8.
Installation
menu
‐‐‐
>select
“Cable
attenuation”
‐‐‐
>select
“Manual”
‐‐‐
>set
this
number
lower
(default
setting
is
“30”).
This
is
to
add
gain.
a.
To
access
the
installation
settings,
hold
down
the
“HL
Off”
button
and
press
the
“Menu”
button
5
times
in
rapid
succession.
b.
NOTE:
be
sure
you
know
what
your
total
cable
length
is
and
plan
accordingly.
While
30M
is
the
standard
Furuno
cable
length,
individual
radars
may
have
been
delivered
with
50M
cable
on
large
boats,
or
custom
‐
cut
shorter
lengths.
9.
Set
auto
rain
to
“OFF”.
For
bird
detection,
the
gain
setting
is
normally
very
high
and
therefore
the
screen
gets
very
noisy
and
will
show
a
lot
of
echoes
that
a
navigating
Captain
may
not
want
to
see.
However,
by
doing
so,
a
very
experienced
skipper
can
discriminate
the
bird
echoes.
This
just
requires
a
lot
of
screen
time
and
experience.
From
a
long
‐
time
Furuno
USA
tech
who
is
very
familiar
with
these
radars
–
thousands
of
hours
of
screen
time:
“The Japanese and Spanish have different ideas on several of the settings for bird
detection. If anyone is not happy with bird detection it is more likely a setup
issue than a radar performance issue.
First thing I would have them do is make sure AUTO A/C is off and look at the
Video Contrast setting by right clicking on the “picture” menu. Normally we set
the Video Contrast to 2B for navigation/general purpose but for birds I would
probably set it for 3C or 4C to bring the color curve to a higher level that will
paint birds better.
They also need to ensure that the install settings are good – Cable ATT, antenna
height, STC curve settings will all have a major effect on bird detection.
Unfortunately there is no “one size fits all” settings list, each vessel is a new
canvas and needs to be figured out. The key to it is having users that are
informed on what all the controls and functions in the “bazillion” menus do and
