HDS 7 touch help

I finally got my LSS2 installed and made my first trip Friday to try it out. I need some guidance on the settings. I played around with different pallets and contrast etc, but I am getting a dark image out past the first 20 or 30 feet so I am not seeing any of the bottom features past about half the screen display.

Attachment 197822


In the top screen I went past a know brush pile and you can see it in the SI as little yellow specks, but out past it is nothing but dark screen. I had it set to read the right side only so I could maximize the brush pile. Why am I not seeing the lake bottom? The next shot is where I could not see any features on the bottom and in the last two pictures I was passing under bridge pilings with it set to read both sides. Again I could not see past the 40 ft mark where it all turned dark. The bottom two are the same image, I was just trying to tweak the setting to see if I could improve it.
Any ideas on what to try?

Attachment 197826

3 to 1 formula works best for me. I set the side scan range 3 times the depth range.

Water depth limits viewing.

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Originally Posted by Cane Pole

3 to 1 formula works best for me. I set the side scan range 3 times the depth range.

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Well what you are saying makes sense looking at my images. In most cases I was in about 12 to 14 FOW so if I had set the range at maybe 40 feet it would have likely filled the whole screen and had more detail. I did not know that, I assumed I could see out 80 or 100 feet even in 10 FOW. I will give that a try.
You guys amaze me. I have never asked a question that someone could not answer with some accuracy and experience. That is why I try to give feedback on any questions that I may have the answer to.
Thanks.

While I am at it I have another question. What are the two bars at the bottom center of the screen. They appear to be two settings you can select, one being more narrow than the other. One has the arrows outside the lines and the other on the inside. What does that function do?

It changes the range, press the wide one for more and the narrow one for less. The shallower the water the less contrast you need. If mine is in manual I run it anywhere from 55-65 depending on the bottom composition. Is the transducer mounted on the stern?

Yes, I had it mounted on a starboard on the transom, but I fish some stumpy waters so I bought one of the clamp on mounts that let you slide it up and down. Cost too much for me to break off on a stump. It is a bit further to the right of the original mount once I moved it to the clamp on.

Attachment 197840Attachment 197841

I use auto -6 most time. Machine is smarter than me. As stated, less contrast in shallow helps a lot.

Bright sunlight direct on screen I use palette 2.

I find that the brown palette shows better images. Attachment 198018Attachment 198019

Keep the motor up high , out of the way.
You need the ducer below the bottom of the boat a bit.
i had my lss2. Up above the bottom of the boat, figuring I'd be using it at a slow speed and didn't need to risk it hitting anything, results were not as good.

I have my lss2 mounted on my step. I don't have any problems with the motor being in the way. Attachment 198147Attachment 198148

Something is very wrong in those images.

#1 use 455
#2 TD is too high. Must be about 1/4-1/2" below boat.
#3 motor looks to be blocking left side.

I would reset all to factory defaults. Because right now something is way off and the Si is unusable going by your pics.

Can you show us a picture of where the lss2 is mounted. Like in my photo. Thanks

Attachment 198820Attachment 198819

Ok guys I can eliminate two of your concerns. 1. When I moved the LSS2 to the adjustable bracket I can extend it down several inches under the boat. In the bottom picture for example it is about 2 inches below the hull of the boat.
2. When I am scanning intently in one area I tilt the motor up as shown so the OB motor is not interfering with the signal.

So, that leaves the settings as a question. I will try different settings and adjustments. I have not had much time to spend on the water with it so far, but I will be at Santee for a week shortly so I hope to explore all options with it and will post results.

The question of range out to the side still is unanswered. I am told it will scan out only to 3 times the depth and also told it will go out 100 feet or more. One of the things I had wanted to try at Santee was looking for bream beds. Most of the water we fish is 8 feet or less so I sure hope I can read out more than 24 feet looking for beds. We will see.
One problem I have is no internet access while I am down there so I will have to wait until I get back to post results and questions unless I can find a hotspot that will let me get out.

Thanks for all the input. Hope I can make some progress soon.

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Originally Posted by frontierman

I have my lss2 mounted on my step. I don't have any problems with the motor being in the way. Attachment 198147Attachment 198148

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I wouldn't worry about the td being mounted on the step, there are thousands of bass boats with them mounted there and on the jack plate that get good images.


SeaRay, is your transducer mounted parallel with the waters surface? I get some interference from my OB even with it trimmed up, prop wash at the least. IMO the transducer it's self has a lot to do with the range, I've some guys units have way more range than others, me included. One thing to remember is that water clarity has a lot to do with image quality, dirty water poor images, clear water, clear images.

Did I mention it MUST BE ON 455?

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Originally Posted by MonteSS

Did I mention it MUST BE ON 455?

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Seems like I tried the 455 and 800 settings, but I will be sure to run it on 455 at Santee shortly.
Thanks

not sure why montess thinks it has to be on 455. actually, you get better detail on 800. I have a gen2 7 touch myself. below the boat and away from the motor are the keys. then, just play with the settings until you get it where you like it.

on your set up, have you chosen the correct transducer. make sure you are using "generic 83/200" if you have the gen2 7 touch. where is your sonar transducer? I did not see it. it should be about 3/4 inches from the lsss2 and slightly higher, say 1/4" or so.

His original problem and question is he cant see to the side for any distance. And he wont on 800 in shallow water.

And the 2d transducer can be anywhere on the boat. Mine is 20' away on the trolling motor for vertical fishing.

It depends on how wide the river or area your in. If it isn't wide you going to get a black picture further out bc that's the land above the water.

In this picture the canal I'm in isn't wide at all. couldn't turn around in a 21ft boat without backing up and turning etc Attachment 199576

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Originally Posted by ibmack

on your set up, have you chosen the correct transducer. make sure you are using "generic 83/200" if you have the gen2 7 touch. where is your sonar transducer? I did not see it. it should be about 3/4 inches from the lsss2 and slightly higher, say 1/4" or so.

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Well the 2D transducer is the one for the Elite 7 HDI so I have it set for the 83/200/455/800 which is the setting for that particular transducer.

what do you consider to be shallow water? in 10 feet, I can see out 40 feet just dandy on 800. just trying to get a better feel on why to ever use the hds gen2 side scan on 455.

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Originally Posted by SeaRay

Well the 2D transducer is the one for the Elite 7 HDI so I have it set for the 83/200/455/800 which is the setting for that particular transducer.

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ok, sorry. thought we we talking about an hds gen2 7 touch with side scan, di, and 2d transducers, not the hdi elite. my bad.

It is the HDS 7 touch but I swapped out the Elite 7 with Lowrance for this unit since the TDs were compatible, I added the LSS2 after I got the unit on the boat. I used the setting for the 2D that I had used on the Elite 7, which is what Lowrance Tec support told me to do. At the time I did not have the LSS2 installed.

see the section on "frequency" on page 61 of the hds gen2 touch operation manual. you might also set the transducer to generic 80/200 just to see how that affects what you see on side scan. just saying.

Please excuse the HB depiction ... But it serves the same reason of discussion ...(And it's basically the same info as cane pole has already posted) ...

http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/r...B/896a9686.jpg

Although Lowrance doesn't advertise their SI beam angle specs ...most opinions agree that the total SI coverage in the Lowrance Structure Scan is approximately 130° for the 800kHz SI beam ...

General piezo design of "Dual Frequency piezoes" usually creates the scenario where the lower frequency sound pulse (fired thru the same piezo) will create a somewhat wider coverage angle spec ...

Again... Lowrance doesn't publish this spec ...but we can garner from this theory that the lower frequency will generally have more range (due to wider angle) than the higher frequency (we guess this at about 150° total coverage)... (Thus Monte's idea that he sees farther with the lower frequency 455kHz) ...

The "other" factor in "Dual Frequency" piezo design is that higher frequencies will always render more detail than lower frequencies thru the same piezo ... (Thus ibmack's idea that he sees better detail with the higher frequency 800kHz) ...

Now even more "other" factors ...

Enviromental variables will always have a huge factor on the range effectiveness in all SI images (regardless of brand) ...

*Water particulate will absorb some of the sound pulse ...leaving less pulse strength to return to the xducer ...
*Soft bottom composition will absorb some of the sound pulse ...leaving less pulse strength to return to the xducer ...

The range limitation in the Lowrance Structure Scan SI is no more (nor less) than the facts of sonar sound wave theory ...and its properties as influenced by the underwater Enviromental variables ...

The only "controllable" factor lies in the specific piezo design for its "Dual Frequency" piezo ...(which is limited to approximately 150° total coverage simply because of patents held by HB ...as far as any information I can find) ...

Rickie

Here is another image with boat position relates to the bank. You will get a black image like that. That black area is the land above the water. you can see the rocky bank in the water then it blacks out which is the area above the water line . Hope this helps Attachment 199603

It would seem to me that if the beam is coming out at a downward angle, without going through all the math calculations, I'd say it is technically impossible to see out 100 feet to the side in 8 feet of water. You simply are going to run out of range before you reach 100 feet if the angle is projected downward.

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Originally Posted by SeaRay

It would seem to me that if the beam is coming out at a downward angle, without going through all the math calculations, I'd say it is technically impossible to see out 100 feet to the side in 8 feet of water. You simply are going to run out of range before you reach 100 feet if the angle is projected downward.

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Correct ...

Rickie

Here is 80' side in 3' water. Easily would have gone further.

http://i453.photobucket.com/albums/q...psgofrpssw.jpg

If you use the 455 it has a wider angle, but less detailed image than the 800. So if scanning for bream beds or structure I personally would use the 455 no matter the depth really. Then once I found something mark it change the frequencies to 800 and go back by it for a MUCH more detailed image. You can go out 80-100 feet on both sides in 8fow with the 455. Probably better if you did 65-80 feet out both sides in that depth to see the beds. But it is VERY obtainable! You see the image above is in 455 and he is out to 80 feet in 3fow. Great image! Now the right side of his screen goes dark around 35 feet out to the right side of the boat. This is because he is driving approx that distance from the bank. You can actually see where the bank starts in his image.