Frequently Asked Questions Series 5.5

QTC VIEW Series 5.5 (QTC55.)

1.  What are the power requirements?
2. What are the computer requirements?
3. What water depth can the system classify to?
4. What frequency echo sounder can the system attach to?
5. Does the system perform both supervised and unsupervised classification?
6. What are the GPS string requirements?
7. Ring down of the Suzuki ES-2025 (50 kHz) (recommended for use with the QTC5) echosounder is about 1.5 m. It seems to be impossible to survey at shallower than 1.5 m. Your web site says that QTC5 has the ability to survey up to 0.5 m water depth. What is the reason for this discrepancy?
8.  During our survey, we confirmed that the Suzuki ES-2025 and QTC5 software displayed water depth less than 1.5 m during the survey. However, if we read the data in QTC IMPACT™ software, it seems that the data for less than 1.5 m water depth (the shallowest depth) are dropped out. What is the cause of this?
9.  It seems that the QTC5 software displays water depth and records data even when the Suzuki ES-2025 cannot measure water depth. Is there any problem with the reliability of these data?
10.  Can other acoustic devices on the ship interfere with the QTC VIEW™?

---

 A 1. 12-36 VDC, 1.2 Amps

A 2. System computer requirements are:

• Monitor, preferably minimum 15" Flat screen (LCD, low power consumption)
• Keyboard and mouse
• Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or Windows Vista
• CD writer or other data storage device
• One free USB 2.0 port
• One free serial port for GPS input

A 3. The system can classify at water depths from 0.50 metres to greater than 2000 metres. The depth at which the system can classify is a function of the echo sounder used. Please contact us about what echo sounders may be used for specific depth ranges.

A 4. The echo sounder must have a frequency between 12 and 200 kHz.

A 5. QTC IMPACT™ (which processes data acquired by the QTC5.5) performs both supervised and unsupervised classification.

A 6. GGA, GLL and other strings that are used for navigational purposes, at a variety of baud rates.

A 7. Check the range of the Suzuki is set to 0-60 metres or less. If the sounder is set above this range or on auto ranging you may a problem with too long a pulse duration. On the range settings from 0-5 and 0-60 metres, the Suzuki uses the same 0.3 ms pulse duration. To properly set the acquisition system for shallow water, first open the QTC5 software. In the software under the menu Config | Sounder, set the pulse duration to 0.3 ms and the transmit (TX) ring down to 0.84 ms. This will give a depth at the end of the ring down of 854 mm. This will also display a green line at 854 mm in the trace window. This is the minimum blanking depth and no echoes will be recorded shallower than this depth. Also make sure the transmit power is set to MIN as outlined on page 4 of the manual. The 0.5 m water depth advertised on our web site is dependent on a shorter pulse duration than available with the Suzuki. We have interfaced to other echo sounders with shorter pulse durations enabling a lower minimum blanking depth.

A 8. If the ring down in QTC is set to 1.5 m, then no echoes shallower than 1.5 m will be logged.

A 9. QTC5 is able to record very shallow echoes accurately and reliably. There is no problem with these echoes

A 10. Other acoustic devices can interfere with the QTC VIEW™ data acquisition