General info on FCV295

[Anonymous]

Hi Snips
Can I please ask for a definition of the less obvious features of the Furuno FCV295.
ie, Gain is pretty obvious as is range and shift, but TVG, Tx Power, Tx Rate, Tx Pulse
edge and TX pulse are not
We fish in a wide range of depths from 30 Metres to as much as 600 metres, so I am
hoping you might be able to provide info as to how to use these settings at different
depths and how they relate to a particular depth, ie TVG in 250 to 350 metres.
We do have a spot that has a 100 Metre drop off, so TVG level and distance relating to this
(and other) depths would be great.
I would be happy to buy a book or anything that might have detailed info but I have only been able to find sounder books that are around 4 to 5 years old and I assume with technology advancing as rapidly as it does, that these might not be applicable. Any suggestions here would also be appreciated
Hope this isn't too big an ask
Thanks
ericl1947

 

[Snips]

Eric,
TVG stands for Time Varied Gain. Your front panel gain knob applies the same amount of gain from 0ft (the vessel) out to say 5000ft. In reality you don't need the same amount of gain at 30ft as you do at 600ft. If you did have the same amount of gain your sounder probably wouldn't be useable. Your 30ft targets would be totally saturated with color when using deeper ranges. TVG is used to lower the sounders short range gain while not affecting its gain at deeper depths. I recommend you play with these settings at the dock, the Rule-of-Thumb here is "Less is More". The smaller (or less) the numbers in the TVG settings the more you will see on the display. Try resetting both the TVG Time and Distance at their minimum settings and watch what happens to the display. Depending on the depth & range, the screen will probably turn totally red. Now reset them to their highest setting and you will see you have suppressed most of your targets. The trick here is to find a happy medium. Personally I like to set the TVG distance at 1/2 or 3/4 of the water depth. I will then use the TVG Level to suppress any short range noise or clutter that remains. Remember what your front gain control gives you the TVG controls can take away. A good way to practice with these controls is by using the 295's Demo mode.

As far as the other controls, I would recommend TX Power at 10, TX Rate at 20, Screen advance at 1/1. Don't worry about the TX Pulse Edge. The TX Pulse you may want to play with but only when you have some fish targets to look at. The default setting is STD (Standard) but I like either Short 1 or 2 depending on the depth of water. Shortening the PL increases the 295 ability to discern targets depth wise i.e. where using the STD PL you may see one target but by using a shorter PL there actually may be two.

Hope this helps.

Snips