new amb system
 

seems there was some discussion at the agm re mylaps/amb, where the "new system" will not count mrt and the old amb bugs.... anyone add more light?

taken from a post on maxbashing tonight :-(

So what's that in English?

Will my MRT PTX work?

Which AGM was this?

My understanding is decoders will be upgraded to RC4's from RC3's, not sure what that means. The old style AMB's may not work with RC4 and MRT's will not work.

BRCA

:confused: still none the wiser, is this upgrade a software or hardware upgrade?

We visited MyLaps headquarters in the Netherlands when we were over there for the Worlds earlier in the year. Got to tour the facility and had a detailed presentation about what they were planning in the future.

The info we received at that time was that, yes there is a new style of transponder and decoder on the way soon, but the existing PTs (original red PTs) will continue to be supported by the new system - they acknowledged that a lot of people out there already had the original transponders and would be a terrible idea if those no longer were compatible!

The "new" system will offer an additional digit (so you can keep the same number for all your cars, but identify each one separately - useful when practising in particular). The current models of PT will be detected, but just won't have this extra function.

So either someone's got the wrong end of the stick here, or MyLaps have significantly changed their strategy in the last 3 months!

I heard that its a hardware upgrade, ie a new decoder unit !
This has been said on a couple forums about the MRT Transponder
will be incompatable with future decoders.

But I was unaware that the older AMB Transponder's would be affected !

that's going to upset a lot of MRT PT users worldwide not just in the UK if that's the case

I can't imagine that they would do that without upgrading everyone's pt for free to become compatible with the new system, it would either kill my laps or all rc timing gear

Sounds like i got the AMB part of it wrong then :) sorry.

I'm not sure either way chap !!
But MRT and MyLaps are two different companies, MyLaps being the one putting all the time, money and resource's into making the system
MRT cashed in !
The age old saying comes to mind !
Buy cheap - Buy twice

This was discussed at the brca agm today.
The issue is if someone buys the new transponder percy it will only work with rc4 the new decoder.
The new decoder will not pick up all the mrt signal and they will miss laps.
In short the new system is much better but you will need harry or percy transponders to use it.
So if anyone has an older transponder they will need to upgrade.
The new system is much better all rc3 decoders get a free upgrade.
The problem for clubs is when to move over to rc4!
We have major issues with mrt and number clashes in 1/8 off road this will be removed.
The new percy transponder can be supplied as a cone the computer will have a model reference agains this clone to stop 2 cars being used.
Clubs will have to decide what route to follow.
Jim

I doubt the new system will be deliberately incompatible with MRT transponders, but at the same time it wouldn't surprise me if it was accidentally incompatible.
By that I mean that when doing backwards compatibility tests Mylaps never actually tried with an MRT transponder to see if it works or not. However, since they are functionally identical to the old AMB's as far as the loop/decoder goes I can't see how that can happen.

What sounds more likely is that with the new numbering system Mylaps will need a better track of who owns which numbers (so you can have xxxxxxx1 in one car and xxxxxxx2 in another) and maybe make a big central database. All those MRT's floating around with non-original numbers might cause some issues there as you'll get several people (worldwide) with the same 'unique' number.

Giving the whole world free transponders !
That would bust the company in a nano second, not gonna happen !

As with most things in the world, if you want to stay upto date you are expected to purchase the new equipment !!

But as I understand it, AMB/MyLaps Transponders will be supported with no issues

But not sure if MRT will be !

I hope your correct . I have 1 Harry,2 AMB and an MRT, I don't mind changing 1 of them but not 3, it will be the end othe hobby for me.

Some clarification would be good if possible. I have three MRT PT's. never had any trouble or issue with any of them nor any clashed numbers. If it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind. Hate to jump to conclusions but this does read as another unnecessary money spinner upon first impressions. :thumbdown:

I hope I'm wrong.

hmm, so as I see it, harrys are good, the new percys are good ,MRT's are for the bin.

Thing that needs to be really clear when an announcement is made is are the original three lug PT's (pre harrys) not going to work?
Nice move if it will not as we bought a load with our club system,back then they were 40 quid a go I still run 2 in the kids cars, just remind me how much is the new one I need to buy:mad:

But if I buy a new percy it's not going to work at any of my local clubs.....

A look back in time..
 

So when Harry's were first introduced / announced, this was some of the key information povided: - http://www.bbkrclive.com/2010/Offroa.../RC4System.pdf

It covers most of what is being proposed. (Ommiting any backwards compatabillity issues)

RC4 firmware is a free upgrade of Firmware on RC3 decoders - or atleast that is how our RC3 decoder was sold to us. (See attached image - Decoder Upgrade Info taken from BBK site).

In contrast to this, the MyLaps site would have you believe it's not free.. (See attached image - MyLaps Upgrade). I think this may be a version related issue.

I'm suprised to read there is a new PT (Percy) offering the same features promissed with the Harry, but which haven't come to fruition after such a long time.

Hopefully Rob at BBK will provide all the facts and put us all straight. (or light the blue touch paper) :woot:

Certainly as a club, it is imperative that we fully understand the implications of carrying out the upgrade prior to doing so.

if this is so that the MRT wont work on the RC4 decoder and the older amb's might thats an awful lot to change.
it also will kill the 2nd had price of an MRT, might be ok selling at a club that wont be upgrading the decoder, but on forums it will be worthless really:mad:

iv had the same mtr in my cars for three years and it has not missed a lap anywhere, even at herts where we get told there maybe an issue each time we go there