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

for the price, the radio really seems to receive pretty well. a lot of the configuration is menu driven. i am using this as base station, so i dont have to worry about trying to make changes while driving. i like the radio overall now that i have discovered its two primary flaws: the display has issues and goes out over time (mine has not yet), and the stock mic that comes with it is pretty much bad. i replaced it with a powered mic (Astatic Road Devil; $40 approximately on Amazon), and that eliminated any problems transmitting. time will tell if the display has issues for me, but, for now, this is a four star radio for the money. i also have several AnyTone AT6666s, and those are worth their weight in gold. the Bearcat 980 is a great radio for beginners so long as you get a power mic to go along with it. photo shows both the radio with the Road Devil power mic.

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Pros: 1) Good solid state typical well designed Uniden radio/unit! Cons: 1) There is no real time clock, so the dim profile display lighting settings do not revert automatically during the morning hours. As such, during the daytime, manual setting to the daytime brighter display setting is required with a display not easily viewed due to being too dimly lit. (Luckily the display brightness/contrast profile setting is the first menu item!) 2) Can be not bright enough or not enough contrast during daytime, and/or not dark enough during night time. My Uniden BCD996T had an inverted display, and the inverted display is more easily dimmed during nighttime use and/or easily bright enough during daytime?? 3) Corded microphone is a little on the weak side? 4) Does not seem to scan the frequencies as fast as some of Unidens other units. 5) No mic key signal, albeit most CB mic key sound effects (AKA roger beeps) are horrid sounding versus the more professional FM/VHF radios which typically use something called wait tones and are usually extremely brief. TIP: Make sure you buy a good CB antenna, and tune the antenna by adjusting the antenna length and the 980SSB menu antenna tuning option!

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.

I purchased the 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 on 22 May 2023. It arrived in great shape, was easily set up (after sunset) and the diagnostics are a great asset for checking the radios SWR, battery status, etc. The radio is not usable in sunlight; even tried draping a towel over my head to block it out. I purchased it to use with an ECOFLOW RIVER Pro or GOLABS i200 Portable Power Station external battery and a BTECH RPS-30M 30 Amp Regulated Universal Compact Bench Power Supply. Along with a 30-foot homemade mast, using a Tram 1411 Scanner 25MHz–1,300MHz VHF/UHF Super Discone Base Antenna Plus CB Transmit Bands (1.43 SWR according to the CBs meter) that I erect while camping. It works great once Im able to read the digital display. I shouldve believed the reviews concerning this shortcoming!

Im a trucck driver and really liked this radio untill the display screen started fading out. Did some research and found this is a common known problem. All functions depend on the display to operate. Shop wants 90 dollars to replace the screen. I cannot recommend this radio for the overall price you will pay.

Very good radio if paired with a good tuned antenna

good unit for the price I have been around cb for a number of years I like the colors and easy scan different channels only issue I am having is my aerial

Tiny speaker

It is as advertised