Transponder Issue

[Intuition Gloucester]

On a sandy bottom and at low tide, my transponder is not registering correctly. It will say 992 feet when it is not more than 3 or 4. Once the bottom changes, it corrects itself. Not a problem in deeper water but then again I don't need it as much in deeper water.

I've noticed some marine growth on it and cleaned it up but have not been out since. Any other advice? The speedometer feature and GPS are working fine. It is a Humminbird unit.

 

[TBarCYa]

Re: Transponder Issue

I've noticed the same thing with all of the depth finders I've owned. There is a minimum depth that it will read and it's usually right around 3' for the ones I've used. Anything less than 3' and the depth number just flashes. The soft bottom isn't helping because it doesn't send back a clean signal.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Transponder Issue

I've noticed the same thing with all of the depth finders I've owned. There is a minimum depth that it will read and it's usually right around 3' for the ones I've used. Anything less than 3' and the depth number just flashes. The soft bottom isn't helping because it doesn't send back a clean signal.

What you?re seeing is saturation of the signal or ringing. It's caused by there not being enough time between the transducer sending out a signal and the signal bouncing off the bottom and coming back to the transducer. You can minimize this effect by taking your sounder out of auto and manually adjust the gain.

The new digital machines (Furuno, Raymarine, Garmin GDS22, Lowrance broadband) will automatically adjust the power output and ping rate to help eliminate these types of problems.

 

[Intuition Gloucester]

Re: Transponder Issue

Great. Thanks all.