2 transducers on one transom?

Can I mount 2 transducers on the same transom? I have my new Lowrance 520 on the dash with the transducer on the right side of the transom, and I would like to have my old Humminbird locator on the bow. I know most guys have the bow tranducer on the trolling motor, but is it ok to have it on the transom? Will there be interference from the two?

I like to remove my trolling motor from the bow when I travel since my cover is not set up to be on the boat with the trolling motor attached. So, if I attach the transducer to the trolling motor I need to be able to easily disconnect the transducer cord from the locator or from the motor. The Humminbird is not set up to easily remove the transducer cord. The unit itself has a easy disconnect but the transducer cord is screwed into the base unit. Does this make any sense to you guys?

Dave

The closer you have the two transducers (operating at the same frequency), the more interference you will observe between the two units.

The interference is typically manageable when the two ‘ducers are separated by a boat length (one at the bow and one on the transom), but two transducers within a couple of feet of each other on the transom will make for some considerable interference when both are operating.

I’t’s my understanding that you can hang as many as you want back there. The fly in the ointment is that they all need to be different frequencies. If they’re not, and you try to use them all at the same time they will do what is called crosstalk and it’ll mess up the readings. I have three, all from different mfgr’s, all of different frequencies. Mine all play well with others. jerr

The trouble with multiple frequencies lies in the fact that all transducers send and receive the Doppler signal. It’s all about what frequency each transducer is looking for. The “cross talk” exists cause there are multiple signals at the same frequency. So you can have each transducer operating at different frequencies.

It would be nice if each manufacturer could make it so you could turn off the sending portion of the transducer if you had multiple transducers. Then only one is sending a signal. However I don’t see that happening.

You need about 50 kHz difference between the transducer’s signals to eliminate cross talk noise. If you mount both transducers on the transom, you’re going to have a bunch of noise, bad charts, and trouble with the digitial depth signals. The best thing you can do, if you choose to do this, is to use only one unit at a time.

Jim Carroll NPAA #13

You could always turn the one in the back off when using the one in the front and vice versa.

Bingo, you can always turn one off. Some (most?) of the units have the option on the menu screen to manually shut off the sonar signal. Or you could always unplug the sonar input as well to shut down the signal. I have run two in the past (about 3 feet separation) and it does indeed give interference. However, it was still very viewable even through the interference. I saw a bunch of vertical bars on the screen with a little more noise than normal, but nothing that can’t be “filtered out” by your brain. I could still pick out fish arcs, baitfish and structure very easily.