transducer "degrees"

[island guy]

Probably a dumb question but here goes. Can anyone explain or educate me as to the degree of the cone on transducers? I've seen 8, 9, 18, 19, ect, degree cones. What is the diff? Would a person want a higher number or lower number for ice fishing? What's the norm for summer, winter?

Thanks!

[Harp]

Take a sheet of graph paper or build your own and with a protractor from Jr.high draw the degrees 8-60 daul beam etc.at the top this is your boat going casing down the beam with each box on the paper being a foot of water you can see how the degree angle increases with depth increase from there it is what do you fish for at what depth or choice??

Good luck.

HARP

[Whoaru99]

A wider cone means the beam spreads out more. Usually, wider cones are used in shallower water so that you "see" a larger area. Narrower cones provide more depth capability since the sonar is more tightly focused, but by the same token, your view in shallow water is much smaller because of the narrow cone angle.

I think most of the sonar mfg. have descriptions and maybe illustrations of cone angle on their websites.

[Jim Almquist]

If you google cone angle the 4th item on the page will be a sonar tutorial with picts that explains it very well. Hope that it helps.