Also known as: Grant XL, Uniden Grant
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The Uniden Grant XL is the classic SSB workhorse of the CB world: a 1990s AM/SSB mobile from the same chassis lineage as the President Grant and Cobra 148 GTL, regarded by many operators as one of the best-sounding AM/SSB mobiles ever made.1 Production ended in the late 1990s — the semiconductors literally stopped being made — so the used market (eBay, hamfests, forums) is where it lives, at roughly $50–250 depending heavily on condition and mods.2 Our best used/classic buy among CBs — the Cobra 2000 GTL is the grander radio, but it’s collector-priced.
Key takeaways Vintage SSB on the cheap — if you check the clarifier. 4 W AM / 12 W PEP SSB, superb transmit audio, 1990s Uniden build that’s still daily-driven, and every CB shop can service it. Used only, ~$50–250 (thin sold data; mods and condition swing it hard). The buying game is the clarifier: unlocked-clarifier mods (R174 jumpered, D52 removed) are everywhere, void Part 95 compliance, and often mean sloppy work. License-free (Part 95D) — on a stock radio. Full rankings: best CB radios.
Overview
Ask an old-school CB shop what SSB mobile to hunt down used and the Grant XL comes up unprompted. The recipe: clean, punchy transmit audio on AM and sideband, a receiver that holds its own, dead-simple through-hole construction every tech knows, and Uniden’s 1990s build quality — thirty-year- old examples are still in daily service. There are no modern conveniences at all: analog meter, incandescent backlighting, clarifier, RF gain, ANL, PA, and that’s the list. No FM (it predates the 2021 authorization), no weather, no SWR calibration.
The market is small and cult-driven, which cuts both ways. Working examples have sold around $50–75; clean, serviced, or new-old-stock units push $150–250. We’ll flag it plainly: sold-price data is thin, asks have inflated with the radio’s reputation, and two listings at the same price can be a bargain and a money pit. Condition, originality, and service history are the whole price.
License note: CB requires no license — licensed by rule under FCC Part 95D, 4 W AM / 12 W PEP SSB, and the Grant XL was type-accepted to exactly that. The catch on this particular radio is below.
Buying used: what to check
The Grant XL’s aging story is really a modification story — a huge fraction of survivors have been worked on, and the hotspot is the clarifier:1
- The clarifier unlock. The most common Grant XL mod opens the clarifier so it slides transmit frequency along with receive (“freebanding” prep). Look for a jumper replacing R174, clipped wires near R174, or removed D52 / R44 / R100 / R139. Say it plainly: an unlocked clarifier voids the radio’s Part 95 type acceptance — it’s not legal to transmit with — and the work is often sloppily done. Stock-clarifier examples are worth more and buy you fewer surprises.
- Clarifier off-center on AM — needing the knob well off 12 o’clock to sound right means the radio needs realignment.
- The final transistor. Confirm stock vs swapped; a blown-and-replaced final is common on “peaked” radios, and swapped finals are another compliance and reliability flag.
- Budget a shop alignment on any unit of unknown history, and check mic-jack wear and the channel-selector detent.
Working for you: every CB shop knows this radio, and parts radios are still cheap. Working against you: no factory support since the 1990s, and the modified-to-stock ratio gets worse every year.
GopherTrunk alternative
Honesty from the software side: GopherTrunk can’t decode CB and isn’t meant to. CB is 27 MHz analog AM/SSB, below an RTL-SDR’s native tuning range without direct sampling or an upconverter, and analog sideband voice is outside GopherTrunk’s trunking/digital focus. If you want to check whether your area has SSB activity before hunting the used market, an HF-capable SDR is the honest listening tool; the channel list lives in our scanner frequencies reference.
Who it’s for
- Buy the Grant XL if you want vintage sideband on the cheap — a hobbyist’s or trucker’s classic that a $100 bill and a shop alignment turn into a daily driver. Find on eBay →
- Buy the Cobra 2000 GTL instead if you want the golden-age base-station experience and have collector money, or a new President McKinley II / Bearcat 980SSB for warrantied SSB with modern filtering.
- Skip vintage entirely if you won’t budget for service — an unserviced 30-year-old radio is a project, not a purchase. Full rankings: best CB radios.
Sources
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Uniden Grant XL owner review — CB Radio Club — on the radio’s audio reputation, build quality, the prevalence of clarifier unlock mods (R174/D52 area) and swapped finals, and used-market condition checks. ↩ ↩2
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Uniden Grant XL — RigPix — specifications: 40-channel AM/SSB, 4 W / 12 W PEP, clarifier, RF gain, ANL, PA, and the late-1990s end of production. ↩
Frequently asked questions
How much should I pay for a Uniden Grant XL?
Typical eBay range is about $50–150 for working examples, with clean, serviced, or new-old-stock units pushing $150–250. The data is thin and the cult reputation has inflated asks — condition and modifications swing prices hard, so judge each listing on service history, not the model name.
Why was the Uniden Grant XL discontinued?
Production ended in the late 1990s. Per Uniden by way of the owner community, the semiconductors it was built on stopped being made and SSB demand didn’t justify a redesign — so there was never a Grant XL II. That scarcity is a big part of the cult reputation.
What is the Grant XL clarifier mod and should I care?
The single biggest thing to check on a used unit. A large fraction have been modified to unlock the clarifier so it slides transmit frequency as well as receive — look for a jumper replacing R174, clipped wires near R174, or removed D52/R44/R100/R139. An unlocked clarifier voids the radio’s Part 95 type acceptance, is often sloppily done, and makes ‘needs realignment’ the safe assumption.
Is the Uniden Grant XL still a good SSB radio?
Many operators call it one of the best-sounding AM/SSB mobiles ever, and 1990s Uniden build quality means 30-year-old units are still daily-driven. It’s also simple to service and every CB shop knows it. What you give up is everything modern: no FM, no weather, no SWR calibration, incandescent backlighting.
Do I need a license for a Uniden Grant XL?
No — CB is licensed by rule under FCC Part 95D. The Grant XL was type-accepted at the legal 4 W AM / 12 W PEP SSB. But note the flip side: a unit with an unlocked clarifier or swapped ‘peaked’ finals no longer complies with Part 95 — stock examples are the ones worth owning.