HDS5 Ken?

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mark poulson
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HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Ken,
I have the HDS5 on my bow.
I am not sure what I am seeing.
My digital readout says 30', there is a solid line at 30', but there is a varying "ghost" on the bottom, the same colors as a school of shad.
It isn't everywhere, and it tapers, starting tight to the bottom, and then growing to as much as 10' off the bottom in places, before it tapers off again.
My buddy says it's an echo from where the cone is hitting more shallow structure at the edge of the cone, but I also see it where the bottom is flat.
As I said, it's not all the time. And I can see it on the side of humps as I pass over them, or on the side of 45 degree banks sometimes, which jibes with the shallower structure echo.
But I also see it when the bottom is flat, or only slightly tapering. And it's not always there on the side of 45 degree banks.
I'm stumped.
Help!!!
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Ken Sauret »

I have yet to be able to figure out just what this anomaly is. When I do I'll get on here and let everyone know.
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mark poulson
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Ken,
Forgive me for being thick, but do you mean you've seen it, too, or that I didn't describe it well enough?
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Ken Sauret »

I've seen it too and don't know what it is.
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mark poulson
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

So I'm not crazy, at least not about this! :wink:
At first I got excited and thought I'd found the mother load of shad.
But the down scan on my console unit told me pretty quickly that wasn't true.
My buddy is Dan Warme, and he took a look. He's the one who suggested it was the outer edges of the sonar cone echoing off more shallow structure at the edge of the cone.
I like my loads of shad answer better, but, truth is I'm totally lost.
I'm anxiously awaiting your diagnosis.
Meantime, I'll be up on the bow, waiting for the winds of enlightenment to break.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Ken Sauret »

Mark, Here is a screenshot I took off my HDS 8 that shows the green, orange and yellow clutter over the brown of the bottom. You can see from the Structure Scan shot that the very jagged nature of the rock gives us the colors above the bottom. I believe this is what we are seeing on the Broadband sonar, not unlike what you described above.

Image
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mark poulson
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Ken,
I think you're right. I payed close attention today, and I agree that it's the echo from stucture that is at the edge of the cone, like the downscan shows.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by HunterofBass »

Is there any way to get the bottom "fuzz" to clear up? I have the same exact issue alot of the time and have seen fish come up out of the fuzz to check out my bait then dissapear back into the fuzz. I've tried changing all my sensitivities and color to no avail and still get the fuzz and can't see the fish in the fuzz. I'm running an hds10 up front and a 5 at the console. Any help with this issue would be awesome as I'm still learning these new units! Thanks
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Rod Wynn »

Ken Sauret wrote:Mark, Here is a screenshot I took off my HDS 8 that shows the green, orange and yellow clutter over the brown of the bottom. You can see from the Structure Scan shot that the very jagged nature of the rock gives us the colors above the bottom. I believe this is what we are seeing on the Broadband sonar, not unlike what you described above.

Image

Thats a great look photo none the less though..
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mark poulson
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Ken,
That means my friend was right, and it's an echo off more shallow stuff that's at the edge of the cone.
That will help me figure out that there's a jagged, irregular, or rising bottom in the area.
Thanks.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Ken Sauret »

Yes, it's the stuff near the edge of the cone. There is no way to get rid of it unless you go to a 50/200 transducer to narrow your coverage. But the problem with that is you narrow your coverage!
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

I guess I'll just have to learn to interpret it.
I only saw that kind of thing in a few places on my old X15. Maybe the cone was smaller. I did have a dual transducer, but I used the 200 setting.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Ken Sauret »

With the HDS we have the 83/200 transducer so the 200 khz is the same as you had before. The 83 khz is a little wider but shows detail better in deeper water. The dual frequency transducers we had before were 50/200. The 50 khz is wider than the 83 khz so if you see the kind of clutter as in the screenshot above and you are in 200, switch to 83 to widen the coverage and go back and forth. I think this will help you learn to interpret what the unit is showing you.
Last edited by Ken Sauret on Sun Feb 19, 2012 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ken Sauret
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mark poulson
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

I'll give it a shot.
Thanks for the advice.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Marc »

Mark, you are definitely seeing more shallow bottom than the depth directly under the boat. There are a couple of things that will help, but don't view the information as confusing or detrimental; all the fish and bait continue to show as if the shallower bottom was not displayed.

You can use a narrower cone transducer. The Universal Sonar transducers are more narrow and I use one on the bow of my Ranger specifically to pinpoint structure directly under my transducer in areas where the bottom depth changes quickly. BTW, the 50 kHz and 83 kHz are a wider cone angle than the 200 kHz you are using, and you use these to see larger areas around the boat, and for tracking downrigger balls (they also show extremely deep bottom better as well).

Some other things you should make sure you do to setup your HDS units for better reading is to set it to "Shallow Water Mode" first and foremost. After you do that (and not before) program your HDS to the exact model transducer you are using (there is a silver tag on the transducer cable within a couple feet of where it plugs into the back of the HDS). Then make sure you increase the ping speed to 18 or higher (factory default is 15).

I also like to set the chart speed to at least 2X or higher; this also helps.

If you haven't programmed these settings you are not getting nearly the picture you could be getting.

Hope this helps.

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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Thanks for the advice, Marc.
I've printed it out, and, as soon as it stops raining, I'll go out and play around with my bow unit to set it up that way.
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by Marc »

You are welcome, Mark!

ciao,
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Re: HDS5 Ken?

Post by mark poulson »

Marc,
Well, it's embarrassing to admit, but I am totally lost.
I spent half an hour trying to find where on the menu to access the stuff you suggested, but all I succeeded in doing was lock up my screen. Fortunately, I was able to unlock it again.
Where in the menu do I go to be able to adjust the settings?
I hate it when a machine is smarter than me! Grrr....
Of course, my dog is smarter than me, so I should be used to it. :lol:
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