Understanding sonar – Garmin 160C User Manual

Page 25

Advertising
background image

Fishfinder 160C Owner’s Manual

21

A

PPENDIX

>

S

PECIFICATIONS

Understanding Sonar

This section is intended to help the novice user gain some

understanding of how the Fishfinder 160C operates and how it can

help improve fishing productivity.
To understand what the unit is displaying, it is important to have

a general knowledge of how the unit works and how it determines

what to display. Briefly described, the unit operates by transmitting

sound waves toward the bottom of a lake, stream, or seabed in a

cone-shaped pattern. When a transmitted soundwave strikes an

underwater object such as the bottom, a piece of structure, or a fish,

sound is reflected back to the transducer. The transducer collects the

reflected sound waves and sends the data to the unit to be processed

and displayed on the graph. The underwater data is displayed on

the graph in the order that it is returned: first returned—first on the

graph. The diagram to the right demonstrates this by showing an

underwater scene as it would be displayed on the graph. Generally

speaking, if the only thing between the transducer and the bottom

is water, the first strong return will come from the bottom directly

below the transducer. The first strong return sets the bottom level.

Weaker secondary returns provide the detailed data. Sonar returns

display as reds (strongest), then oranges (strong), yellows (medium),

greens (weaker), and blues (weakest).

That is a brief description of how your Fishfinder 160C operates.

The following pages show how this data can help you to improve

your fishing.

This fish is currently in a dead zone and is not detected by the

sonar. The fish is in the coverage area of the transducer, but

remember—the first strong return sets the bottom level. The fish

will eventually be detected when the first strong return sets the

bottom level below the fish.

1

1

2

2

3

3

Advertising