A Double and Three Halves

[c0sie]

Whatever it is I doubt ill be able to afford it

[Gnarly Old Dog]

Methinks that 'a double and three halves' is all Rob could afford to buy from the donate button on his live coverage of the players event...

[SlowOne]

[bbkRob]

Sorry you don't dive a damn SlowOne, maybe the clue is in the name LOL.

So here are 2 bits of information.

First the Halve, or in fact two Halves (Don't worry, they only count as one in the total).

About Half the size and weight. Nothing very exiting, if you can't halve the size of something in 9 years you just aren't trying.

The Double? Double the signal frequency. Can you tell what it is yet? Of course you can.

The current one sends an ID signal 300 times a second, the one I'm talking about sends the ID 600 times a second. This has two benefits. The accuracy of the passing time is twice as good, still not to within 0.001s, so don't be fooled by results to three decimal places, the accuracy is still only to 2DP at best.

I'll just give a brief explanation about accuracy. If I'm sailing across the Atlantic to Barbados and you want to know when I arrive, if you phone me every other day and ask me if I am in Barbados, when I say yes you cannot be sure exactly which day I arrived, if you phone every day you can. So double the frequency and double the accuracy.

Now the other benefit. Doubling the frequency will reduce the possibility of missed laps. I sit and watch signal quality all the time at races and in general the strength of the signal is not an issue, what is an issue is the number of ID signals (hits). When the hits start to get to single figures there is a chance of a miss. With double the frequency the chances of a miss reduce.

Reasons for low hits are often the mounting position, although it might be a defective device. I noticed an apparently defective handout at the Players 2.

So know you should know what I'm talking about. What you don't know is what else is new/different, who makes it, when you can have one and how much it will cost. I'll be trickling little bits out every day so start guessing!

[Kifogrande]

So when are the new transponders likeley to be released? Like the idea of halving the size in 9 years, hopefully you've managed to halve the price too

[bbkRob]

Originally Posted by Kifogrande

So when are the new transponders likeley to be released? Like the idea of halving the size in 9 years, hopefully you've managed to halve the price too

Patience is a virtue, virtue is a grace, happy is the little boy who has it on his face.

I though that was so innocent until I realised that Patience and Grace are girl's names................

[Dazzler]

We can only hope that the last two halves are half price on the key equipment - Transponders and decoders....

[mikeyscott]

Originally Posted by Dazzler

We can only hope that the last two halves are half price on the key equipment - Transponders and decoders....

Indeed... I've I've just bought a MRT

If these are well positioned I may consider putting one in the Cat SX

[ryanlownie]

Originally Posted by Kifogrande

hopefully you've managed to halve the price too

Well most other electronics seem to get better, smaller and cheaper over the years!

However, it's not going to happen with these is it.

[MALLET]

Rob this will be great news as 2 races I've been to I've had missed laps and its not been every heat. I end up with a double count lap half way through my times.

Eg:- say like I'm doing 22 second laps, I'd get one 44 in there.

[ben]

Half the size must = half the price Rob? I think id rather put a handout in rather than paying £90 for a PT!

[MALLET]

I cannot understand what everyone is moaning about. Once you've got a PT in there's no worries at track side.

I'd say Rob will be building it half size as he's said and the components have come down in price so I'd say he'll be doing them cheaper that the originals, and no missed laps is a double bonus

[ryanlownie]

Half the size.
Half the price.
It already exists and you know what it is.

[mark christopher]

Originally Posted by MALLET

I cannot understand what everyone is moaning about. Once you've got a PT in there's no worries at track side.

I'd say Rob will be building it half size as he's said and the components have come down in price so I'd say he'll be doing them cheaper that the originals, and no missed laps is a double bonus

does BBK own AMB then?
taken from bbk site
We design, develop and supply computer software for Club and Race Administration and
Race Timing of R/C Cars & Boats.
We also sell AMB I-T Identification and Timing Equipment.

Originally Posted by Ry @ JE Spares

Half the size.
Half the price.
It already exists and you know what it is.

MRT!!

[mikeyscott]

Price will come down from the natural competition on the market place then..

[MALLET]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

does BBK own AMB then?
taken from bbk site
We design, develop and supply computer software for Club and Race Administration and
Race Timing of R/C Cars & Boats.
We also sell AMB I-T Identification and Timing Equipment.

I thought that Rob was part of AMB Mark sorry

Well it looks like Rob will be bringing his own out then

[c0sie]

I think that bbk design the software, where as the AMB PT's are hardware designed by some foreign dude.
Wasnt he summat to do with Serpent once?

Anyways, I wonder iof Rob is releasing a new software??

[MALLET]

Off of BBK site

AMB now have a new name - Mylaps Sports Timing
AMB products, prices and contact details remain the same. The new name recognises the merger in November 2008 of AMB-it and Champion Chip. Both are Dutch companies. Champion Chip originally developed passive RFID technology for timing running events. 12th October 2009.

[bbkRob]

OK, a little clarification. bbk is a software and services company. We do not make hardware, we sell it under its original manufacturers name. Our relationship with Mylaps (I'm going to stop using the AMB name now, but remember Mylaps is just AMB with another name and with stuff from Champion Chip) is that of a reseller. I don't own them and they don't own me.

OK, today's reveal.

What you know so far is that we are talking about something that is twice the power and about half the size and weight of something else. What you have guessed is that it is a direct powered RC car (and boat) identification device. I can confitm that this is correct. Oops, gave something away then, direct powered! It might have contained a long term battery, like the Mylaps transponders used for active sports and rental karting. Well it is direct powered from your car electrics and it uses about half the power. So that's two of the three halves used up, just another one to go. I bet you are all hoping the remaining half is price. Well it might be and it might not be but I would suggest that if you are looking to buy a PT you hang on a bit and if you have a used one to sell you get cracking. In the past I have seen quite old (>4 years) sell on Ebay for more than the cost of a brand new one so you might get lucky if you are quick.

Lets go back to the power thing. With the advent of Lipo single cell racing the power in the car is quite a low voltage. That is a bit of a challenge for servos and radios. I can confirm that this new device, lets call it Harry, will work with voltage down to 2.8v (1c) and up to 16v (4c). And the cable is PTFE and so nitro and petrol (gasoline) resistant.

Harry also sends its operating voltage and temperature as part of the ID. Of course telemetry from the car to the driver/pit crew is not allowed (paraphrase from BRCA General Rule 10), but as a Race Director I'm sure you would be interested to know if an IC car's throttle servo was being controlled by a very low voltage. Yes, I know there are failsafes, but when it comes to safely a belt and braces are always helped by a piece of string. Operating temperature is up to 50c, so don't strap it to the engine or speedo!

So, another big one there, new data from the transponder! So what does that mean for the Decoder?

Rest assured that Harry will work with AMBrc and AMBrc3 Decoders. I'll talk more about Decoders tomorrow. I also need to talk about availability. I'll do that on Sunday, in time for you to write your letter to Santa.

[MatJohnson]

So, its a new PT, thats smaller, uses less power and has a bit more telemetary info about what your other servo's are doing to race control.