®
L 1 2 OW R ANCE
mysteries of
Story & P hotos
BY KEN SAURET
PART 3
S
ince the theme of these articles is to help ev-
eryone out there get questions answered, or
maybe answer those questions you haven’t
even though of yet and generally help every- one better utilize their Lowrance electronics, I would
like to point everyone to a new tool for all of the loyal
Lowrance users to use.
The Lowrance YouTube Channel is an ever-growing
list of instructional, how to and Pro Angler videos to
help you learn more about your Lowrance electronics.
Watch them all and check back often as we are
shooting more all the time. This will be a great resource
for those of us who forget how to do something on
our Lowrance unit that we don’t do often.
The new buzz in the Sonar industry is the advent
of Chirp sonar. I’ll start here with my first question and
answer and go into an explanation of Chirp.
QUESTION #1
I want to add Chirp to my HDS Key Pad unit but I’m not sure what I need?
ANSWER #1
To add CHIRP to your HDS Key Pad unit you will need to purchase a Lowrance Sonar Hub.
QUESTION #2
How does it connect to my unit, through the module I have now?
ANSWER #2
Let me assume the “module you have now” is a Structure Scan module. That one is for Structure Scan
56
only. If you want to Chirp the Broadband Sonar you need the Sonar Hub. These are two different modules, doing two different jobs, with two different types of sonar.
The hook up of your Structure Scan module is as follows:
Ithasitsownpowercableto powerthemoduleand transducer.TheStructureScantransducerplugsintothe moduleandanEthernetcableconnectstheStructure Scanmoduleandtransducerto theHDSheadunit.
The Sonar Hub will have its own power cable to power the module and transducer, the Broadband Sonar transducer plugs into the module and an Ethernet cable connects the Broadband Sonar module and transducer to the HDS head unit.
You have two Ethernet plugs in the back of your HDS unit, plug the two Ethernet cables into those Ethernet plugs. It doesn’t matter which one you use for which type of Sonar.
Lowrance Elite Series units have Chirp built into the units as do the new HDS Gen3 Touch units. The Gen3 Touch units have more new features, other than just Chirp Sonar. You really owe it to yourself to check those out. I just got my HDS Gen3 12 Touch from Fed Ex today. I have a tournament at Lake Nacimiento this Saturday and can’t wait to see those spotted bass on my new Chirp Sonar.
WHAT IS CHIRP?
Let’s take a moment and talk about what Chirp really is. First, understand that only traditional Broadband sonar can be “Chirped”. Structure Scan sonar cannot be Chirped.
The software in the head unit is the brain that tells the crystal in the transducer which frequency to send out into the water.