Quote:
Originally Posted by RKDinOKC
New timing equipment? is it all wireless?
Easy to setup on a laptop?
track cars with RFD?
Big display have more than one line?
Print time tickets?
Just kinda curious why needed new.
Usually FedEx hits here within a couple of hours around 3pm here. The tracking usually says "out for delivery" after about 6:30 am on the day it arrives.
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The old wireless system was 12 years old, and starting to have problems. We sent one transmitter in to have it fixed over the winter. The company that made it basically pulled an "Apple or Microsoft" move and said the old equipment will no longer be supported as of Jan. 2019. So we could hope it keeps working, or trade it in on an all "new and improved, and easier to use" system. They gave us a trade in value on the old equipment, and the new stuff is all rechargeable with a USB cable.
The old system was a pain to get aligned. It did not have a simple system like a green light on the emitter to let you know it was seeing the transmitter. We had to make a best guess, and then have someone at each end of the course trip the light and a third person let them know if the timer tripped and stopped. Three people to do a simple task is stupid, but we did it because there was not much option.
Hopefully the new system is as advertised. It is dang expensive and should make things better. It can be integrated to a laptop, but that takes a separate and additional cost software package and of course a laptop. If I was running the autocross, it would happen. The autocross chairman does not want to mess with a laptop, and prefers analog. I just write the checks to pay the bills.
I have been the autocross chairman in the past. Back in the olden days when I did it we had a system of wired connectors to a rubber hose like they used to have at gas stations to tell them they had a customer. We had to run over the hose so the start and finish had to be the same spot. We moved up to the fancy system Richard used back in 1996 for Porsche Parade when we hosted the event. It had two 100 foot rolls of wire and separate start and finish spots.