Having experienced these great woods of North Georgia I set out to find ways to make my trip even more enjoyable and safer. It wasn’t just a few years back that my wife and I had started a trip across Blood Mountain before it started to storm. I can tell you that if you have never been caught off guard by Mother Nature its not pleasant. I remember trying to get our gear stashed so it didn’t get soaked and wanting to know how I could find out if the storm was going to pass or hang over our heads like a bad debt. It wasn’t a very good time but the rain and lightning did find its way past us and the sun came shining through.

With that trip in mind I began searching for weather radios and after a week or so I forgot all about the incident that led me to search. Then at the Powersports Dealer Expo in Indiana, I found what I didn’t know I had been missing. Have you ever had one of those moments? Anyway, it brought back the rain dance trip up in Georgia and I knew this accessory was for me.

Jensen radio had heard of similar situations, because in the Jensen Heavy Duty Radio package came everything I should have had with me on our ride that day. The JHD910 is a powerful waterproof radio receiver that includes a weather-band. The radio is powered by 12 volts off your utility quad, and has speakers that can mount to a roll bar or gear rack on the ATV. With an AM/FM tuner and a 7-channel NOAA weather band, it’s the total package.

There are 30 programmable stations and a backlit screen for night-time viewing. The head unit has 2 channels for stereo speaker output and an auxiliary out jack for those I-pods and MP3 players. The speakers sell separately but are also waterproof and have a variety of mounting options, with easy-to-decipher instructions.

Having gathered all the necessary components together, we decided to try this piece of art out for ourselves, and man it’s a dream come true.

The radio mounted to the front rack on our ATV, with the help from Jensen’s JHDATVK rack mount kit. This allows me to adjust the radio up/down and twist from side to side to my liking. I love it when things go my way, don’t you? The speakers mounted to the front rack as well. It allows the antenna to be mounted right beside one of the speakers, which simplifies the process even more.

With all of our wiring installed and weather-proofed I decided to test the "waterproof" side of the product claims. This thing really is waterproof - even the speakers worked fine with the hose blasting over them! I figure if it’s going to break, I want to find that out in the yard, not on the mountain. Once satisfied, off to North Georgia we drove to find a good remote trail to ride for the day. The radio worked flawlessly once we figured out how to set the clock.

It just so happened that the weather band got a work-out as well. I noticed that the NOAA weather band tuner automatically interrupts the radio station if there is an alert posting. This was unexpected at first but once we figured out what was happening I was thankful indeed.

Our 6-inch rubber antenna mounted on our set-up worked fine in semi-remote areas as long as we parked on high ground. The 14-inch antenna would probably have worked better in the Blood Mountain incident mentioned earlier in my story. It just seems it would get on out there better in deep woods.

The engineers at Jensen have built radios for years and this is just another way that these guys prove to us all why they are still in the business of entertainment. I give this setup a high five for sure.

-Sosebee Out

www.jensenheavyduty.com

JHD910: Heavy duty AM/FM/WB Mini Waterproof Radio: $234.99
JXHD35: Mini Water Proof speakers: $89.99
JAN139: Six inch Antenna: $29.99
JHDATVK: Rack mount kit: $89.99