Helix 5 chirp ice fishing problems

I have the helix 5 chirp. And the 1425 or 1426 or whatever ducer (the right one). Couldn’t dial it in to my liking last weekend. Was in 29ft had my range at 30. Had a slab rap on so i had a lot of surface area for the signal to bounce off of. Problem was the target (my slab rap) showed up intermittent at best in flash mode very thin line. I turn my gain up and it got a lil better but still thin thin line and interference like crazy. Tried the scrolling sonar mode same thing my target line was tiny dots and turn gain up there was interference. Any recommendations? I didn’t see anywhere im the menus where to turn your target size up like my buddy’s lx9. And what frequency should i be on ? Thanks

A couple things. Did you change IR settings? There are a handful of different IR frequencies you can cycle through to eliminate the interference.

Is your unit updated to the latest software? I was using my Helix 7 G2N last season and had the same problem. Upgraded the latest software update onto my unit and have been using it this season and it’s been crystal clear.

I didn’t see any ir settings in the menus? I asked thorne about software updates when i bought the transducer they said don’t worry about them. If you do them wrong i guess you have to send them in to humming bird. That’s what they told me maybe I’ll just have them update it thanks

Smackem33 wrote:

I didn’t see any ir settings in the menus? I asked thorne about software updates when i bought the transducer they said don’t worry about them. If you do them wrong i guess you have to send them in to humming bird. That’s what they told me maybe I’ll just have them update it thanks

Yes if you do it wrong it can mess it all up and you will have to send it in but it’s very hard to do it wrong. Just don’t touch it when it’s uploading to the unit and factory reset it before you upload. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS that are on the HB page where you download the update from. They give you step by step instructions.

As for the IR, if you press the check button on your unit it will cycle through the IR frequencies one push at a time. You should be able to see which one it is on in the bottom right corner of your dial view screen.

Thanks a bunch

Smackem33 wrote:

And what frequency should i be on ? Thanks

The narrowest frequency should give you the best return with the lowest gain setting.

Try doing a factory reset. If that doesn’t work, pull the transducer and listen to it. You should hear a steady clicking and not a buzzing. If it’s buzzing, try factory reset until you get a steady click and then try again.

Also, the correct transducer is the xi 9 1521, double check to make sure you have the correct ducer.