Thread: HB AS GPS HS antenna intitial "on the water" testing

Greg, based on your answers at BBC, I have become disenfranchised with the HB products. I do not like being swept aside when I report issues to your customer service.

So...here's something I experienced yesterday with the AS GPS HS...

No matter how much the antenna cable connector is wiggled...nor how much the pins are bent in the antenna cable connector.......................

The HB unit just will not recognize the AS GPS HS antenna on the 6.310 software....

I had forgotten that I reverted my software to 6.310 last trip to make a recording and didn't reinstall 6.600 before yesterday's trip...

(I lost 2 hrs of fishing trying to get that AS GPS HS antenna to show "connected" on the wrong version of software...)

Rickie

On another note...

I did check the offset setting and mine also only allows an "Heading Offset" adjustment of 0-30...(I stil wonder about HB statement that this has to do with Ethernet.... )

I also checked the satellites a few times during the day and 51 was being used nearly every time I checked it and 48 was light gray 1 time...

Most times I checked 51 was the only WAAS even registering on the spread with 48 showing registering (but not tracked) occassionally....

I never did see 46 even being tracked (with white bar)...

Rickie

Ok...here's the latest experiences I have with the AS GPS HS antenna...(and the required software version to operate it)...

I only briefly loaded 6.600 into my 1197 when I received the AS GPS HS antenna before HB released 6.610 ...

I decided to go ahead and load 6.610 because of the bad bug reports on the forums with the 6.600 version...(even tho I had actually only used the antenna 1 time on the 6.600 version)...

I've been able to test the AS GPS HS antenna several times since the last posting and I'll still have to say that anyone who needs their GPS operation at slow speeds (below 0.6mph donut speed) ...this "heading sensor" antenna is the answer...

With this "heading sensor" antenna (and the unit chart set to "Head Up")....there is no guess-work in which way to adjust the boat direction to get to waypoints or points of interest....

Even at a "dead stop" the boat icon is accurate and allows instant recognition of "I want to go that way"...

That being said...now let's take a look at the anomalies I have found and/or experienced with using the AS GPS HS antenna...(you didn't think it could be perfect did you..??)

**1st anomoly...: (more of an aggrivation)
There are times that the boat icon will "take off" scooting across the map for no apparent reason...sometimes forward, sometimes backwards, sometimes sideways...and pretty fast too...

The only way to regain control that I have found is to "Power Off" the unit and restart...

I'm having a suspicion that this anomoly has something to do with the Trackpoint memory getting full...but I can't be for sure yet...

I've started clearing my track more often to see if this will keep the boat icon from "taking off" across the chart on it's own....(BTW ...HB has added the "Clear Current Track" to the chart Xpress menu...which makes it easier to get to than going under the "Chart" tab to find it...)

**2nd anomoly...(and far worse in my opinion)
The AS GPS HS antenna requires software version 6.600 or higher...

It's always understood that new software versions sometimes require different settings to get the best results in the HB units...

I had noticed lately that my brushpiles were not showing up very well on the SI view...so natually I started playing with settings to try and get better images ....but nothing I experimented with seemed to get satisfactory results...

I noticed (especially using the Inverse color pallette) that the "verticle lines" (on the the SI image where the water column meets the bottom) seemed to be miniature "zigzagged"...and I mean very small zigzagged....

The more I studied the SI image...the more points on the image seemed like miniature zigzagged points....(even fish echoes looked like miniature zigzagged white echoes....)

So this is where I found it was time to put my fishing rods up and take the time to capture some screenshots using the newer software version (6.610) and compare the same area of bottom in screenshots taken with the stable 6.310 version (that I have grown to love for good SI images)...

The first thing I did was ...:
*..."Export NAV data" to a SD card...
*..."Remove SD cards"
*..."Format NAV Directories"...
*..."Restore Factory Defaults"
*..."Load 6.310 into my 1197"
*..."Restore Factory Defaults"
I then went thru the entire menu system and shut off every feature that the unit would let me shut off (to hopefully allow the best processor capability possible)...

Following is the screenshot I took with 6.310 using the 800kHz frequency with the SI Range set to 50ft both sides (notice the stakebed in the lower right SI)...to my eyes this is satisfactory...




Next I went thru the same procedure as above but loaded 6.610 into my 1197...(and shut off the same features in the menu system for equal comparison)..

Following are the screenshots I took with 6.610 using the 800kHz frequency with the SI Range set to 50ft both sides (this is the same boat track that I retraced from the first test using the 6.310)...







It's no wonder I have not been able to see my brushpiles on my SI view with this newer 6.610 version software ...

Every pixel in the SI image is zigzagged beyond comprehension...making the image almost useless for finding structure such as brush...

It almost looks to me like the unit is taking each and every sonar ping's slice data and "offsetting" the slices left and right 4-6 inches when the unit processor is "stacking" the ping slices in the image...

Now , I do not know yet if this is just my 1197, my copy of the 6.610 version software, or something not yet determined...(I will be discussing this over at sideimagingsoft.com to see if anyone else is seeing this anomoly)....

I do know that my 6.310 version software gives very satisfactory results in the SI view...so I have suspicion it's in this newer 6.610 software...(or maybe the way my 1197 processes the 6.610 software)....

So...what does this mean for the AS GPS HS at this time for you and me....??

If slow speed GPS operation will help you with your HB unit and good boat control will help your fishing style....definitely get the AS GPS HS antenna...

But realize there may be other anomalies you may have to put up with (like terrible SI images) until HB issues software to fix the new bugs...

Maybe you'll not even have this anomoly of "zigzagged" SI image pixels as this could very well just be my unit...

But I will find out....

Stay tuned....


Rickie

Good stuff here, Rickie. I think, in the meantime, I will stay tuned and see how things progress...hoping HB works out the issues you are having. Haven't even ordered my 898 yet, so I'm in no hurry. If you think about it, pm me if anything significant happens on this front. Definitely worth following...and I would think this would interest many people.

Alan

+1 on the "Good stuff here"!! So it's been a few months so was wondering if there is there a current update on this subject?

Question from a friend who's putting his HBird system together - Will the AS GRP receiver (which came with this new 1198) along with current software updates help eliminate the "donut hole" slow speed issues or is the AS GPS HS a better choice? Could you please give us a quick synopsis on what the differences would be between the AS GPS HS & AS GRHA?

Appreciate all the time you've put into this....

LLL

Rickie, that looks like lasagna noodles Kozmo whipped up with the 360 stirring stick.

Originally Posted by cousinlll

+1 on the "Good stuff here"!! So it's been a few months so was wondering if there is there a current update on this subject?

Question from a friend who's putting his HBird system together - Will the AS GRP receiver (which came with this new 1198) along with current software updates help eliminate the "donut hole" slow speed issuesor is the AS GPS HS a better choice? Could you please give us a quick synopsis on what the differences would be between the AS GPS HS & AS GRHA?

Appreciate all the time you've put into this....

LLL

I saw a post from Shellback over at walleye central that indicated the donut was also gone with the new AS GRP antenna...

Hopefully he will see this and confirm for us....

Now on the AS GPS HS antenna ....I personally feel that anyone would benefit from the AS GPS HS antenna..

The added benefit on knowing which way the boat is pointing at all speeds is very advantageous...

One can look at the boat icon on the chart map and know definitely how to reposition the boat in relation to marked waypoints and/or other features of the chart...

Now...I doubt it is even possible to find any more AS GRHA antennas as they have been out of production for some time now...

The accuracy of this antenna is unmatched by any of the other HB antennas...but I would still prefer the AS GPS HS antenna with the heading sensor for my type of fishing (spider rigging)...

Hopefully HB will release a software version in the near future that doesn't crap out the SI images like is being reported with the current versions that operate the AS GPS HS antenna ...

The interesting point here is that some users are actually saying the SI images are better with these software versions that several others (like me) have reported terrible SI images...

That makes it kinda hard for HB to track down when the issue is not consistant across all units...

Rickie