If you like us on Facebook before the end of March, You can go in the draw to win either an Atlantis 200 handheld VHF, Garmin Echomap 300c Fishfinder or a GME Sound Safe protector/speaker!

Thats right! Not only will you be kept up to date with the interesting and exciting things happening in the world of Marine Electronics, but you're in to win a share of over $500 worth of prizes!

You can find our facebook page HERE, or type in https://www.facebook.com/BayMarineElectronics in the address bar

Prizes drawn 2nd April, so get in now!

This month we are doing something very special here at Bay Marine Electronics - Untill the end of February we are offering to completely install any chartplotter, fishfinder or combo unit which was bought from us in your trailer boat for only $259. No extra expenses at all. Get it done right and get it done simply by the experts at a fantastic price!

The catches:

The price is for bracket mount installations - flush mount installs take longer but we can do a deal on these!

The price is for an installation at our premises - you must bring the boat to us!

You must be buying the unit from us!

As always, if you would like more information, just give us a call!

Our Super Summer Specials flyer is out now! If you're looking to get the boat ready by Christmas then this is a must have!

PLUS we have some fantastic specials instore and online too!

Backscatter sonar is gathering momentum in recreational fishing and is definitely here to stay. Commonly called side scan or structure scan, It shows the user the seabed directly below or out to the side of the boat in much higher definition than a regular sounder. It can be used to spot areas of foul ground, areas of harder ground and mark good anchoring areas or schools of bait fish (and which side of the boat they're on) in deeper water.

Although commercially available for a number of years, Humminbird was the first company to shift this technology to the mainstream market with their “Side Imaging” Sonar Technology. Lowrance quickly copied this with “StructureScan Sonar” and found themselves in a legal spat with Humminbird over patents. Perhaps feeling left out of the legal rumble, Raymarine released it's Dragonfly earlier this year and promptly were sued by Lowrance for using the “Downscan Imaging Sonar” Patent. Garmin have just announced their take on backscatter sonar which they have called “SideVu and DownVu” which will be available at the start of next year. I hope they have kept their lawyers well fed.

The actual operation of Backscatter sonar is very similar to a regular sounder. The transducer makes a noise and then listens for a return echo which are then displayed on the screen. The main difference between them is the frequency which is used, and the beam widths of the transducer.

Regular depth sounders use frequencies between 50 and 200kHz, where recreational backs...

It's that time of year again!

The Tauranga Boat Expo is this weekend, November 8,9 and 10th, and this year we have some fantastic specials from Garmin (such as the echomap 50s for under a grand!) Fusion (RA205 and Unidock for less than $370!) Furuno (Crazy specials on stand alone sounders) and GME (GPS EPIRBs for less than $530!)

There is way to many specials to list here, you'll need to come and check out the stand to see them all!!!

Massive congratulations go out to Rob who has tied the knot to his long term fiancee in a ceremony in Rarotonga last month.

We wish the new Mr and Mrs McAllister a long and happy marriage!

No matter what kind of fisherman you are, a stereo will always add to an enjoyable day out on the water. If you're one of the 20% who catch 80% of the fish, you can use the stereo to attract more fish, and to celebrate a fantastic haul as you charge back into the marina. If you're one of the rest of us, its a great way to pass the hours between bites, and drown out your mates bragging when you get back to the ramp.

 The Cheap and Cheerful

When looking at the cheap end of the stereo market there is often a temptation to buy a cheap car stereo or perhaps an amplifier with an earphone jack for mp3 players. The problem with both of these options is that the weakest link in a marine stereo is often the speakers, and by the time you have bought a set of decent marine speakers to go with your head unit/amp, you may as well have bought a proper marine combo. A marine stereo with waterproof speakers starts at under $200, and they're great for listening to weather forecasts, music or an MP3 player using a waterproof pouch. It's a great option for small boats under 6m. For a slightly better, louder sound you can go with a basic Fusion stereo and a couple of 4” flush mount speakers for $330. This combo boasts a massive 3 year warranty and has a surprisingly good sound for a small boa...

Hey everyone

We have made our very first product video, and have learnt a lot! In this instance the video does not represent the quality of the unit, but we can only get better!

Who does Boating NZ call with questions about marine steros? Bay Marine Electronics of course! Check us out in the July edition 

This month we're looking at some of the basic questions which some people ask and most people want – a general overview of the very basic fishfinder operation.

What am I looking at?

Over the last few months New Zealand has seen a spate of boaties going out unprepared and getting themselves in trouble. Often this leads to fatalities and many hours of searching by Coastguard and Police.

A common theme is the lack of communication and safety equipment which resounds through each of the serious reports. Each of these could have been easily avoided, in most cases by carrying a suitable VHF Radio and knowing how to use it.

The term “VHF” Radio refers to the frequencies used – Very High Frequencies – which are between 156 Megahertz and 162 Megahertz. These frequencies are split up into about 50 channels for easy use and their actual frequencies are rarely referred to.

The channels can be split into two different types – Simplex and Duplex.

Simplex channels transmit and receive on the same frequency - this is simple ship to ship communication. Channel 16 is an example of a Simplex channel, which all boaties should keep a watch on as it is also the emergency channel.

Duplex channels transmit on a different frequency to the receive frequency - With Duplex comms, you are not communicating directly with another boat, you are actually communicating with a repeater. Most Coastguard channels are duplex, including 83, the coastguard frequency here in Tauranga. Their repeater is located on the Kaimai ranges, so even if you are 100M away from the coastguard building at Sulphur Point, your transmission actually goes to the Kaimais, through the repeater and back down another...

The importers of Furuno and Lowrance products in New Zealand have announced a fantastic promotion this summer - which gives you the chance to win $10,000 worth of high quality Shimano rods, reels and lures.  This is an awesome package which will surely bring a smile to any serious anglers face!

To enter, simply purchase a Furuno or Lowrance unit, and fill out a form at www.enl.co.nz/promo before the 31 March 2013.

A couple of months ago Lowrance announced their new range of HDS touch models, available in 7", 9" and 12" sizes. We were eagerly awaiting these models as the standard models are very powerful, and a super easy touch screen interface to go with this was exactly what it needed. We have now installed a couple of the 7" models and can confirm these are the best Lowrance models that have been released by far. The unit combines the ease of use with a good sized touch screen with the extremely good broadband sounder, which has so far been the highlight of the HDS models.

As a thick dollop of icing on top,  the touch units now have Structure Scan HD and structure mapping built in, meaning you will just need to purchase the structure scan transducer if you would like to use this amazing technology. In particular this would be very handy on the various uncharted lakes around New Zealand, as you will now easilly be able to make your own charts of what the bottom is like (although not the depths)

When bought through the official New Zealand retailer (such as ourselves!) the units come bundled with a Lowrance 50/200kHz transducer and Navionics Gold charts INCLUDED. You will also have a full factory backed warranty and support  and of course access to our combined 40 years of marine electronics experience. Pricing starts at $2599 for the 7", $4199 for the 9" and $5699 for the 12" model. We recommend you go for the upgrade pack - Upgrade to Platinum plus charts and get the Struct...

In 2011 there was a flurry of announcements from Garmin and the other major electronics manufacturers hailing in their respective new CHIRP sounders. This was quickly followed by a scramble by marine electronics experts and installers scrapping and struggling to figure out exactly what CHIRP was, and if it was worth all the effort.

So 12 months on, What have we discovered?

Firstly a bit of history. CHIRP actually stands for “Compressed High Impact Radar Pulse” which is a reference to its development, as it was originally designed for use in Radar systems just after the second world war. Quicky it was discovered the same properties which improved the Radar signal above the surface could be also used to improve the echo sounders performance below the waves, and military and commercial Chirp sounders have been available for a large number of years. The main things which limited Chirp technology being used in recreational systems was the huge processing power required to compute the return signal, and the availability of transducers cheap enough for the recreational market. Recent improvements in computer technology has taken care of the processing power which opened the door for Airmar to develop the required transducers and start the Chirp revolution.

The fact that it is a transducer company pushing chirp, and not the traditional manufacturers has led to the strange time frames, with most of the major players releasing recreational CHIRP sounders within a few months, which is rar...

How Accurate is your GPS?

The short answer is “about 5-10M, depending on the number of satellites visible to the unit”, but
the truth of how accurate a GPS is depends on what we are comparing it against. If we were to place a GPS outside, its position would not move more than a couple of meters, sometimes for over an hour. In this case it is very accurate - in relation to itself. Most of the time however we want to compare GPS against something more useful like a Nautical Chart. This is where problems arise. Development of GPS and accurate depth sounders has left paper chart accuracy way behind. To get an idea of how far behind they have been left, all we have to do is open a paper chart and check the survey dates. It doesn't take long to find some very old cartography – one of the first charts I opened was NZ64 – East coast, South Island which proudly states that vast areas were surveyed between 1849 and 1851 by HMS Acheron – a whopping 160 years ago. Even more alarming than charting from during the Maori land wars is that more information on that particular chart has come from “Random soundings from various sources”. Very reassuring.
It should be noted though – before GPS, the charting only needed to be as accurate as triangulation or a sextant could be – Navigators couldn't get any more accurate anyway so there was no need for more accurate charts.
And here lies the problem. Although your GPS is accurate to 5 or 10 meters, your super duper 3D with google overlay charts are u...

For those of you who missed the evening with Geoff Stone and Doug James, I have put up video of the evening on youtube from the Whakatane Sport Fishing Club and Tauranga Game Fishing Club.

If you didn't go, you missed out on a fantastic evening - I hope that you will be at our next evening, whenever that may be!

I have also got the Hand out sheet Here

Bay Marine Electronics is proud to announce a sponsorship deal with Fairview Racing for their upcoming attempt to cross the Cook Straight and return in record time. The Fairview Racing team will be using their 1000Hp offshore power boat for the attempt which has been specially modified, including the addition of a Garmin 12" touch screen GPS and AIS from Bay Marine Electronics.

Garmin was an obvious choice for the attempt, as the driver and throttleman are strapped into their seats during the record attempt the Garmin RF Wireless Remote Control will be the only way to control the GPS.

Bay Marine Electronics is proud to announce a series of evenings by day time swordfishing pioneer Geoff Stone.

Geoff will be travelling down from Opua in the Bay of Islands for a brief tour of The Whakatane Sports Fishing Club, Tauranga Game Fishing Club and Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club, on the 14th, 15th and 16th of August respectively. He will go over basic techniques for catching swordfish in the daytime and tell a few stories, including his World Record Broadbill landed in 2003.

Also speaking will be Doug James, Furuno expert from ENL who will be talking about the sounder techniques the pro's use to see the fish in the deep.

More information can be found HERE

Firstly, lets get to know a couple of aspects on how a sounder Works. This article refers in particular to Furuno and Garmin sounders but aspects of the article apply to most good sounders.

Basic operation:

From the display unit, power is sent to the transducer in the form of a short electrical pulse. This pulse is converted to an ultrasonic sound signal by the vibrating element of the transducer which in turn results in a cone shaped beam that will spread at a particular angle, (normally between 6 and 45 degrees) through the water at the considerable speeds. In water sound travels at approximately 1,500 Mtrs per Second. The signal travels freely through water but bounces off fishes air bladders, the seabed and its structure. These reflected sounds travel back to the transducer where they are converted back to an electrical pulse which is sent back to the display unit for processing. Most modern fishfinders are digital rather than analog. This means the signal is changed from a voltage into 1's and 0's where they can be examined and manipulated  by software in the sounders computer chip, rather than altering the voltage by applying electrical forces. The resulting picture is then shown on the screen.

The majority of recreational fish finders are dual frequency, and most of these run on 50 and 200kHz.
50 kHz frequency has a wider beam angle, normally between 20 and 45 degrees and is best used in deeper water. Due to the width of the 50 kHz beam, we tend to get a “stretched” picture...

With the Government rolling out digital TV service across the country, there has been a strong advertising campaign to let people know about the changes at home, but not much information about changes aboard their boats. For those who are unaware, at the end of the year, the Analog TV signal will start to be turned off, leaving you with 2 choices for TV, Terrestrial Digital, or Satellite TV. Here in the bay the switch will be thrown at the end of 2013, but for those around the country, the changes could effect you much earlier. The good news is that the new system will be much clearer, have more channels and electronic program guides – but only so long as you have signal.

Terrestrial Digital is the cheaper of the two new options, but will still require some new hardware. The main thing to note when comparing Terrestrial Digital to Analog is that it will a have a much shorter range than the existing service and is largely limited to line of sight (like VHF). This means in some areas, including most of the Coromandle peninsular, it simply wont work and you will need a satellite antenna to get TV instead. At home, Terrestrial Digital TV is received by the long antenna which looks like a hairbrush with a flyswat at one end. These aerials are highly directional so since you are on a boat which moves, these will be useless to you, you will need an amplified, omni-directional antenna. Some options for antennas look like UFOs, but we have found the best range comes from a whip antenn...

This afternoon I had the incredible experience of crewing on a patrol boat for the last round of the NZ offshore powerboating circuit, keeping anyone who didn't notice the speeding boats away from the course. For those who have not witnessed one of these races, I highly recommend it, there is an amazing sound and power which blasts from the boats as they dance dangerously past. Thankfully we didn't have any problems with either the public or powerboaters today, but while I was out there, I began wondering, what kind of amazing electronic toys have they got in their cockpit to help them keep on course?

In a race series in which the competing teams don't seem afraid to spend a lot of money for the smallest advantage, it truly surprised me to learn that about half of the big class boats don't carry a navigational GPS. The reason for this is obvious, if you aren't 100% sure where you are going with your eyes closed and hands tied behind your back, you shouldn't be going there at 100 MPH. I can only guess that the boats which do use GPS do so to confirm their gut instinct, or for training purposes. If I'm wrong, please leave a comment below! The only electronics which seems mandatory is the Vessel View monitors – used to track the 550hp v8's, tucked just behind the competitors heads, as well as some basic GPS logging. Some of the boats also have rear vision cameras

The same 50% GPS rule applies to the smaller boats (by smaller boat I mean small boat with a MASSIVE engine). About h...

DSC is probably the least understood yet widely available safety tool in marine electronics . The term DSC is an acronym of “Digital Selective Calling” and can apply to both SSB or VHF radios. To make matters more confusing, VHF DSC is split into 2 classes, Type A is for offshore ships and requires a bit more hardware, while type D is for regular boaties, which is what we are interested in. DSC can be used for a wide variety of things, however the most important job is that of the distress button, which is normally located under a little plastic flap. So what exactly happens when you push this little red button? We decided to find out.

Our test radio was a Nautilus Lifeline– a diving VHF which has an integrated GPS and DSC function. Its an amazing little package and is waterproof to 120m! It was set up with an MMSI number which is an essential step if you want to use your DSC radio for emergency purposes. MMSI numbers are issued when requested with VHF callsigns, which you should have by law. For receiving we used a standard, unregistered Uniden UM380 radio, which was located inside our showroom and did not have a GPS input.

When the emergency button was pushed, the DSC radio in the shop started to make an alarming sound, and switched itself to channel 16. The noise was quite impressive coming out of the UM380 until we shut it up by pushing the cancel button. The coordinates of the distress radio were shown on the screen, as well as a flashing “distress”. The important part of ...

There was an article in the Herald the other day which most people wouldn't have noticed, it was a pretty boring piece really, only 6 sentences long, with not a lot of excitement.

Boiled down it goes: Tramping woman falls and injures leg, sets off Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) and is then rescued within a couple of hours.

No death, carnage nor destruction, no personal struggle or super human effort, not exactly news worthy stuff, hence the tiny article. If it were a bloke it probably wouldn't have made the paper. So it got me thinking, how many people are rescued by their beacons which we dont hear about? According to the Rescue Coordination Center's Brochure, of its 800 rescues per year, 55% involve a rescue beacon (EPIRB (marine) , PLB (land) or ELT (aviation)).

Thats a whopping 440 Beacon rescues per year, the vast majority of which are so straight forward that we never hear of them.

With the option of such an easy, non newsworthy, rescue available to everyone, why do we still have news stories of death and destruction? Why are people drowning when their aluminium boats are overturned? Why are hypothermic (and very lucky) fishermen being plucked off the coast of Northland after 7 hours gripping on to a chillybin? Why did 8 people drown when their boat overturned in Foveaux Straight? Why are we still providing the media companies such easy stories for their magazines and newspapers?

I've asked heaps of customers in the shop if they would like some information on EPRIB's or PLB's...

Hi everyone and welcome to our new website, we are really excited to have it up and running, over the next few months we will be making some changes here and there and we really hope you pop back every now and then to check it out!

I would really like to thank Sally and Ande at Beatnik design for developing my terrible designs into something practical and brilliant and Lee at Pixelweb for coding the website to an outstanding level.