EchoControl QSG

Owned by jr_moortgat
Last updated: Dec 30, 2021 by jr_marone
3 min read

Turn on the CHIRP 3260 unit.

 

Start the EchoControl Server application.

  • Verify that you are getting the GPS NMEA position string in. 

 

Start the EchoControl Client application.

  • Select the correct tab for the channel that you are interested in (3.5 or 12 kHz).

Figure 1 : Channel tabs

  • Best that you keep the same parameter settings that were used last time the unit was used. If unsure, check the User Guide.

As a start, use :

Tx Pulse - 32 ms

Tx Power - 2

Gain - auto

TVG Mode - none

Sensitivity - off

  • If you have no idea what your seafloor depth might be, set the minimum and maximum depth limits to their extremes. This sets the active window. If the seafloor is not in the active window, you will never receive a seafloor depth value. Just use some common sense when you want to start pinging. Try a minimum of 100 m and a maximum of 8000 m. Most likely your depth is less than that maximum but it is a start until you become more familiar with the software. The parameter RANGE sets the size of the active window once the seafloor is found. You can zoom in or out as much as you would like. Try a range of 1000 m to start.

 

  • Click on the Transmit: OFF button as shown in Figure 1. This turns on the active pinging. In this button, once a depth is found, you can view the seafloor depth. Now that the instrument is chirping the recording of the data must be started as well.

 

  • For more in depth information go to MAIN MENU → Recording in the User Guide to see how to set up the recording. Unless this is the first line of the Expedition, the folder and file parameters should already be set and you may follow the steps below.

  •  

    • Select 'Controls' → 'Usage Configuration' and make sure the SEG-Y Carrier Type is set to 'Filtered' as shown in Figure 2. If this is set to 'None' you will not be able to save a SEG-Y file when you start recording.

Figure 2 : Usage Configuration

  •  

    • Select 'Recording' → 'Configure' to confirm that the SEG-Y file will be saved, if the option is greyed out you will need to follow the above step as shown in Figure 2.

    • Select 'Recording' → 'Start Line' to start recording.

    • Select 'View' → 'Recording Status' to confirm that the file is saving in the right place(can be moved later) and that all three file types are being saved: .keb , .kea , .SEGY. This should look like Figure 3, with a slightly different file path/name.

Figure 3 : Recording Status

 

  • The seafloor should stay in the active window as long as the depth is in the range specified in the minimum/maximum values.

  • Adjust power / gain / depth range as necessary to keep a consistent bottom reflection.

 

To end your recording

  • Click on the Transmit button as seen in figure 1. Still turns off active pinging.

  • Stop recording by going to MAIN MENU → Recording → End Line.

  • Close the EchoControl Client and EchoControl Server applications.

 

Power down the CHIRP 3260 unit.

 

Make sure to copy all files to DATA1.

 

You can view your traces using the PostSurvey application that came with the Sounder Suite package.

 

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