CHIRP Sonar

[mpester]

Is CHIRP sonar technology useful in shallow, freshwater applications or is it a technology that is more useful in deeper saltwater applications? CHIRP sonar units have come way down in price. Lowrance has a 7" unit for about $800 now.

[delcecchi]

To tell the truth, I am not sure I get the Chirp sonar thing. Classically in Radar the signal was varied in frequency during the pulse then run through a dispersive delay line to make the resultant pulse shorter and of greater amplitude.

It doesn't sound like that is what they do. Anybody know exactly how this works?

[mpester]

It sounds like it sends out multiple frequencies all at one time. The computer interprets the return into a signal giving better detail. Higher kilohertz are for shallower water and lower kilohertz are for deeper water (they say up to several thousand feet). Is kilohertz the correct term for kHz? The video on the Lowrance page shows 200 kHz for less than 300 feet and 50 kHz for greater than 300 feet.

If you are fishing in say 20 feet, I wonder if you get the great separation of game fish and bait like they say. I have a feeling this may be better for say wreck fishing for amberjacks in 150 feet of water rather than 20 feet of water for walleyes.

As quickly as the price is dropping for this tech, I bet it is the standard on all units in a year or two at a good price. I wish they would come out with a wireless transducer so I could stop taking my boat apart whenever I change units.

[h8go4s]

I wish they would come out with a wireless transducer so I could stop taking my boat apart whenever I change units.

I'm with you there! Vexilar has the Sonarphone that works with a cell phone, so I suspect Lowrance and Humminbird would be working on a wireless transducer. There's a lot of stuff to consider with different frequencies, SI and DI transducers, temp sensors plus trolling motor transducers, so I'm sure it's a can of worms. Don't look for it soon, and expect glitches.

[CaptainMusky]

I'm with you there! Vexilar has the Sonarphone that works with a cell phone, so I suspect Lowrance and Humminbird would be working on a wireless transducer.

Lowrance has WiFi for your boat already which allows you to connect to an HDS Gen 2 or Touch unit with smartphones or Tablets. It doesnt eliminate the cables from your HDS unit to the transducer though, but you can setup multiple "monitors" within you boat with just one transducer so that is kinda nice.

The technology is there its just a matter of time before its out there. The thing with a wireless transducer though then you have to worry about powering it somehow. Perhaps you can just run a short lead to the crank battery (assuming on the transom) and then it would power the transducer along with bluetooth or a wifi hotspot the locators could pick up. Would be pretty sweet.

I agree though, pulling wires isnt that much fun.

Back to the CHIRP, I dont think it will be all that helpful for those of us on inland lakes. Lake Superior probably, but less than 50' I just dont know how much of a difference it could make.