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The early days of J&M’straveling road show, withinventory in tow.Melinda staffing the J&Mbooth at Wing Ding 1.An early Rider magazine ad for J&M.first products, they joined the Tucson Chapter(GWRRA’s very first Chapter) of a group ofriders dedicated to the 4-cylinder Gold Wingmachines from Honda—the recently formedGold Wing Road Riders Association. Theyhave been Member number 301 ever since.Note the early ad from Rider magazine.This helmet was set up only for listening—CBand intercom capability were optional backthen. But when combination radios (AM/FM/CB) became available along with the CycleSound radio housing to fit the Windjammerfairing, helmet headsets capable of both listeningand transmitting became much more popularamong the long-distance crowd. Note thephoto of J&M’s traveling road show. Theyarrived at rallies with their inventory in towbehind their Wing—a far cry from the largedisplay trailers J&M now takes to rallies andindustry shows.Improving the ImprovementsIn the years since that first Wing Ding(note the picture of Melinda “manning” thebooth), they continually learned and experimentedin an effort to make their productsmore functional and more durable. Many newideas came from suggestions they receivedfrom GWRRA Members as well as their ownpersonal needs.They could now retrofit theirown design CB into a Honda factory audiosystem, and passengers took a liking to theirpassenger volume control/ transmit switch—the latest incarnation of which is far morefunctional and easy to use than even the factoryaccessory.Throughout the years, along came variousJ&M solid-state devices that permitted integrationof radar detectors, cell phones, GPS,and other electronic gadgets. But there wasstill one thing lacking, in their opinion. J&M’sproducts were popular and generallyacknowledged as durable and functional. Butregardless of how many wonderful gadgetswere plumbed into the bike’s audio system,hearing those devices in helmet speakers andtransmitting with a helmet-mounted microphonerequired the same style ungainly helmetcords that were in use since the very first helmetheadset. Not only do these cords requireconnection and disconnect for each ride(which contributes to broken connectors),they also tend to mar the bike’s finish as theyswing back and forth over painted surfaces.BluetoothMost of us have been exposed toBluetooth technology either by our handsfreeearpiece device that links to our cellphones, or by Bluetooth-enabled devices inour home computing systems. But what exactlyis Bluetooth? Put simply, Bluetooth is a wirelessand automatic networking standard thatprovides agreement between devices on botha physical level (radio frequencies are usedrather than wires) and on a protocol level—each device in the network has to agree onwhen data bits are sent, how many are sent ata time, and how each device in an electronicconversation can be sure that the messagereceived is the same as the message sent.Enough of that, except to say that theBluetooth devices used on a Wing must notonly communicate with each other, theyshould be able to do so while providing highfidelitystereo sound. Some headsets haveused a 2-channel stereo profile. But what’sbeen lacking is the ability for the signal fromthe helmet-mounted microphone to passdown to the linked device simultaneously withthe stereo signal from the device being transmittedback up to the helmet speakers. J&Msolved that issue with the creation of theirJ&M Motorcycle Audio Headset Profile(JMAHP). This exclusive J&M breakthroughallows for simultaneous transmission of boththe 2-channel stereo signals and microphonesignal between the headset and dongle.What’s a dongle? It’s a device that connectsto an audio component and converts the signalfrom analog to digital, then sends it wirelesslyto another Bluetooth device. It alsoreceives digital signals from other devices andconverts them back to analog. For the GoldWing or Harley Ultra owner, the J&M donglesare the really big news, because they permit60 Wing World