Nifty Calculator

TheOtherLine · Feb 19, 2008

Courtesy of Furuno. Enter the beam angle of your ducer, enter how deep the water is where you fish and the calculator will tell you the size of the footprint under your boat.

For example, at 50khz, my Airmar b60 tilted has a 45deg beam. In 50 feet of water I have a 45' footprint or "circle" that I can see under my boat. At 200khz, same depth, 12 feet. :shock:

http://www.furunousa.com/Furuno/Rooms/D ... ity.Entity[OID[AF575FE21F71AE45B6DE71C013424D5E

CCparker · Feb 19, 2008

On most units, if you switch to a-scope mode, it will tell you your width of beam at the sea floor.

Claymar · Feb 19, 2008

CCparker beat me to it, the Raymarine unit has an "A" mode that gives that information on the screen.

TheOtherLine · Feb 19, 2008

CCparker":3ijhh0xp said:
On most units, if you switch to a-scope mode, it will tell you your width of beam at the sea floor.

Really? I didn't know that. My Furuno has an a scope feature. I just didn't know why I would use it. Aside from telling you the beam at bottom, does A scope give you any other info of any relevance?

...I guess I could read the manual. Again.

CCparker · Feb 20, 2008

I frequently (almost always) have the a-scope on in addition to the finder. Picture the finder is a historical record scrolling across your machine. You still see the image of a wreck or fish as it scrolls across the screen, even when you can be some distance from it. Now picture the a-scope as real time. A blip will only show up in the a-scope exactly as you mark it. There is no history. Sometimes helpful when trying to get on a specific piece of structure, or to see exactly when the fish are coming under the boat. Also helpful when running to get a quick "blip" when you go over something right away. Basically its just another dimension to help interpret what you are seeing on the finder.

The product manuals that come with todays electronics are so voluminous that frequently we read just enough to understand basic functions. I find it helpful to refresh myself with the manuals from time to time. Usually after I get familiar with the unit, and after each season again, I re-read the manual and always seem to learn a little bit more about an advanced feature that I probable skipped over the first time.