Side scan sonar units

[Mr. Sandman]

Have you seen some of the images coming in from the new consumer sidescan sonar models? Many images on shown on other fishing websites. The image quality is awesome. While this kind of thing has been around for a while for gov't and inst. use it appears that this looks like the next wave in consumer fishing sonar units. Hummingbird has now come out with a model.

One thing I would like to know is if you have to tow anything to obtain these images. Most commerical sidescans require you tow a long array of some kind. I hear mention of a towfish but don't know much about it.

[ProfessorM]

We make lots of them for WHOI, Hydroid, Benthos, and other Cape companies who are involved in this technology. A hotbed of this technology is Cape. We don't do the electronics just the mechanical aspects. I always wanted to have the use of one of those things. Basicly a perfect picture of whats down there in crystal clear color. I have looked at the Hummingbird thing, very interesting. Wonder if the imagery is as good as the test pictures they advertise. Not sure about the deployment of the sonar. Commercial ones are towed by boat or they go on their own with no strings attached, AUV.
http://www.hydroidinc.com/remus100.html
P.

[Raven]

of course it was the very first unit... a portable...
but you could mark a fish 30 yards out from the boat
off to a side... cast to that direction and hook up
like you were sight fishing.... so i've been dying to buy
another one... it was like being able to spot a trash can
and casting to it.... very exciting fishing !!

thanks for the Link
here's another

[URL="http://digitaldagger.com/gear/miscl/electronics.html"]http://digitaldagger.com/gear/miscl/electronics.html[/UR
L]

[RIROCKHOUND]

Paul/Jim
I do a lot of side-scan sonar work using actual side-scan not humming bird.
The frequency and range look decent but I'm not sure how good the unit is. The truth is usually in the transducer. For a few grand it is a lot cheaper than standard mapping side-scan

Side scan itself is not 'true color' it shows the texture and hardness of the bottom or structures on the bottom by bouncing sound waves off. The color is just a scale of intensity. We work in a yellow brown scheme, others are black-white, blue-purple etc...

http://www.crmc.ri.gov/samp/greenwichbay.html
Look at the side-scan enhanced images and App. D for some examples.

[JohnR]

I think they are cool and a usefull tool if used in the right way. When I last looked into this IIRC that the transducer has an element that droops from it's housing a few inches in order to get down enough to side scan. Not far enough to leave the housing or tethered in any fashion. Now, some adventurous soul will come up with a way to steer the housing and the transducer element keyed into a positioner guage on the dash

[ProfessorM]

The units we make, or make parts for, are thousands if not hundred's of thousands of dollars. I can't imagine the hummingbird to be anywhere close to the quality of those units but it is a great idea and I am sure they will be improving every year too close in on that type of quality.
Rave Frank was brillant

[RIROCKHOUND]

Paul;
amen to the cost...
if it was cheap I'd own my own to rent out!

[ProfessorM]

Half the ones we make are as big as my boat and weigh more. Too much for a 15 Hp to tow.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Yup

[Raven]

Originally Posted by ProfessorM

Raven Frank was brillant

i know paul.... he could side scan...
he does it does it so damn well in this video

[thortum]

I guess it's another nice toy, but aren,t thinks getting too high-tec. I'm going down the cellar and digging out my string; tin can; hooks; and a sea worm.