Depth Sounder

You can use a depth sounder with GPS to map an underwater surface. When the depth sounder is enabled, SurvPC will alternate between reading from GPS and reading from the depth sounder.

Currently supported Depth Sounders are:

• Fuji PL
• Generic NMEA
• Horizon
• Hydrotrac
• Innerspace
• Navman
• Odom Digitrace
• SLD 100
• SonarMite
• SonarMite DFX
• Hydro-Lite DFX
• Valeport
• Bathylogger BL200
• Bathylogger BL230
• Simulation (educational purposes only)

Note: If you have a different depth sounder, contact Carlson Software to discuss adding support for it.

When active, incoming Depth readings are viewable in Monitor/Skyplot. Elevation values in the Store Point screen are automatically depth adjusted. Depth sounder records can be reprocessed in the Raw Data. Dual frequency depth sounders now allow storing dual points in Auto by Interval when Both Frequencies option is selected.

Activating a Depth Sounder

To activate the Depth Sounder, follow these steps:

1. Turn on the depth sounder.
2. Access the Depth Sounder tab, as shown above.
3. Check the Active option and select the type of depth sounder you are using.
4. Tap the Comm Setup button to establish communication parameters.
   • For a cabled-communication depth sounder, plug in your depth sounder to any of your device's COM ports. To load the default settings for the depth sounder you specified, select the Default button. However, you may still need to set your COM port number manually.
   • For a Bluetooth-capable depth sounder, refer to the Bluetooth Connection Step-by-Step guide.
5. Tap ✅ to initiate the communications with the depth sounder.
6. If the Unit Mode radio buttons are not grayed out, you will have to set the units to correspond to those output by the depth sounder.
7. Tap ✅ to begin using the depth sounder.

Note: If you aren't using a depth sounder, make sure this feature has been deactivated or you may experience slow GPS readings.