Bearcat 980 SSB

[terrex]

Im thinking about buying one of these but before I do I would like to hear what you guys have to say about it

[Radar-DLDN]

Hi terrex. I don't know if any of the regulars here have gotten one yet, but I do plan to get one soon. I currently have a Midland 1001lwx that works well but the 980 is an upgrade to just about everything. The only negative thing I have heard is that they are a bit quiet on the AM side, but a good power mic may help with that.

[MDYoungblood]

Hello terrex,
Welcome to the forum. If you haven't bought it yet go look at other radios unless all you want is a 40 channel SSB CB radio. Yes adding a power mic and turning up the modulation on the inside of the radio can be done, maybe tweaking the power, but that is it. So far to date I have not seen any mods for extra channels, etc. for the radio.

3's

Greg

[Ronin]

I have had a Uniden Bearcat 980SSB since July and it is a nice radio. If you only want/need the regular 40 channels it will do the job. I do mostly SSB and it is very stable on frequency..... no drift at all. The stock mic that comes with it is a noise cancelling microphone and it restricts your audio pretty much. As was mentioned in an earlier post, an amplified microphone will probably be in order.... but so is the case with alot of CB radios.

The only thing that seems to annoy some poeple that own them is that there is a confirmation 'beep' each time you change channels or push one of the buttons. With the stock/built in speaker it is not too loud/annoying/obnoxious.... but with an external speaker it is amplified a bit and is very noticable.

Output can easily do w 4 watt dead key and do about 12+ with audio on AM.... on SSB about 15 watts PEP. I have heard of a little more output than that, but you will start stressing the components (namely the MOSFET final) and shorten the life of those components.

Frequency alignment was dead on right out of the box and the output was just a bit on the low side (AM deadkey about 3.5w and SSB about 10-11w PEP). After a minor tune-up I was getting the output figures I listed above.

The receiver is also very nice on both AM and SSB. The S-meter on mine was a bit 'tight' on AM, but the receive is right up there with other radios in my shack and the radio has very low 'white noise' on even the weakest received signals. The S-meter is better on SSB and the sensitivity is very good on both AM and SSB and selectivity and rejection is very good as well. I live about 1/2 mile from a heavily travelled state highway and really never hear any splatter at all.

[drdx]

Thanks for that post. Now I see a 949 in your profile. On receive, how does it compare?

-drdx

[Ronin]

Hi DrDX!

The primary CB radios in the shack,.... well at least on the desk most of the time is the Galaxy DX-949, the Uniden Pro-810e and now more recently the Uniden 980SSB. I performed the "receiver modification" to both the 810e and the 949 with very nice results as compared side by side to the same radios without the mods (I have another basically NIB Uniden Pro-810e un-modded and also when I first got my DX-2547 before I did the rec. mod to it). It would seem like the test would be a bit 'slanted', but the 980 holds it's own with both the 810 and the 949.

Running all three radios on a 3-way coax switch, all three are pretty darn close. After doing these receive tests this evening (which btw is one of my favorite things that I do every time I put a different rig on the desk... or even test the receive of my ham radios against the 11 meter rigs) I would have to give a slight edge to the Pro 810e on both SSB and AM.... but most noticable on SSB. IMO, the 949 (with rec mod) and the 980 are really close. Both hear the same signals... but on SSB... the receive edge goes to the 980 and on AM it goes to the 949. The differences are not huge, but it is noticable.

Fortunately, I was able to do these tests right now as I type. On both SSB and AM, the 'testing subjects' were just above the noise floor and barely moving the needle on any of the three radios. I do not know who either of these gentlemen are, but they were definitely helpful for my testing purposes this evening.

I hope this was helpful.
Jim / Ronin

[terrex]

Im not really worried about a radio that can me extra channels. There are only 3 or 4 channels that are ever busy in my area so having a 40 channel radio will be good enough. No sense having more channels if no one is using them

[MDYoungblood]

There is one thing about the 980 is that it can be used with a cordless mic that Uniden (Bearcat) developed that will be out as soon as the FCC grants a waiver for the frequency it needs to use. It can also be used with the 880.

3's

Greg

[cigar czar]

My work buddy bought the 980ssb and I loaned him my lil Wil 36" antenna til his Firestik came in. We were able to talk 16 miles with no amps or radio mods. He has made ssb contacts too with the 4' Firestik. These Radios be tuned to hit over high teens in power like a Galaxy but that's what amps are for right. They are on freq. from the factory very well from the reviews I have read.

[Zman]

From what i hear its a decent rig but very limited in you cannot add extras, open the clarifier, and it does low power.... It is a FCC friendly radio. I wish Cobra would come out with a new standard 40 CH SSB rig to compete with Uniden as the Cobra 148 GTL they make is JUNK.

[wi 544]

its a great radio, ssb is dead on freq, the beep mod is nice and makes the radio much better to use. just look us 980ssb beep mod on youtube. i have been using this radio in my suv for a few months now and with a wilson 1000 antenna it has no problem talking skip, i usually go out on my lunch break at work and talk dx for about 30 min and no problem making contacts

[Radar-DLDN]

I got mine a few weeks ago. I like it so far, though I haven't gotten it installed in the mobile yet. The only thing is the mic. I just don't like it. I added a DM1000 power mic and I think it sounds much better.

[jessejamesdallas]

I thought on those radios, you could turn off the conformation beep...I know on the new Cobra 29lx's you can.

[wi 544]

I thought on those radios, you could turn off the conformation beep...I know on the new Cobra 29lx's you can.

nope not on the 980ssb, but the mod, removing 1 resistor works great

[Frogg]

I just got mine today and hooked it up have gotten good reports on am contacts on 19 Haven't quite gotten anything back on the ssb end tried 38lsb. So far compared to other radios i've used I'm pretty happy with it have it at home as a base station right now hooked up to a vertical wire dipole hangin about 27/28 feet.

[silvereagle1]

You'll like the 980 it is very well built. All surface mount inside too. cbradiomagazine.com has both written and video reviews on the 980. Good luck.

[hank_612]

I have heard good things about the wireless mic they make for them also.

[silvereagle1]

I believe there is a video on that mic.