Humminbird dead spots

[jmw642]

Have a Humminbird with the quad transducer. Have heard that you get dead spots on the sonar from more than one echo going down. Can anyone enlighten me on these and what precations need be taken?

[Grampa_Joe]

Never heard of that.

Joe Carlson

[Backwater Eddy]

Since it utilizes a multiple crystal to get the wider coverage a couple things could be the issue. The worst case is one of the crystals is faulty, hence the dead spot.

The other may be the location it is mounted. One of the beams may be hitting a target on the boat...such as a lower unit or a trolling motor, or something else. To test this lift all apparatuses up from the transom and see if it makes a difference in the readings on a dead drift. With luck that is the deal and all that will be required is a tweak in the placement of the ducer.

If it is still not reading a full spectrum check all connections and see if that helps.

Nothing then...well...my guess is the ducer is bad and needs to be replaced.

Hope it is a simple fix for you.

[Grampa_Joe]

Eddy,
I don't think he has a problem, he just says he heard of a problem that.... I've never heard of!

Joe Carlson

[gibson1197]

There are no dead spots in the quadbeam transducer. The beam covers 90 degrees. The 200khz beam covers the 20 degrees directly below the boat. The right and left 455khz beams cover 35 degrees from where the 200 khz beam leaves off giving you a full 90 degrees of coverage. The # of transmits per second is very high and this prevents any dead spots.

[LWinches]

My experience is that the Quadrabeam works with as long a your boat is moving very slowly. On my boat though (Honda 90) at 1000 rpm you will not see many fish at all on 455 Khz. I see them clearly on my other fish finders(777 and Vexilar) as I go over them not not on the Matrix 47. When I slow down or just use my trolling motor to move around the Matrix 47 can't be beat.

Leo

[Backwater Eddy]

Eddy,
I don't think he has a problem, he just says he heard of a problem that.... I've never heard of!

Joe Carlson

I attended a 09 product seminar with the Humm tech this week held for Gander Mtn fishing and marine managers and tech's, and we discussed this potential dead zone effect in detail. It can happen and as with any ducer install placement is key.

They had some great tips on placement for the side scan and options not widely thought of yet.

In general, side scan preforms best under 5 mpr, so trimming up motors is wise to keep the wash clean and not cause undue turbulence for the ducers. Beam angle and kicker placment should be considered before final install to be sure you get a clean reading.

I would give the tech from Hummingbird a A+ for his thourogh presentation and Q&A time to make sure we had a firm grasp on the new systems out this season.

I would do some pre-install think'n before final placment of the ducer systems and be sure to use a ducer mounting plate so adjustments will not cause more holes than needed.