Humminbird Interference

[North]

Before I start, let me predicate my question with a statement... I don't care about how I should have bought a Marcum or Vex, or how crappy this one is compared to that one...  so please keep that to the other threads...

Now for the question...  I've been reading some other threads and I've heard some folks mention that the ice birds don't play well together.  I have a 55 I bought late last year and I haven't noticed any problems at all, but I've only fished around other birds a few times.  Was this problem fixed on the newer model's, or did I get lucky, or is this not really a problem?

[lotwfisher]

I found with my 45 it was similiar to having a vex beside a vex. They sometimes have interference but I have always been able to clear them up by using the noise reject on both the units effected.

[jurrensb]

Change your beam.  Sometimes it works to shut off the I.R. too.  If one has it on and the other has it off then they don't bother each other as much as if they are both on.  I've never been in a situation where I couldn't use my bird.  I have gotten a stray line here and there, but not any different than if you were fishing in weeds.

[lotwfisher]

Another tip is to be sure that your transducer is below the bottom of the ice. Not sure why but it always seems to make a difference for me.

[stevek]

I have an HB787 and an FL-18. I get noise on the HB when fishing deep water close by the Vex. I think I remember getting it cleared last year somehow but don't remember what I did. Could have been switching the duel frequency off. Never had a problem in under fifty feet of water that I remember though.

[addicted to ice fishing]

Any time I had interference, using the interference rejection button has worked for me.

[carcus1]

2 of my fishing buddies and my dad have ice 35, great units, and they work well beside my fl20 and my lx3, but bring another humminbird into the mix and the interferece brutal, this is fishing on Lake winnipeg in 8-12 FOW , at that depth you need about 20 yards between the birds and then they seem to be fine.

[Mike47]

I have the Ice 45 and the ice 55 , I have no problems with them or my FL-18

[North]

Thanks everyone.  My buddy is looking to go from his FL-18 to an Ice 55 as well, and I was getting concerned that we'd have some real issues...

[IceinKzoo]

Good Question.  I too need to figure out my 55.  I fish next to guys with Vex's all the time and I just can't get the interference to go away.  Unit is 2 years old.  I called Humminbird and they told me I had to be at least 3 feet away from another Flasher.   Not the best advice.  I have tried to monkey with the noise reduction but no real luck.   I do think switching from wide to narrow beam does help some.   Any other advice??

[lotwfisher]

Humminbirds flashers should not interfere with other brands at all. They run on different frequencies. Very weird that you are experiencing issues with that. I would start with my noise completely shut off on both units, ducers below the ice and then go from there. Just for a trial I put a marcum vx-1, a fl-18 and an ice 45 down the same hole and the ice 45 was the only unit without interference.

[jurrensb]

My fishing buddy has a 18 and fishes three feer from me in a lot of situations.  Not a single line on any of our screens.

[Fishing Machine]

Another thing I have found is to have the depth set to the lowest value for the depth you are fishing at.

For instance if you are fishing in 10 FOW, set your flasher to 20 ft, not 40 ft.

I set my depth to 40 FOW when fishing in 10 FOW to spread the column across the display on my Showdown in (zoom mode).

It works great until someone comes close to you and you start seeing their pings.  You can't cancel out their noise because the update rates are way off.

The noise is easily cancelled out if I move the depth setting back to 20 FOW and the column uses only half the display, as you would expect.

[bassackwards]

Have you tried having the guys around you change their interference as well....not sure if you fishing with them or if they are just fishing near you ? Never had a problem with my HB being around vexies or marcums (sigh)...yawn, sigh....sleepy...but never had my HB next to a HB.

Sorry too many Canadian beers to be long winded.....thought it would bring Canadian air to NW PA...not working yet. Taking the boat out on Friday 

God bless you all, each and every one of you (or if your from West Virginia, each and every one of Y'all).

[Scott Steil]

All the units need to work together to reduce interference, it works much better that way.  I can fish with both my ICE-55's in the same hole without a problem.  As others have said, you need to change some settings.  First, change the beam on one of the units and then increase the Gain on the unit running the narrow beam and decrease the gain on the wide beam unit to just what you need to see your jig.  Then go through the IR Levels on one unit and you will be able to fish just fine.

You will not have a problem with the Humminbird units tuning out Vex, MarCum etc, that is actually even easier.

[KIMMER]

Only unit that has struggled for me with interference was my x67 and lms-332c ice machine.  The traditional fish finders with (off, low, medium, high) for IR, just don't seem to cut it.  My vex, brother-in-laws Marcum and my buddies bird flasher all do well together.  Once time you do get a struggle is fishing for smelt and there are honestly 200 people around you.