Help with Furuno sounder

[Any_Weather]

Guys, I have put a post up a while ago about trying to improve the picture I am getting with my LS6000 sounder. People told me to buy a new one and I am seriously considering that BUT, a couple of weeks ago I went up to Boondooma dam (awesome spot) and in the fresh water the souder worked brilliantly, I got excellent bottom readings and the clarity of the fish shows was just incredible. Is there something I need to adjust when I use it in the salty stuff??? The depth of water in the dam was 30m and I have never seen a picture even remotely close to what I was seeing in 30m of salt water. Is this fixable or should I leave the sounder for a bass fishing boat.

Thanks
Lee

[MulletMan]

Bit weird eh?

I wonder if the unit is getting a bit old in the transducer department and has trouble penetrating the salinity of the salt H2O?

There is always a lot of "noise" in salt water due small particles, sand, seaweed and other crap that could inhibit the clarity of the picture.

Operate all the controls in MANUAL mode and see if you can tidy it up.

The RANGE and GAIN are the main two to fiddle with manually. Never have trusted the AUTO much!

Has the set got an INTERFERENCE mode on it? If so, check it is turned OFF

Check there is no buildup on the bottem of the transducer. Be careful cleaning it if so and don't use anything too abrasive. Good old kitchen JIFF is pretty good.

Set the mode to 50 Hz instead of 200Hz and see if it makes any difference - should get worse normally in terms of resolution.

Does the set have a SELF TEST somewhere in the SETUP menu? Unlikely but worth a look.

I'm dun!

[mexican]

what is the problem - interfearance ?
on mine i use the noise limit setting on 2
i also use the screen in manual on the A-scope setting and also use it in range 3 ( 10 mtrs) or 4 (20 mtrs) and use the shift key to move the screen up or down keeping the ground your going over close to the bottom of the screen
i use mine fishing in 100 mtrs and havent had a problem

[Any_Weather]

Mexican, mate you obviously have the same sounder. Do you see distict fish on yours. I can get a pretty reasonable picture of the bottom but to actually be able to make out fish is near on impossible. I use the same settings as you said and always operate in manual. Maybe I am just expecting too much but after seeing the performance in fresh water I was amazed. What do you operate you gain on as I believe the gain on the main menu is in reverse to what one would imagine, ie -5 is the most powerful and +5 is the weakest. On the push buttons when the main selection has been made the range is 1 - 7 if I remember and on this scale the 7 is the most powerful. Just interested to know if you are happy with your unit and do you see fish pretty clearly?????

Thanks
Lee

[StevenM]

Had a 4000 before I upgraded to the colour 600L and am sure there was a setting for salt and a setting for fresh. dont know if the 6000 is the same??

cheers

steven

[impulse492f]

Well I thought there might be a Salt Water/Fresh Water selection like my LS4100 but I looked through the LS6000 manual and there isn't.

My advise would be to follow the Panther on this.

Here's a link to the manual http://www.furuno.com/Furuno/Doc/0/9.../LS6000-op.pdf

[mexican]

i think the gain range is 1-9 and i usually start increasing the gain untill it starts to get too much interfearance then back it off a little
i will sometimes see fish schools( and single fish )but i like to have the A-scope on as you can see the weaker signals easier ,mainly i look for ground to fish.If you can identify what ground produces fish then look for similar structures - there are better sounders around but if you concentrate on getting the best out of these they are not too bad
the tip is to find good structure and fish it

[StevenM]

Had a look at my 600L manual and there is no salt / fresh setting in it as well. Must be only in the 4000.

strange huh

[impulse492f]

Here's an extract from the LS4100 manual. I wonder if theres a hidden menu ??