Well there ya go, neat-o
It's a mobile alright. 12v and 13.8V is the same
Yeah I think all SBE's were sidebanders...afterall, SBE stands for Sideband Engineering
Only drawback is that it may be only 23 channel rather than the later 40. Will still have ch 19 for highway use. Guess you won't know until you plug it in and turn it on.
USB/LSB is upper and lower sideband. It's just different operating modes for talking on the same channel. Back in the 23 channel days, ch's 16 and 17 were commonly used for sideband. when the 40 channels came along, the sidebanders moved up to channels 37,38 & 39 mostly.
On sideband you have to "tune the stations in" using that knob marked "clarifier."
When you get it hooked up, make sure your installer checks the antenna to make sure there is no SWR or that they are low. Antennas for transmitting must be tuned for the frequencies they are operating on. I would not assume anything about a used antenna like this. Simple to check it. You guy should have an SWR meter.
If you end up not liking this radio, you can offer it for sale right here on this site.
Fairly rare radio. I've never seen this model.
Good luck!!