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Uniden 880/980 best CB/WB radio ? Use with KL203 ?

N

nobody123

Member
Feb 26, 2012
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I do a lot of long trips at night in all sorts of weather.

I want to talk to oncoming truckers about weather and road conditions and I want to receive the NOAA weather band transmissions to monitor what is happening weather wise.

I'm looking for a CB with WB for in my truck. I'll probably want to run an amp with it, something like the KL203.

I'm leaning towards a Uniden 880 because its got a good weather band receiver and I like the rest of the radio.

Can anyone recommend a better setup than a Uniden 880 for what I want ?

What would I gain by waiting for the Uniden 980 ?

Has anyone used an 880 with an amplifier such as the KL203 ? Does the 880 need any mods to work with an amp, ie dead key adjustment, swing adjustment or will it work with an amp out of the box ?

Thanks !
 
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Again, more concern for the radio and amp combo than the antenna to use.

What antenna are you using?
How is it mounted (mag mount or solid mount)?
Where is the antenna mounted (roof or bumper)?
Be concerned with your antenna type, model, brand, mount type, tuning, and location.
The rest is all gravy.

As far as WX radios go, The Cobra 18 WX/ST is a cheap yet effective radio. The CBRadiomagazine.com dude completely panned this radio as junk. I normally would agree with his findings; but not in this case. A local asked me to align three of these radios for him, and he gave me one of them. The alignment was easy and proved to be needed with all three of them. I also found by turning up the modulation pot and using a decent power mic on it made it quite an AM talker.

If you can find them on the cheap (~$25 used) and get a shop to completely align it and turn the AM carrier down to 1 1/2 watts for the amp (another ~$25), use an outstanding antenna and mic (about ~$90/antenna Wilson 5000, $40/Astatic D-104/M2 mic), and mount the antenna on the top/center of your vehicle - then you will have done what you sought out to do - IMO . . .
 
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What would I gain by waiting for the Uniden 980 ?
Click to expand...
Unless you like to use SSB I do not think it is justified to spend the extra coins.
Most of the OTR guys use AM only.
I agree with Rob that you should do what you can to have a good antenna system.
The 18 WX is a basic no frills radio for about $80 bucks depending were you get it. ( might find it cheaper on fleabay, I did not look)
Turn key new radio set up for me would be a Cobra 29 wx with night watch, this radio can be had from Walmart online new for $110 bucks, free shipping to a store near you, has weather channels and you said you are driving at night, the night watch lights up the controls on the front panel.
Leave the sound crapper feature turned off.
This gives you:
Weather channels.
Illuminated face plate for easy use at night.
Get a Wilson 1000 mag mount antenna and stick it on the top of your truck and you should be good....I do not even think you need an amp unless you just want one.

73
Jeff
 
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some great deals on referbed radios at uniden .

Uniden - CB Radios


PC68LTW = $50
PC68ELITE = $80

small and good AM talkers with WB . no SSB

you could also run a little weather band radio off the cig lighter to .
 
I have a 5/8 wave Firestick mounted on the roof of a Superduty crew cab. Its probably not optimal, but it works.

I'm considering upgrading to a Wilson 5000 or a 102" whip mounted in the bed.
 
nobody123 said:
I have a 5/8 wave Firestick mounted on the roof of a Superduty crew cab. Its probably not optimal, but it works.

I'm considering upgrading to a Wilson 5000 or a 102" whip mounted in the bed.
Click to expand...
I have the 5000 hardmounted on the roof of my Ext cab. It rocks for performance wise.
 
I was wondering what would be better to run. Thanks for sharing that.

Do you have any pictures of your 102 install ?

Any thoughts on turning the dead key on an 880 down to 2 watts ? Has anyone done it ?
 
Okay, a thread long-dead.

Note prices (reason for this post).
880 about $90 at that point.

At Loves Travel Center the UNIDEN 880 Is now $200.

Their price was always too high. Not terribly, but now?

Better get what GEAR you’ve been wanting while you can (availability), and price.

Its doubtful another retailer goes thru as many radios as does Loves. Drivers accumulate points on card per fuel purchase to take the sting out. And warranty honored at all Loves first X days.

Their stock stays fresh. Means wholesale is climbing ($160 elsewhere?).

I about fell over I saw that price.


.
 
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nobody123 said:
I do a lot of long trips at night in all sorts of weather.

I want to talk to oncoming truckers about weather and road conditions and I want to receive the NOAA weather band transmissions to monitor what is happening weather wise.

I'm looking for a CB with WB for in my truck. I'll probably want to run an amp with it, something like the KL203.

I'm leaning towards a Uniden 880 because its got a good weather band receiver and I like the rest of the radio.

Can anyone recommend a better setup than a Uniden 880 for what I want ?

What would I gain by waiting for the Uniden 980 ?

Has anyone used an 880 with an amplifier such as the KL203 ? Does the 880 need any mods to work with an amp, ie dead key adjustment, swing adjustment or will it work with an amp out of the box ?

Thanks !
Click to expand...


Kl-203 & 880/980 are happy campers in my experience. Nothing adjusted, though turning down dead-key is recommended.

.
 
after couple years light use both of my 980's are showing problems.the least used 1 in the least used truck has developed a crappy dim color on screen in all colors. the other will start scanning for no reason at worse possible times. specially when im giving my load information to the cute grain grader at 1 place we sell our grain to..i dont think its her but for some reason it starts scanning when i tune to ch 3. i got em both same nite same truckstop as my fuel points were about to expire. i got 2- 980's and a large coke and had .25 cents left on my card
 
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I once owned the 980 back when they were first introduced. Not a big talker but it worked well for a couple of years and I passed it to another company driver. He's currently still using it, it's gotta be maybe around 10 years ÷/- a tad. Maybe those elder ones were made better?
 
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