What am I doing wrong?

[dricha21]

I have a helix 10 and I never get the boomerang arches on my sonar. I have tried every setting imaginable and I just get these little blobs on the screen. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Bob B]

Have you made sure your transducer is level .... at scan speed?

[MonteSS]

Did you do the update?

What frequency are you using?

Must be moving as said

[Doc Samson]

The tails of the fish arch are the fish on the edge of the cone as you approach the fish and as you drive past it.
Wider cones show the fish farther away so the tails are longer.
You get short tails in shallow water since the cone is small.
83 kHz has a wider cone so you get longer fish arch tails.
The Helix Gen3 with the Chirp transducer has a wide cone using all the frequencies and shows longer tails.

[BassCatKev]

I'm in the same boat Dricha21. I have a Gen1 Humminbird and am happy with the 2D signals in general. I'm pretty familiar with most of the details in adjusting 2D and have never seen distinct boomerangs (I love the boomerang reference. Never heard it put that way). But I do still feel like my sonar is operating correctly.
I fish Lake Cumberland which is relatively deep. So I'd think I'd get some good boomerang images now and then since there is depth to get a 83/200 cone to be pretty wide.
But I'm also aware that a fish has to go from a cone signal edge, through the center and back out the opposite edge to get a boomerang.

[Bob B]

How about some images of what you are seeing for a fish signal?

[Wayne P.]

The 83 kHz is what draws the arches since the spec coverage is 60 degrees.
Time and Distance within the sonar pulses creates the arch.

Dual Spectrum 2D sonar's widest spec coverage is at the lower end of the spectrum---42 degrees.

Sooooo with settings the same, the 83 kHz will draw longer arches.



This is CHIRPED 83/200 kHz split screen showing how the lower frequency does arches in comparison to high frequency: 200 kHz spec coverage is 20 degrees.

[DougL58]

Wayne, a side question regarding your pic above. My understanding is that Fish ID is based on reading the air bladder of the fish. If that is so, why do fish get identified differently with different frequencies? I have seen similar on my screen, high frequency I would see 10 or so fish, switch to low frequency and I would see 100.

[Wayne P.]

Wayne, a side question regarding your pic above. My understanding is that Fish ID is based on reading the air bladder of the fish. If that is so, why do fish get identified differently with different frequencies? I have seen similar on my screen, high frequency I would see 10 or so fish, switch to low frequency and I would see 100.

The two colors with Dual Beam indicate which ones are within the coverage of each frequency.
Gold fish are the 200 kHz coverage and blue fish are the 83 kHz coverage.

You can view them separately or combined with your 2D frequency view choice----200 kHz, 83 kHz, or 83/200 kHz.

[dricha21]

Wayne P. I never get pics that look like that. NEVER!!!! I would kill for pics like that. I would have a whole new perspective on my helix 10. Right now I view as a 1300 dollar depth finder. Thoroughly dissapointed.with it. I know it is probably my settings. I have tried every setting combo I can think of. I really do not know how to put a screen shot of what I am seeing. The best I could do is take a pic with my phone and post that. Next time out I will do that and post what I am seeing.

[MonteSS]

You did not answer my questions.

[Wayne P.]

Wayne P. I never get pics that look like that. NEVER!!!! I would kill for pics like that. I would have a whole new perspective on my helix 10. Right now I view as a 1300 dollar depth finder. Thoroughly dissapointed.with it. I know it is probably my settings. I have tried every setting combo I can think of. I really do not know how to put a screen shot of what I am seeing. The best I could do is take a pic with my phone and post that. Next time out I will do that and post what I am seeing.

This is with a Humminbird 1198c SI Combo. No difference in how fish arches and FishID symbols are created.



This is with Dual Spectrum CHIRP with the less coverage of 42 degrees=shorter arches and just one FishID color.



TIME is the main variable in getting arches.
You can increase the TIME to get longer arches two ways:
Slower boat speed=more time a fish is within the coverage.
Faster Chart Speed=more display pixels being recorded while a fish is within the coverage.
You control the TIME factor.

The peak of an arch is when a fish is the closest to the transducer and the tails of the arch are when the fish is the farthest from the transducer. That is the DISTANCE factor in arch creation.

[Bob B]

Here's something else to consider.

TransducderAngle.jpg

Click on it and you will get a better image.

[dricha21]

These are pics of my typical screens. I reset my unit to factory defaults and it makes no difference. I have installed the latest updates. I mostly use the 83/200 freq because I feel it gives me the best image. I have tried other freq but it makes no difference. All I ever get are these small blotches or small marks. I never get anything resembling arches. NEVER!!! EVER!!! My unit does not have chirp. Next time out I will take an sd card and try to take snapshots to post if I can figure out how.thumbnail_0929191055.jpgthumbnail_0929191107.jpgthumbnail_0929191107b.jpg

[Wayne P.]

These are pics of my typical screens. I reset my unit to factory defaults and it makes no difference. I have installed the latest updates. I mostly use the 83/200 freq because I feel it gives me the best image. I have tried other freq but it makes no difference. All I ever get are these small blotches or small marks. I never get anything resembling arches. NEVER!!! EVER!!! thumbnail_0929191055.jpgthumbnail_0929191107.jpgthumbnail_0929191107b.jpg

What was the Chart Speed setting and what was the GPS speed when those pictures were taken?

[dricha21]

they were both at 3 mph. I always try to match boat speed and chart speed.

[Wayne P.]

they were both at 3 mph. I always try to match boat speed and chart speed.

Try two or three numbers higher on the Chart Speed than the GPS speed---that will add more TIME on the display.

[dricha21]

Tried higher chart speed. no difference. still blobs no arches. Went out for salmon tonight and took this pic.thumbnail_0929192227.jpgthumbnail_0929191055.jpg

[Bob B]

What are you using for your 2d transducer?

[Bob B]

And what is the full model number of your Helix 10?