Uniden Bearcat 980SSB fun with SWR Calibration with the mobile antenna and a lot of skip today

Really fun to play with this CB rig. Reminds me of my teenage years with my base station

[@stridermt2k]

So must nostalgia with CB radio. You make me want to put up a dedicated 11 meter antenna...pretty sure I have at least 2 somewhere! :D

[@dave10524]

Heard a guy local to me in southern Ontario contacting England , France and Italy a couple of days ago on 11 about 20:40 UTC when the flux hit 94 think it was. First cross Atlantic I have heard in a couple of years.

[@640amthemix]

Big news from the FCC in the states! They have authorized FM on the CB 27 mhz band! I just posted some details. Hopfullly Canada follows suit!

[@madmax2069]

Yeah, that should have happened years ago

[@JOHN_COSMO]

Hello I just bought a unit done at 980 SSB it is my first CB radio. I watched the video on how to calibrate everything and how to work the radio in general. My antenna is a crappy one it is a Tran 1499 with 50 ft of rgx8 cable that's just because I'm in a wheelchair and I can't get on my roof. The issue is which I can't find anybody that talks about it my SWR was a 1.0 because I have a built-in SWR meter on the CB. Soon as I calibrated it it went up to a 3.6 I I have no idea what's wrong I am a newbie. Was hoping you had some tips and you could share some of your experience with me to try and get my CB working. One other thing is my weather comes in perfect I was not able to hear anything or make contact with anybody I'm on the third floor so it should be at least able to contact a trucker by the thruways by my house please help thank you so much God bless

[@nightlife7231]

Is your mic gain up and make sure that you have your rf receive turned all the way up do all this by pushing in the ch button and going to them if that don't work then maybe your cable is bad going from your radio to your antenna but try wat I said 1st then get back to me and we will go from there ... (135 bear dog 🐕 east Tennessee skip shooter)

[@JOHN_COSMO]

Ended up getting a used antrom a99 rg213 coax cable. Works beautifully I recommend it to anyone looking to get better reception. I just wish I had more people to talk to now. I got my eyes on and ears I'm getting in my technician's license and a ham radio. Seems like I can't find anybody at night on the CB in my area? I'm hoping ham would fix that? What is it like? Soon as the snow melts it's going right up on the peak of my roof third story house. I get people from for example today central Arizona and Sacramento California skip was mighty! Thank you very much for showing me how to work my bearcat 980 SSB!! Thank you God bless

[@jacktaylor3001]

I love my Bearcat.

[@reg428]

I have a 980. Meter shows 1 on the radio but swr meter shows over 4. I tuned the antenna with a different radio, and got it just above 1. But when I plug it into the 980 it shows over 4 again

[@darrenrogers5174]

I agree with you about the digital display. Then there is also that flicker in the display. That's disappointing too.

[@vetham100]

I think that's because we're looking at it through his web cam.

[@KE8ODY-WV-Ares-Ham-Dad-3O4]

What mic would you recommend for the 980sb

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

The stock microphone is great, but you have to open it and remove the rubber filter in it to make it sound great

[@KE8ODY-WV-Ares-Ham-Dad-3O4]

@@OfficialSWLchannel I got me a astatic D104M6B

[@raychandler2757]

My 680 shuts down by itself. Fully charged. Any thoughts.

[@OfficialSWLchannel]

make sure you are not in sleep mode and make sure the batteries are tight fit . leave batteries out 24 hours and insert them back see if it fixes

[@raychandler2757]

@@OfficialSWLchannel thanks for the response. It was the sleep setting. Handling the multi function buttons has a learning curve for me.

[@davidsradioroom9678]

That guy with the echo chamber could be annoying. Nevertheless, it is radio.

[@b3j8]

Alot of those on CB. One more reason I generally dont listen to CB much. But, there was a time back in the 1970s, just before the band exploded as a fad, when it was a ton of fun to work skip. Illegal of course.