Installed 980 for my son

[Ringo Unit]

Well my 16 year old son thinks he wants to get into cb so I bought him a Uniden 980ssb. We installed it in his Tacoma this past weekend with a 102 and 6" spring. It has a flat match and is working perfect. He is using the anemic stock mic, but surprisingly is getting great audio reports. We left the factory screen protector on it to prevent scratches but I know its not meant to be permanent. Anyway, just wanted to report a good experience with a 980. Kevin.


P.S. On quiet mornings we talk at a distance of 5.9 miles (according to draft logic). Not to shabby for a 4 watt radio..

[DevilDog66]

Is that 5.9 miles your getting out on AM or is that on SSB. I'm kinda getting back into the CB hobby and I was looking at those Uniden 880's and 980's. From what I've seen you can't beat 'em, looks like a pretty good value on the prices I've seen on them.

[1206FL]

Not bad at all!! Sounds like you're happy or your son is happy with it!! It really is a great radio for the money. I think people are finally catching on that these are good radios straight out of the box. The stock mic is like most, does okay. A 2018 extreme mic will wake the audio up a bunch and they sound good with the 980. Have one and use it as well as the old uniden Bearcat mic with the silver face and red bear claw on front. Also the Bluetooth mic they sell for them sound good as well. Clean clear audio!! My brother in law borrowed mine and doesn't want to give it back LOL!!

[1206FL]

And I would say SSB you can talk pretty far at night if it's quiet!!

[Ringo Unit]

DevilDog....yes sir, that is on AM. We havn't tried ssb yet. We may be able to go a little farther as he was putting an s4-s5 on my antron99.

1206FL....thank you for the kind words. I have a Cobra power mic (I think its Gh-75 or something) and my local buddies said it sounded much better, BUT, my son loves the "retro" look of the bearcat mic with all the chrome?!?! Anyway, he will learn in time.

[southwind]

That is great. Don't you just feel good when a plan comes together, especially with your Son who wants to carry on in the hobby. It's good for the soul. Good luck to both of you, and 3's to you/yours from Georgia Dawg country, Good day..........

[theglide]

Nice. I use an Astatic D104 handheld mic on my 980SSB. Reports are good if I keep the mic gain on the radio low at 1 or 2 and the mic power on the mic itself at about 3 or so.

I found the receive is sensitive (a lot of noise) so the receive gain button is a life saver along with the NB/ANL button. I don't lose many signals and the radio is much quieter and voices easier to understand.

[1206FL]

A good mic that I have found works very well with the 980 is the older uniden mic, part # BMKG0637001. Looks like the one posted below.
Even though it's a stock mic it works very well mobile or base. I've used this mic on everything from a Galaxy 55, cobra 29lx, cobra 148, cobra 25, and even a yaseu FT-101E, reports on all radios was good audio that was clean and clear. The other mic I really liked is the Bluetooth mic that uniden sells. I think you can get them for cheap these days. For under $50 it's a great mic for that price!! Drill the mic hole out a bit and it really is a good mic. I may just buy another as they are as cheap as they are now. Used to be $100-$120. Now I see them for under $50. I paid $100 for mine a couple yrs. ago and loaned it to my brother in law. Haven't seen it since. That was Christmas Day LOL. He is using it on a magnum 257. Says he likes it better than the stock power mic. The ones that came with the small mic. Anyway. Just my experience with the 980 and mics. I have also used the 2918 extreme and it works well for mobile use as it has a noise canceling feature, or Noise Reduction (NR) on the mic which is switchable on/off. The 2018 extreme has been a great mic as well and works with any 4 pin radio or with an adapter. It will definitely make the audio a bit louder. At any rate glad that more people are getting these radios as they are a clean radio that doesn't need an alignment out of the box for majority of radios, and is simple to adjust the AMC, ALC, AM dead key, and other pots as well even though they are tiny. I use an HF radio now but I do use the 980 from time to time. I'll say it again, this is the best cb/SSB radio as far as bang for the buck IMO. Not always about loud audio, some of us like clean/clear audio vs. being very loud. Clean is mean. Again these are JMO.

[theglide]

Agree, beautiful crisp, clean audio.

Sounds like a good amateur radio.

[231]

Congrats' to your son. I run the stock mic on my 980 also because it sounds pretty decent. I need to get one of my D104's on there to see if it helps any but I also get good audio reports with it.

231

[1206FL]

Just received my uniden Bluetooth mic back yesterday and man I am happy I got it back. I had forgotten just how clean and clear that mic sounds. I used it yesterday and recorded myself in the mobile from my kenwood ts140s. Audio was loud, clean, and clear. Only mod done was to drill the mic hole to 5/16". For what they are selling these for, you could get a 980 and mic for about $150 dollars and have a very nice CB/SSB radio & mic setup for mobile or base use. And the mic has good range away from base as well. The only downfall is the received audio isn't the best but it works well enough to hold a conversation or for monitoring if away from radio. These are just my experiences with the 980 and the Bluetooth mic. I can say I am very pleased with both and can't believe how good the radio sounds. Dead on freq as well. I used another radio for monitoring. Anyway, again, glad you are happy with the setup and highly recommend looking at the Bluetooth mic. It's nice to use mobile but for base use I love it as I can do other things and not have to be right at the radio to talk. Anyway, maybe I'll do some comparing and record it. I'll start a thread if I do. Anyways, have a good day.

[Ringo Unit]

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I really appreciate it. I will definitely look into it! Kevin.