CA34/44/54 Echo menu Chapter 5-11
5.9 Transducer beamwidth
The transducer mounted to the hull of your vessel serves as both
a ‘speaker’ when transmitting, and as a ‘microphone’ when the
echosounder is receiving. Similar to the way a flashlight focuses
light, most of the sound from your transducer is focused downwards
with a smaller amount going out to the sides. The amount of focusing
of the sound beam is expressed as a ‘beamwidth’.
Transducer
Approximation of the sound
pattern below the transducer
This angle is the transducer’s
beamwidth
1/2 maximum intensity
Maximum intensity
Fig. 3 A representation of a transducer bemwidth.
The center of the sound beam is the most intense, then as you move
out towards the sides of the sound beam there is a point where the
intensity of the sound is half what it was in the center. The distance
moved is the ‘beamwidth’. See Fig. 3.