[MT-ALES] Self Timing Audio Contests

[CURTIS SUTER]

The Helena Flying Tigers contests are getting a bit smaller.  During the alfalfa growing season we're limited to about six launch/landing zones unlike our two day Montana Summer ALES where we can fit 12 to 13.  I've read about some contests having self timing contests during small venues where everyone flies in one Group.  I think this may become an option for us one day so I put together some Audio (mp3) files that can be put into a playlist and fly a contest using audio only.    So if we were to get six pilots show up for a contest instead of having two groups of three; one pilot and one timer and having to go to the flight line 12 times for a six round contest, all six of us could fly at once and only have to endure the Montana heat for six trips to the flight line for an entire contest.  The real drawback to this system is the lack of pilots/timers being able to learn from one another during flights.

I made files for task times of 6 minutes through 15 minutes.  Each task has a 1 minute prep or countdown to launch.  At the end buzzer of the task, the nice lady will countdown a further 30 seconds for those landing after the task as may be common in ALES.  This may prove to be too long and I can adjust that if necessary.  If flying F5J it's advisable to launch on the horn and land before the buzzer if you wish to get landing points.  In ALES you have ten seconds to get airborne so the pilot would need to recall the number he/she launched on and adjust their time accordingly to the number they hear upon landing.

I figure two Rounds could be flown as most folks can launch twice or carry a spare battery with each trip to the flight line and then take a break to prep for the next two rounds.

We haven't flown these audio files yet but the plan is to use a Fender Mustang guitar amp that's 20watts and should be plenty loud and power this with a 12v deep cycle car battery and an 115v  inverter.  This should have plenty of juice to run for a 6-8 round contest.  I've heard some concerns about the delay in audio for pilots.  I don't see this as a concern as your launch and landing delay will equal out.  Plus we're not talking about a national/world competition either.

Here's a sample screenshot of my iPhone music player with a playlist of tasks of 6, 7 and 10 minutes.  I inserted a Next Task Pause of 1 minute in between each task.  Since each task has a one minute preparatory countdown and a 30 second countdown at the end of the task this gives pilots 2  1/2 minutes from the end of the last task to the beginning of the next task.

The files are available here, scroll about halfway down:
http://tailwindgliders.com/Files.html




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