit and miss on each unit. My two units that broke had good noise filtering. The one I have that still works picks up alternator whine which can only be drowned out with the squelch knob. These were all tested on the same vehicle. * Hardware is locked tight and can not be expanded for extra channels. * Unidens warranty is only one year and they make the customer pay return shipping for their lousy products that should have never left the factory in the first place. * (On a side note, this model disappeared from Amazons listings for about a year. I strongly suspect it was due to the large amount of returns they got.) If you have the extra money, look elsewhere. This model had great potential but its drawbacks are just not worth the headaches.

This can radio is very good. It is a great value considering the price point. There are better radios out there but this radio does the job as it is intended and has been of great use.