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 started out getting a cheap CB with no extras to see if I liked it. After playing around for a few days I decided I wanted the extra goodies. This radio is fantastic; I chose it over the comparable cobra. The Bearcat 980 is the same thing, except with SSB. Ive read that most people dont use SSB, but if you are planning on using this with an exclusive group this option may suit your needs. I put this on my 2000 Chevy Astro and am using it with a 4 Firestik. Here are a few notes: 1) Forget the cigarette lighter plug, buy some 14 gauge wire from the auto store and run it directly to your battery. This will GREATLY reduce the electrical interference from your engine. I first used the cig lighter and the interference was terrible. 2) This unit has a built in SWR meter, antenna checker, ANL AND NB (further reduces interference from outside sources), weather alert, all channel scan, and RF gain control. I use all these features regularly. These are the major goodies youre paying the extra money for and they make it 100x more enjoyable. 3) Make sure to tune your antennas SWR to prevent damage to the radio. 4) The aesthetics and build quality are great - being able to change the colors is way cool.

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.

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.

Love this CB it easy to use. Has noise cancelation. Your voice is very clear when talking. Love the weather chanels it picks up in every state im in and the areas around me so I know ahead. Nice display on the front and one touch to change channels

The price and features combination make this a great buy. I have bought 3 of them in fact. I know the radios strengths and weaknesses. Why does anyone need 3 radios? I have 2 cars and a base station. These make great base stations if you know how to invert the power and use a battery in your home. Many radio buffs do this. Base stations cost so much more money but dont really perform much better. I have other radios too, including HAM radios. This radio has a few things to be aware of. The beeps are great for driving since you can change or adjust the stations without looking at it. (The beeps can be turned off) On SSB (Single Side Band) the clarifier has 2 knobs on top of each other. One is a broad tuner and the other is the fine tuner. No more chipmunks talking in the distance! (The way people sound when they are no clarified properly) The broad tune clarifier has a center notch stop you can feel without looking. Brilliant in the car! The LED screen is just not very bright and for a mobile device this is a real problem. It can be made brighter using the adjustment buttons/knobs but even in daylight mode at the brightest setting it is hard to see. Still, this is not important when you are driving, you just need to know the channel and nothing else. It has a digital meter on it as well and built in SWR but I only use these when I am stopped and not driving. I tested the accuracy of the built in SWR as well by hooking up a SWR meter. It is VERY close to the actual SWR meter. I feel very safe after testing this over and over that the built in SWR is giving me good readings. Warnings: Do NOT use a power mic on this (With a caveat, read on), it has a built in power mic (Gain control) for any mic hooked up to it. It comes with a microphone adapter too so that other mics can be used. DO NOT run this with a Noise Cancelling Mic and run this on volume setting 4. It will over modulate and possibly damage the radio. I know this first hand. I blew the radio up literally with a Noise Cancelling microphone. Smoke out of the radio. I should say I bought 4 of these because that is the real truth, I learned a hard lesson.I found I could run a Noise cancelling mic if I kept the volume at 2 and never above 3 on the volume (gain) control. There are 4 volumes levels on this control. I would have liked to have seen a more finer adjustment for this (10 volume levels instead of 4), but this works. Getting the SWR is critical for AM broadcasting. If you get the SWR right your signal is cleaner and matches up better with the carrier wave you are sending out. You talk further and better with a nice SWR (1.0 is perfect, but anything below 1.5 is acceptable, most people who understand SWR can get their antenna tuned to 1.1 or 1.2), and this radio has that all covered nicely. In short, this is a great radio, and as a radio operator for over 40 years, I really like this radio.

Let me start by saying I am not a CB expert. I dont crack radios open and adjust and tweak. I use then as they come from the factory. With that being said, this is one of the best out-of-the-box CB radios Ive ever used. It has a ton of features. The audio is good, the range is excellent, the output power is a perfect 4w. Sideband works well what little Ive used it, not slot of sidebanders around where I live. I love the scan and memory-scan feature. Probably my favorite feature about the radio. The mic is not bad. Ive had no one complain about not being able to hear me. Ive since switched to the wireless mic, which is also excellent. All in all, I would highly recommend this radio. It is priced right for all the features packed into it.

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.

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.

Ive had the exact same model of this CB for many years without any issues. The display on the old one started becoming dim when it got warm and I was unable to read it (a known issue with this model), so I opted to purchase a new one just like it. What a mistake. First, the display is very dim on its highest setting. Hard to read in bright light. (that never happens outside!) Second, I was unable to get an SWR below 2.3. Three different antennas--same thing. Power output was ~2 watts, half of what it should be. On a different radio, SWR about 1.1 on each antenna with ~4 watt output. I was really hoping this would be a good radio like the old one I have. I love its features and the fact it is SSB. With a couple mods and better QC, this would be the radio to have! Returned it for a refund as I dont know what I want to get now. My 15 yr old Cobra SSB still works great!

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.