FCV-1150 & R299 AIRMAR

Septimus

Furuno Fan
Hello,

Firstly let me say I really love your product - I recently installed the above set up on a new fibreglass PowerCat and have never seen the level of detail I am currently experiencing before.
I have this unit set up side by side with one of the latest, state of the art Chirp systems and the FCV-1150 & R299 perform much better IMO!!
However, can you please help me with the following:-
- what are the best settings for achieving best bottom reads AT SPEED (25~30 kts)?
Am I correct in assuming that gaps in the read are caused by air under the sponsons (hull)?

Thanks.
 
Septimus,
Sadly there really is no settings that can compensate for bubbles, however the higher frequency should have less gaps than the lower. A couple of things I like to change when I am using the 1150 or 295 is the power and TX Rate. I change the power from Auto to 10 and the TX rate from Auto to 20. Also depending on the depth of water you are fishing in I like to use a Short 1 pulse length instead of STD (Standard).

Snips
 
Thanks for the prompt response Snips!
I've already set the FCV-1150 up as per some of your previous posts.
I typically fish in depths of LESS than 70 metres (38 fathoms) - so still "Short 1 pulse" setting?
Also any idea how to hook a FCV-1150 up to a SC-50 - no one over here seems to know how to do it (properly)?
Also, can a SC-50 (and FCV-1150 for that matter) be successfully connected to a Simrad network bus?
 
Septimus,
Since you are losing alot of signal shooting through the hull it may not be of benefit but I would give the shorter PL a try. As far as NMEA data goes, be sure to feed the position source into Port 1 (pins 3 & 4). Pitch, Roll and Heave into Port 2 (pins 5 & 6). Should be pretty straight forward, let me know if you have any issues.

Snips
 
Septimus,
I should of added that the SC-50 and the FCV-1150 both use NMEA 0183. If you want to conect into a Simrad network bus you will need to use a 0183 to 2000 converter.

Snips
 
Thanks for set up information Snips - I will have a go at setting up SC-50 over weekend.
Out of interest, just how much signal would I typically be losing by shooting through a fibreglass hull?
Would it merely be a matter of turning the gain up a few notches to replicate a wet face install, or is it more detrimental than that, such that a gain adjustment wouldn't fix it?
 
Septimus,
It is really tough to say that you lose XX% shooting through the hull because it really depends on the thickness of the hull and the frequency of the sounder. It is very rare to find a vessel that is using both type of transducers for an apples to apples comparison and to date I have only found one example to show you. This vessel had in-hull 2kw 28 & 88Khz ducers plus an external CA50/200-12M. Normally a wet faced 2Kw 28Khz should out perform the 1Kw 50Khz but you can see how much loss 28Khz incurred trying to shoot through the hull. We were in only a 100ft of water and the noise on the FCV-1100 screen is when I cranked up the gain.

Snips
 

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Wow!!
What a DRAMATIC difference - that really makes a strong case for "wet face" installs.
I'm beginning to regret going for an in hull install!!!
Does anyone want to buy a (near) new R299 Airmar? LOL.
 
Septimus,
I look at in-hull transducer installations like putting your hands over your ears, can you hear, Yes, can you hear as well, No.
When that vessel returned to town I went back onboard and hung identical transducers over the side to get a truer comparison. A couple of things to notice in these pictures is the increased thickness on the main bang of the in-hull ducers. Also in both in-hull installations there is no clear second echo, in fact the 88Khz doesn't show the hint of a second echo at all. To be honest, these were Furuno ducers and they were never designed to be mounted in a wet box like this, but they were. After our test, the owner removed the ducers and boxed them into the side of the keel.

Snips
 

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Snips,
I think I'll wait for Furuno to release their version of Chirp and then upgrade to a wet face install.
I don't want to cut a hole in the hull now, only to find its the wrong shape or size later on.
I wish I'd known about this forum when I was fitting out the boat - thanks a lot for your prompt and very informative and helpful responses!
I know you've probably been asked many times before, but, any confirmation of a chirp release date?
This forum is a great initiative - great work Snips (Furuno USA).
I won't be buying anything else in future.
 
Septimus,
I have been teased before on the Chirp BB release date so all I am going to say is the early part of 2013. But looking forward I don't know if I would get rid of your 1150 in favor of a Chirp just yet. The 1150 (in my option) is one heck of a sounder, but any sounders performance is based on the transducer it is connected to, which we have touched on. In addition, one of the beautiful features of the 1150 is its ability to slew frequencies to better match an existing transducers charactistics. Below is a couple of examples how slewing the sounders frequency can affect its performance. In these pictures I was using a transducer very similar to yours but wet faced. In the right hand picture you can see how the fish detection increased by slewing the 1150's frequency down from 50 to 42Khz. In the left hand picture you can see how the ducers performance was better in the lower end of its frequency range than the upper. I guess the point in all this is, will Chirp be better than the sounders we have today, yes it will, but until it comes out there are adjustments that we can make today to help improve performance.

Good fishing, Snips
 

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Hello Snips,

Further to your last post about "slewing frequencies", I was mucking around with the frequency settings on the FCV1150 last weekend and was disappointed to find that the range of adjustable frequencies seemed rather limited, (relative to the range of frequencies that the R299 is claimed to be capable of), as follows:-
LF: 36.0kHz --- 40.0kHz.
HF: 190.0kHz --- 210.0kHz.
Am I missing something - or have we set something up incorrectly?

Septimus.
 
Septimus,
To increase your frequency slewing range you will need to readjust the 1150's Band Width setting. By default the Band Width will be set to 10% of the frequency you selected. So if you select 200Khz, the Band Width (or slewing capabilities) will be set at 20Khz, so you can go up 10Khz and down 10Khz i.e. 190-210Khz. You can reset the Band Width up to 50% of the frequency. Please know that the FCV-1150 is blocked out from transmitting between 53-65, 111-139 and 171-183Khz. Below is an example of setting the Freq. and Band Width.

Snips
 

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Thanks again for your prompt reply Snips.
Why the blocked frequencies - there's a frequency in one of the blocked ranges that's reportedly useful in targeting a particular type of bottom species over here?
 
Septimus,
I don't have a good answer for why they did that. Maybe the engineer's saw some RX noise is those bands from the different internal power supplies.

Snips
 
Snips,

Please excuse my naivety, but can you tell me exactly how do I get to the "XDCR" settings?
I was having a look at the FCV-1150 settings over the weekend and noticed that it showed (greyed out) "R599" rather than R299 (I bought the latter)???
Is this picked up automatically by the FCV 1150 (in which case I was sold a R599, when I was after a R299) or has the tech set it to the wrong T'ducer?
Also, depending on above, if the tech has stuffed it up, how do I change FCV-1150 setting over to "R299" and exactly what "XDCR" settings are required for the R299 transducer?

Thanks for your help Snips.
 
Septimus,
Press and hold either the MENU or ENT button in when turning the 1150 on. Once the menu comes up I would change the XDCR Select from XDCR Type to Manual. After you do that you will be able enter any frequency you want, except the ones that are blocked. The 599 is Airmar's Chirp version of a 299. It has a broader LF side than the 299, 28 to 60Khz vs. the 299's 33 to 60Khz. Both have the same HF range from 130-210Khz. The 599 is a higher priced ducer so good for you if you got it for the same price of a 299.

Snips
 
Thanks again for the prompt reply Snips.
It looks like I may have had a win!
Any difference in the setup settings generally for the R599 vs the R299 - I'm assuming NOT other than the wider selectable frequency range?
 
Septimus,
If you are 100% sure you have a 599 you can use a "C" Tap on the High Frequency instead of Tap "A" for the 299. Everything else will be the same.

Snips
 
Hi Snips,

Just a quick follow up question to your previous reply from sometime ago:-

I should of added that the SC-50 and the FCV-1150 both use NMEA 0183. If you want to conect into a Simrad network bus you will need to use a 0183 to 2000 converter.

I have found a Simrad bus connectable (plug into Simnet bus) NMEA Converter as per your reply, but, can you please advise exactly where the open ends (wires) need to go on the FCV-1150 side (a diagram would be awesome)?

Thanks and regards.
 
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