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

Really like product

I like the sideband, but dont like that the course and fine tune you cant see what frequency it is tuned to. I like the sound quality is great and other people say i sound great. I dont like that I had to buy a external SWR meater to get a accurate SWR reeding . I give this radio a 4.

I purchased a president McKinley. Then i thought i would try this one also. Honestly compared to the McKinley, thos is a cheapie. Receive is choppy, and more static. Mic is cheap. And definitely not 4 watts of power. If you want a cheap radio and dont care about range its ok. If you want clearer receive and transmit. Get the mckinley. Its a solid radio. And the automatic squelch on the mckinley is also great

Great radio, weather is clear and really pulls the signal in. SSB works very well also(made a 15mile contact first time out). I would have given it a five star if the readout was brighter/less glare. The screen or polished face plate has a glass like finish and reflects something awful during the day making it almost impossible to view the screen without moving your head around to cut out the glare/reflection. Otherwise a great radio.

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.

as far as the radio goes it is very good and user friendly,the problem is that it is am with side band,here in australia am is not popular cb so I have limited access to other am users,mind you this is not the sets fault it is mine as when i ordered it I didnt reaslise what it was,the limited use I have had the set functions very well you can see i have given it 4 stars and I think it derserves it,I have since purchased a uniden uh7750nb cb and have both mounted in my 4 wheel drive,guess I have the best of both worlds a mistake that may have put me in a great position when on the road,the bearcat blends well with the rest of the equipment I have mounted in my ride.

UPDATED REVIEW: I picked mine in September 2014. My initial review gave 5 stars, but my Bearcat 980 stopped transmitting after 6 1/2 months. Ive used CB radios for close to 40 years, so Im pretty familiar with whats out there. I take good care of mine. My closet has a small warehouse of about 30 different CB radios accumulated over time and put to use in various applications - mostly camping and boating. An additional CB radio was not needed, but I got too good a deal to pass this one up...or so I thought. The Uniden Bearcat 980 SSB mobile has an amazing number of features. The built in SWR meter and mic gain alone will save you $100.00 in additional components that you otherwise would have to buy. The best part is that they really work! I tweaked the mic gain adjustment and regularly got compliments on the audio quality of my transmission using just the stock microphone. Theres no need for an amplified mic. Other features include talk back, SWR warning, PA, RF gain, scan, weather channels, bright/dim control, color selection for your read outs, noise limiter/noise blanker, diagnostics (voltage in and RF out), etc. It has so many features, Im was reluctant to use it in the car. Id be so busy playing with all of the features that I could easily take my eyes off the road. Its short life span was spent exclusively as a base. On the down side, the radio only put out 3 watts instead of the legal limit of 4 watts on AM. Similarly, it put out about 10.6 watts instead of the allowable 12 in SSB mode. The below-specs output seems to be a common problem with new radios. On the other hand, the tolerances on this unit were great. It was consistently right on frequency. Other high profile manufacturers have problems with their radios drifting off frequency. Not Uniden. In the big picture, I was willing to live with the 3 watt output and enjoy everything else this unit did right. Unfortunately, my Bearcat 980 died an early death. It stopped transmitting after 6 1/2 months. Uniden requires that warranty repair be initiated by the seller. My seller ignored my requests and simply did not respond. Amazon stepped up to the plate and refunded me my money with no non-sense. Amazon is now selling these for $105.00. That would be a steal for a single side band radio, but I have seen too many reports on various radio websites about Uniden Bearcat 980 failures. Considering the reliability issues that are coming to light, Im going to pass on replacing this one - even at the bargain price Amazon is now offering them at. I now using a 23 year old Cobra 148GTL in the spot where I previously had the Uniden Bearcat 980. The 148 GTL sits next to a 34 year old Realistic Navaho TRC 490 SSB base. My Uniden Bearcat 980 experience confirms for me that they dont make CB radios like they used to.

Must have for all truckers!

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.

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.