295 to a b265Lh

[Anonymous]

Snips,Thank you so much for all the help.I got everything installed.Went along our beach today.It only 25-30 ft .Was playing with other settings.I am going to be using this machine solely for grouper close to the bottom in ONLY 100 to ,150 feet.From playing with it today,this is a powerful machine made for deeper water.Can you tell me how to tweek it for our needs.Thank you,Mike

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
It's hard for me to offer suggestions without seeing the sounder. The best way to learn the charactistics of any machine is to try some setting changes on your own for a trip or two. If after a few trips you have questions send me a couple of screen shots along with your settings.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips,I can understand that.I am familiar with most of the settings.We have been using Furuno for over15 years.The only setting I'm not sure with is the TV level and distance.The level is 4 and the distance is 600ft.Do I want to change the level to?,and the distance to 200. 200ft is the absolute deepest I would over be.Do I leave it the way it is??Thank you,Mike

 

[Snips]

TVG, stands for Time Varied Gain. A sounder doesn't need as much gain at 10ft as it does at 600ft. The TVG controls (Level/Distance) are used to control the sounder gain curve. The Level sets the starting point and the Distance the ending point of the curve. Most Furuno sounders have a 600ft default TVG Distance setting, this means that the sounder reaches your front knob gain setting at 600ft. Until 600ft the gain is supressed. I suggest you vary these settings at the dock to see the affect they have on the sounder. Leave your front panel gain at 1 and change the TVG Level setting first. Go from min to max and watch what happens, then do the same with the TVG Distance. The less the numbers the more you will see.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips,Had two trips this week to try out the setup.We did good on both trips,but looking for more..Question?Under frequency choice..I have it set for 200 but under frequency control it will adjust to250??I did try to move it up,but we were at the dock.It seemed to get better resolution.I didn't think the transducer would go past 210??,also under the txRx pulse and length were should I have them set for 100 to 150ft..Target echo I can mark large schools of bait,but not grouper right on the bottom.What should I have the target echo at.Last this machine has bottom discrimination, been playing with it s little.This is very important..Do you have any picks showing hard bottom and the Tails..thinking of going back to factory settings and starting over.Thanks,Mike

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
99% on the time the TARGET ECHO should be left on normal. For bottom hardness, while you can use the BD mode I perfer to look at the strength of the secondary returns, see below. The beauty of the FCV-295 is that you can adjust it's frequency, except for three bands 53-65, 111-139 & 171-183Khz. The B-265 was designed around the 42-65 and 130-210 frequency ranges but that doesn't mean it doesn't work outside of them. Personally I think it works the best around 42 and 135Khz. The only way to tell in your application is to have some fish targets to look at when you adjust the frequency. When I am looking for fish I will use the shortest Pulse Length possible.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips,If I change frequencies.I would go to xdcr settings.Turn on power while pressing any key..Switch from 200 to 135 on the high side..What band width?? 100??Thank you I'll get it right..Mike

 

[Snips]

Mike,
Yes, you will need to get back into the transducer setup menu. Remember that the FCV-295 can't TX lower than 139Khz. I would set the freq. at 150Khz with the band width at 50.
Band width is the slewing range for the frequency control. Setting it 50 will allow you to slew the freq. starting at 150Khz down to 139 and up to 171.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snipps, Thank for all your help.Got it set to 150kh.Set the function key to frequency,so I can slew from 139 to 171 easily. Not really impressed with the B265Lh.I've used it for 10 trips know.I got better pictures with the 585 with a B260.We wanted a bigger screen and better preformance for our customers. I'm going to try the 265 a little longer,but starting to think about a 260 instead.I know you can't slew the frequencies but not sure you have to??What ducer would you recomend.We use 200kh.Looking for one to fit in the same faring..I will change fairings if its worth it.From what I see the 265 is not worth the hipe ,if your fishing 5000 ft may bee but not 100 to 150 ft.Capt.Mike

 

[Snips]

Mike,
Maybe for your fishing needs going back to 200Khz may be better. I actually I tested the B-260 against the B-265 using the 585 & 587 just to see how those two ducers compared. It was during this test I starting trying the B-265 at different frequencies after I saw that the 585/B-260 50Khz was better than 587/B-265 at 50Khz. But as you can see the 200Khz side of the B-265 was a little stronger than the B-260.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to meddle in the discussion I also have a FCV 295 I want to know if you have done tests between B260-9b and 50b are curious to see the difference ..
Snips you can do is try?

 

[Snips]

No I haven't compared those two.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips, I think I got it dialed in pretty good.I have a few pictures ,but can't get them uploaded to you..Android go figure.I have a question on white line feature.This does not make a white line on the bottom.I do not see any line there at all until I get to 90%,Then The whole bottom echo is white.There is no small line that gets wider as I go up I settings.Am I doing something wrong??

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
Glad to hear you are making progress, did you need to go back to 200Khz? I am not around a FCV-295 for a couple days but I will check the white line function for you.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips,I have it at 139.5kh now..I think I like it..Went back to most of the factory settings.Did change a few.Set up user 1full screen zoom looks very good.You can play with all you want but you really need to be out on your fishing grounds to get the results your looking for.I have not been able to get out 40 miles offshore..To windy.This weekend.Let me know on the white line..I will send in some pictures soon.Thanks,Capt.Mike

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
The White Line function goes from 0-100% or Edge. After looking at all of them I recommend using Edge.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips,Had another trip this weekend.The unit shows bait real well in shallow.When were out farther ,75 ft we have a hard time seeing good solid targets.Should we play with the TV and how should we adjust??Also with scroll speed with the 585 I always left it on 1/1.With the 295 I notice the screen speed changes automatically with depth.Do you recommend The 1/1.I have been using it on 1/2,but when out deeper 100 ft or so its to slow.Sometimes on 1/1 it doesn't give the detail.Any suggestions??Mike

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
The Picture Advance rate (i.e 1/1, 2/1 or 4/1) doesn't change with range. Are you thinking about the TX Rate, that will change. Personally I leave the TX rate on 20 all the time. I probably can help you further if you write down your settings in both the Sounder and TX/RX menus for me.

Snips

 

[Anonymous]

Snips, This is what I got...TX power10,TX Rate Max, TX pulse edge off,TX pulse short 1,pulse Length 0.05msec.,RX band Std.,smoothing off,Echo stretch off,on???,Target echo normal,HF STC-0,Bottom search Auto,Tvg Level 4,TV distance 600 At this point just trying to get it as good as a 585-b260??Remember only fishing 100 to 150 ft..Thank you,Mike

 

[Snips]

Daybreaker,
I would change the TX Rate from MAX to 20. Remember the higher your TVG's the more the suppression. The TVG Level is the starting and the TVG Distance is the ending point of your gain curve. The default settings are 4 & 600ft so if you want to see more in shallow water decrease the TVG Level. So what is your Clutter settings? I screen shot would be helpful for me.

Snips