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

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.

Its good

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

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!

I am impressed with my radio out of the box. There are a couple things I am not fond of however. The color and display brightness is almost a deal breaker. Mine is mounted in a semi w/sleeper and damn near dark all day and still barely visible. If I had this in a sedan or day cab/pick up I would have to return it. Major fail on uniden part. But I have made it work in my situation. The RF gain being a digital 1-5 seems to lack fine tuning. And the squelch is almost turned 3/4 up to hit clear. I have used it both ways RF on 5 squelch turned up and squelch turned off and RF to 2 or 3 and she works fine out of the box. But neither adjustment seems to have a sweet spot. Could be my experience. Now both are small potatoes to how good the radio really is. It is a shame about the dim panel display cause this radio gets out and and hears great. I do plan on removing the rubber device in the mic(or replacing it) then tuning the radio but otherwise I will leave her stock. I had an old old hand me down cobra 29 that would have a gremlin here and there (for what it was though I loved it) and a brand new galaxy 949 that spent its life being returned, repaired, repaired.... Not a fan. So I tried a old friend from my youth and I am happy I did.

Excellent price verses truck stops!!! Great product right out of the box

I use this as my primary CB in my F-150. Has great reception around my area, and the reports have been good from other drivers using the included mic. Weather channels come in a bit quite, but no big deal. I havent used the SSB yet, so I cant comment on its performance. The included SWR meter is nice for setting the antenna up. I paired this with a firestik mounted on the truck bed and average a 1.2:1 ratio. Many people comment on the beeps, but they honestly dont bother me as I typically have it set on only channel 19. One issue with it is that I had to send back the first one that came in because of a faulty on off switch, the unit wouldnt turn off. Amazon was quick to send a replacement and its been great. I highly recommend for a radio that works well right out of the box.

The built in SWR meter is accurate and easy to use. I verified the reading with an external SWR meter. Power output is at specification when using a tuned antenna. The supplied microphone is adequate for mobile use but a good power mic does improve sound quality and reduce distortion. Good radio.

Uniden makes good radios these days. I worked for Radio Shack in the 70s and In the 1970s youd find these at your local McCrorys or FW Woolworths and other retail outlets. Though it was originally sort of a low-end near Kraco and Midland. Uniden (and Midland) has changed its style and operating procedures and moved up a lot. Plusses. Uniden gives you an adapter cable so you can use other brand manufactured microphones with this radio. That puts a touch of humanity in their brand. I like that. Its a well-thought out and diplomatic gesture that endears me now to their brand. It comes with a decent manual that explains all of your features. Kind of important because there are few knobs, more buttons and its a much more complex apparatus than what you found in the 70s - 2000s. Its light, relatively compact for a full bore SSB radio. The radio is strict in its power limits. There is no fudging this radio but a really great mike paired with it will give you some additional performance. I took this on the open road and got some great distance with the same K-30 I tuned using a Cobra HH RoadTrip. It came in handy during a 20 mile long traffic jam, and proved itself to be a skip radio as well. I didnt intend to go hunting for skip on the road but the receiver is incredibly good! I managed to converse with a guy 30 miles away as if he were next door to me. Another guy about 120 miles away was easily reached and heard. For a radio with strict technical limits, this radio reaches out and grabs them. I might add I just used the stock mike that came with it. No screaming, whistling or any drama on my part. Power wise it puts out 4 watts on deadkey. You can maybe peak it out maybe 6 or 7 AM if youre loud. Im not loud so I didnt see that kind of performance. Triple that on sideband about 12 watts output give or take. Its intended to perform as a stock radio so its within strict power limits that are not really going to budge except by use of an amped up mike on AM. Minusses. Its till big. I had to leave it on my car seat. Its made for underdash mounting so the speakers on the bottom (as with most radios), and so an external wouldve been better than reading everything upside down. The digital metering is quirky. Its supposed to measure RF/Signal Strength and SWR but I found that the onboards did not agree with the SWR/Signal Strength and Watt meter I picked up at Ham Radio Outlet. The weather channels stock out of the box are all squelched so unless youre close you may not pick them up. I dont know how to unsquelch them, yet. So there you have it. I have to figure that one out as the manual doesnt explain this phenomena. As a stock bargain priced SSB its worth the money. It performs as good as models that cost twice as much so at the price at about $120 give or take, its a good deal. Performance is mediocre compared to some of the models out there that likely will outperform this unit. However, you get what you pay for! It suits me for the road but just doesnt fit anywhere in my car! So itll end up a base station as soon as I home brew an antenna for it.

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.