As some of you may know, I recently switched to Garmin sonar electronics for my barra boat, one of the main reasons being I wanted to run CHIRP sonar technology and Garmin are leaders in the field.
Other manufacturers are also taking advantage of CHIRP and I have no doubt they will be good products too, but for me Garmin ticked the most boxes.
To start, I just want to explain a bit about the difference between CHIRP and traditional sounding technology. To get the nitty gritty, I headed to Townsville to speak with Navcom Electronics owner Barry Dionysius, an old mate of mine and a Garmin rep since 1990. I first met Barry when he was fitting out game boat and commercial fleet electronics back in the day. Incidentally, it was on the marlin boats that I learned most of my sounder skills and this industry is always at the forefront embracing and utilizing new technology.
As Barry will explain in the following video, CHIRP stands for Compressed High Intensity Radiated Pulse.
While traditional sonar sends one single frequency or “ping” at a time, CHIRP sends a continuous sweep of frequencies, ranging from low to high.
The CHIRP technology then interprets the frequencies individually upon their return. Since this continuous sweep of frequencies provides CHIRP with a much wider range of information, CHIRP sonar is able to create a much clearer, higher resolution image.
One of the biggest differences I notice is when fish cluster in a school. Traditional sonar shows them as one big blob, whereas CHIRP individualizes every fish making it much easier to tell that it is a school of target species and not just a bait ball or rock.
My conversation with Barry about the new CHIRP technology is recorded in the video below.
For those of you interested, at present I am running the GPSMap 1020XS and GPSMap 820XS models fully networked with a GCV10 scanning module. I am using two transducers, the Airmar TM150M for traditional/CHIRP sonar and the Garmin GT30-TM for DownVu and SideVu.
To determine what is the best option for you, have a chat to Barry at Navcom Electronics in Townsville on (FREECALL) 1800 632 422.
And as example of how my Garmin unit individualises the fish, check out the photo below. For the uninitiated, the photo below shows a tightly packed school of threadfin salmon clustering near the bottom. The lines represent individual fish. On a traditional sonar, these would show as just a solid red mass.
Now as you can see from the photo, a huge component to fully utilising this equipment is interpretation. Having caught a ton of big threadys, I know when and where they hang out and what they look like on a sounder. However, I've been catching them for years without the use of this technology so it's not essential for good fish catches, but it does make it easier.
If you're having trouble reading your sounder at speed, this tip on Mounting Your Transducer may help.
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25 Comments
Tom Banton
July 8, 2021With CHIRP now you not only have a better way to find fish,, so it’s nice to see a helpful explanation of what it can do for us. It really does look like a powerful tool for anglers.
Big Bull
May 26, 2021I wonder why some of the manufacturers have still prived the conventional chirp units more than Dual Beam CHIRP. Although I do agree that its not justified to call dual beam chirp as dual beam.
fishing girl
January 13, 2019whoah, this blog is great I like studying your articles. Keep up the great work! You already know, lots of individuals are searching around for this information, you can help them…thanks Ryan 🙂
Ryan Moody
January 14, 2019Thanks so much for your kind words! Glad your enjoying the content
Cheers
Hildegarde
December 16, 2018I see something really special in this web site.
Steve
October 12, 2018This is a very resourceful post and will come in handy in improving my fishing experience. Really appreciated.
Ryan Moody
October 17, 2018Cheers Steve! Glad you enjoyed it mate
safedoom
September 8, 2018Am very new to this field and this just gave me a head start. I will try the chirp sonar technology now and give you the results in due time
Ryan Moody
September 9, 2018Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it!!
Let us know how you go
Cheers
John Bass
August 31, 2018CHIRP Sonar has been a great article about. Which model of humminbird do you recommend? thanks Ryan
Ryan Moody
September 1, 2018Hi John,
Mate as I like and use Garmin I’m not all that up to scratch with the Hummingbird units. I can only recommend you get something with 1200kHz for side imaging that is within your price range. Definitely best to get some advice from your sounder rep in regards to Hummingbird.
So sorry I cant be of more help. I will attach a link to our UltraHD blog. It may help you as well 🙂
Cheers
https://www.ryanmoodyfishing.com/garmin-uhd-transducer/
TrendySeekers
August 6, 2018During my research I still noticed Garmin model is much more popular than any other fishing finder GPS but however, I am abit intrigued and appreciated to k know CHIRP sonar has been implemented. Nice reading though!
john bass
April 29, 2018chirp sonar has been an excellent article about technology. thanks Ryan
Ryan Moody
April 30, 2018Thanks John, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Ron
July 11, 2017The term CHIRP was around long before the radar and sounder industries got hold of it. CHIRP was the name given to the transmission of morse code signals that varied in frequency(tone/pitch). Faulty transmitters caused the morse code signals to change frequency and sound “chirpy” like a canary’s warbling tweets.
The tones were changing frequency as the transmitter was keyed on and off. A bit like FM. Different transmitters could be readily identified just by the amount of tone shift (chirp) that could be heard.
It was an acronym that had no application for use. Bit like a name without a town. Use of radar has been around longer than sounders and radar did indeed use high intensity pulses and radars did indeed vary the pulse repetition frequency (prf) to avoid the trap of a hostile enemy aircraft approaching but not being seen on radar as it was travelling at the radar’s “blind speed”.
Varying the prf changed the blind speed and thus no a/craft could sneak up by flying at the known blind speed.
There’s nothing compressed or high intensity about a CHIRP sounder. The term simply sounds impressive. Marketing hype.
The only advantage of CHIRP in sounders is for much improved range resolution. Don’t get range resolution (the ability to distinguish between targets) confused with target resolution (the size of targets that can be seen) or screen resolution ( how many pixels activate to produce a target).
The most crucial item of a CHIRP sounder is a flat response transducer with a low “Q” of about 3 – 8. Most recreational CHIRP sounders use a compromise higher Q transducer (up to 30 or so) due to cost. So basically, most CHIRP sounders are only operating at reduced throttle.
Marting
July 3, 2017quite valuable information about CHIRP. THe moment they combined it with Dual Beam boom!
I wonder why some of the manufacturers have still prived the conventional chirp units more than Dual Beam CHIRP. Although I do agree that its not justified to call dual beam chirp as dual beam. After all its a series of signals sent between upper and lower limit.
Marine Electrical services
June 9, 2017I agree that much can be learned and adopted from this common, Thanks for this interesting blog!
Jamie
March 5, 2017Hello Ryan, Amazing experience with the chirp sonar. I love that. Have you used Hummingbird 999c HD SI Combo fish finder? I would like to buy one.
Ryan Moody
March 18, 2017Hi Jamie, no sorry mate i haven’t used hummingbird since 998. It was a pretty good unit for the time but I use Garmin now.
Timothy W. Pothier
November 24, 2016Hey Ryan, nice share. You’ve made a nice brief about Chirp sonar technology and how it actually works. Actually I’ve been using a Garmin GPS technology based fish finder and it have installed sonar technology within. It’s good to locate where the all fishes are using this device.
Maribelinda
October 18, 2016Its a grade information about CHIRP technology. Grate word MR Ryan i get lots of information about it. thanks for your post.
Zulia
September 23, 2016Complete details post CHIRP sonar technology. Great work Ryan. Just appreciating your hard work.
Robert
August 12, 2016With CHIRP now you not only have a better way to find fish, you can also mark the spots to return to later. In the other hand, you can mark boat ramps and docks so you can find your way back to where you started.
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May 9, 2017That’s a posting full of insight!
Luke
July 1, 2015CHIRP is certainly the newest buzzword for fish finders these days, so it’s nice to see a helpful explanation of what it can do for us. It really does look like a powerful tool for anglers.
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