this is a great shortcut menu to a lot of commonly used menu items.)
You can also access Settings by hitting the Pages button and pressing the Settings tab at the bottom of the menu that appears along the left side of the screen. When you go into Settings, scroll down to Network and select that tab. In Network, go to Data Sources. This drop down menu will show all the devices that the unit recognizes in the boat.
You can also see all the devices by selecting the Device List in this same drop down menu. You can check this list to make sure a particular device is on the list. If it is not on this list, that device may not have power to it or there may be another problem to trouble shoot.
Let’s take the broadband sonar selection. You probably have a PDT/WBL, puck style transducer, mounted on your trolling motor. In the Data Source menu, choose this transducer and another menu will appear. Hit Configure.
This is where you can change how the unit chooses which transducer it is supposed to get the sonar data from to give you the sonar picture on the unit. While in Configure, hit Scope. The default setting for Scope is Global. When you hit Scope, you will have the choice to change the setting from Global to Local. Choose Local and hit save.
The Global setting refers to all the devices in the boat can be used by any HDS unit in the boat. When you change this to Local, then that unit can only use the device that is plugged directly into the unit.
While in Data Sources and you see StructureScan, LSS-2, for example, you can use that LSS-2 to see a StructureScan image on the unit at the bow, even though the transducer is on the transom.
With the Ethernet network, this can be done and most boats are rigged to do this. This is also where most of the confusion comes from concerning menu settings changing on their own.
My simple solution to this issue, since the fix can be so confusing, is to disconnect the Ethernet network cable from one of the units disabling the network capability. If you want to share Waypoints
62
make sure you have a NMEA
network installed in the boat and
use that network to share your
Waypoints.
The main reason people want
the Ethernet network in their
boat is to see a StructureScan
image at the bow of the boat
while fishing up there. Consider
this… how useful is an image at
the bow if it is more than 20-feet behind you?
Anything you see on the unit at the bow on the StructureScan page is so far behind you that it is not very useful to you on your next cast. My solution is to mount a separate StructureScan transducer on the trolling motor, so the image you see is only a couple of feet behind you, when it shows up on the screen.
The LSS-2 transducer is pretty long and will use up all the available space on the bottom of the trolling motor, not leaving any room for a Broadband Sonar transducer and I think that sonar picture is more valuable to an angler at the bow of the boat anyway.
Jim Slusher at Jim’s Pro Bass Tackle in Paso Robles, Calif., the inventor of the ComforTroll, which is the aluminum, recessed trolling motor pedal accessory, is working on a bracket in which you can mount an LSS-2 and a puck-style Broadband Sonar transducer such as a PDT/WBL, on the trolling motor at the same time.
I have an LSS-1 Structure Scan transducer mounted on my trolling motor, along with a puck- style sonar transducer. The LSS-1 is only about 6-inches long, allowing room for the second transducer. The LSS-2 transducer is about 8-inches long and does not leave any room for the second transducer; hence, the need for a unique mounting bracket.
There a many other nuances to having an Ethernet network on your boat and we can work through these over time.
My best advice is to try everything yourself. Make all the menu setting changes you can, because as you do this you will learn more than if someone just does something for you. Always remember, if you get lost or so messed up something is not working, just do a soft reset and you are back at the starting point.
Good fishing and God bless everyone!
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