Q & A (FAQ)
Questions, Answers and/or FAQ’s About Fish Finders
This section will be devoted to providing answers to questions asked by viewers of the site. It could be a little disorganized for awhile so please bare with me.
In order to get you started with your Sonar/GPS device, it is best to first read the manual, especially the installation section.
This section will contain the mounting instructions for the unit and for the sonar section the transducer and optional accessories (e.g. speed sensor).
Improper installation will cause you nothing but problems and if the unit does work it will not work in such a way as to provide you with optimum results. Once you have read the installation instructions and have installed your unit and accessories, you must read the rest of the manual.
If all else fails read the instructions !
Let’s face the fact that the more you know about your sonar/gps device the better it will work for you. Also, it will help aid in resolving any issues you may have if your last resort is to contact the manufacturer.
How Does Sonar Work?
SONAR (SOund NAvigation RAnging). Sound moves thru water at about 4920 feet/second (almost a mile). Your fish finder measures the amount of time it takes for the sound pulse it sends out to travel to the bottom and back. In simple terms your fish finder acts first like a speaker (sending the sound out) and then switches over to a microphone (picking the sound up). Now anything that gets in the path, sends back an echo which can be interpreted by your fish finders electronics as bottom, fish, rocks, logs.
Why are pixels so important?
PIXEL (Picture Element). A colored dot. The greater number of pixels per inch the greater resolution. Pixels are arranged in columns and rows and the more pixels in the column, the greater the detail. The greater the detail, then a small change in the bottom contour allows the structure to jump into your sight on your fish finder display, therefore giving you better information.
What do all those arches mean?
Those boomerang shaped arches your watching are all related to the transducer cone. Let’s say your transducer is sending out a signal shaped in a 60 degree cone and a fish swims thru at 20 feet, your fish finder measures the distance and puts it out on your display. When the fish comes into the cone, its roughly 20′ away, when its directly under the transducer about 19′ and when it leaves the cone its roughly 20′ away again. This causes the arch effect. Lets say the fish gets startled, changes direction, changes depth then you won’t get a perfect arch.
Humminbird Fish Finders
What about Manitoba maps?
Navionics seems to think we’re just part of Lake of the Woods. Yet we have 100,000 lakes. Who makes a chip for those?
I contacted Humminbird and this is their reply. “Thank you for contacting Humminbird. We appreciate your interest in our products. I am very sorry our units will not accept custom built maps. Our units work with the Navionics.gold/premium cards. Navionics does allow for request for additional lakes from consumers. You may direct request for additional mapping charts for Manitoba at the below link:
http://navionics.com/LakeCatalog_FavoriteLakes.asp
If we can assist you further on this subject or any other Humminbird related questions please feel free email us again or contact our Customer Resource Center at 1-800-633-1468 to speak with a Customer Service Representative. Our hours are Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Wednesday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Here is a list of lakes included in the NVB products. for the Great Lakes
Lowrance FishFinders
Does the Lowrance M68C Deepwater 200 KHZ fish finder capture depth contours in such a way that I can plot them on a computer?
It seems to me that as long as I am trolling mile after mile that capturing the information and plotting it would be helpful.
It appears that to be able to work with your Lowrance data you are going to need a product emulator. Now, the Lowrance Product Emulators are PC software apps that simulate the operation of an actual unit. These virtual sonar/GPS units perform just like the real ones! These emulators don’t actually navigate or show “live” sonar returns (no transducer or antenna connection) but all other features are fully functional. Emulators for recording/sonar/GPS units play back recorded sonar logs and display MapCreate™ custom maps.
M68C S/Map Emulator (30.1 MB) M68C Emulator
Does the transducer read to the front or rear of the pontoon boat?
Question: I have my transducer mounted on the back of a 21 ft pontoon. Does the transducer read to the front or rear of the pontoon boat? What are the sonar patterns and distances and size of the pattern?
Name = Doug
Answer: The transducer takes readings directly under where the transducer is located.
Now, there are four considerations to be made in order for your fishfinder to be considered a good unit.
You need a high power transmitter
You need an efficient transducer
You need a sensitive receiver
You need a High Resolution/Contrast display
A simple way of describing what your transducer is doing would to be compare it to the way a “BAT” navigates its way while flying at night. It sends out a high frequency sound wave which bounces off and object returns to the bat’s ears which send the information to brain which then interprets it and tells the bat which way to go to avoid a collision. All this is done almost instantaneously.
What your transmitter is doing is taking a electrical impulse, converting it into a sound wave, which is then transmitted into the water. This soundwave hits and object and rebounds to the surface where it gets converted back into an electric signal which is then amplified by the receiver which then shows up on the screen as a continuous line. This whole process is repeated continuously and at many times per second. In order to give you an idea of how fast this happens, the speed of sound in water is approximately 4800 feet per second.
Here is another analogy to help describe the transmitter coverage. Think of the beam as being what you see from a flashlight, the outside edge of the
beam only goes about 1/2 the distance of the what the center of the beam does. It is what you would call cone shaped.
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