Editor's Note: This month we're presenting some of Doc Bill Diedrich's timeless nuggets of knowledge from past columns. Enjoy!

Cluttered Interference At Higher Boat Speeds

Charlie Dines, Marshfield, Missouri: "I'm a retired dentist, more interested these days in walleye fishing, and a subscriber to Walleye In-Sider and In-Fisherman. At a recent Missouri Walleye Anglers Assoc. meeting we watched a video by Doc Samson on Lowrance units. Several weeks ago I had an LMS-334c iGPS unit installed on my Tracker 185XT (aluminum) boat with a 60hp 4-stroker, but I've been having some problems. At boat speeds of 5 mph and above, the sonar screen begins to display increasingly cluttered interference. Adjusting the sensitivity to eliminate it results in eventual loss of even the lake bottom image as my speed increases. On Doc Samson's video, he had clear readings at 35 mph! The transducer was installed on the stepped-down portion of the hull just forward of the transom and looks as though it should be hanging well down into the water. What do I need to adjust?"

If your transducer works at slow speeds but not at higher speeds, this usually means that the transducer is good and so is the unit. If we can rule out a poorly functioning piece of equipment that means the problem is with the installation. Step hulls can be a little tricky when mounting a transducer. Here are some possible trouble areas to check: First, look at the angle of the transducer when the boat is on the trailer. The "tail" or back of the transducer should be a few degrees lower than the nose of the transducer. If the nose of the transducer is lower, this will create turbulence at high speed and destroy the high-speed readings. If this isn't the problem, then do an on the water location check next time you're out. Have someone drive the boat while you carefully look over the transom. You'll be looking for two things, the smoothest water area coming off the transom and the part of the hull that's in the water when the boat is on plane. The combination of these two things determines where you can mount the transducer. For instance, if the transducer is near the edge of a step, the step edge may create turbulence, which will affect the transducers ability to read the signal at anything above trolling speed. If the transducer is too far out to the edge off the transom on the step it may result in the transducer being out or almost out of the water when on plane. This position will provide little or no signal to the transducer.

If you continue to have trouble, you might send a picture of the mounting area and transducer to Lowrance. This will allow them to make suggestions. The other possibility is to consider the "Alumaducer" manufactured by Vexilar. This is a transducer that shoots thru an aluminum hull with minimum loss of sensitivity. They can adopt the connectors to a variety of sonar units. Go to www.vexilar.com for more information. I would explore your other options first before trying this.

Help Me Get My Fishing Hot Spots Elite Chip To Display

Charlie Dines, Marshfield, Missouri: "As pleasant as the people at Lowrance are on the phone, they have been unable to help me get my Fishing Hot Spots Elite chip to display on my downloaded Lowrance emulators -- LMS 332c, LCX 19c, and LCX 104c. They say that the FHSE imaging should automatically appear on the GPS screen of the emulator when the SD chip is inserted into my 2.0 reader/writer plugged into a USB port; but it's not happening. Any help here? Thanks."

There are some limitations with the 2.0 version card reader. It may not work in all the emulators, particularly older versions. The emulator software can't always be updated in the same way that your locator software can be. It's important to remember that it takes a long time to read the data from these cards over a USB port. Give the unit plenty of time to read the data and draw a map. This is the best information I can provide you with at this time.

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