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MisFires

Hello,

Last night we had a strange occurrence. We were running the 200 at a district level meet.  The first heat went off without an issue. When the 2nd heat was ready to run we got a mis-fire. During the time between we did some changes in the capture settings to help with an image issue we were having. 2nd heat is lined up and we have another mis-fire. I fire the false-start gun, and then the starter fires his and the system picks up. We ran a test fire and the system picked up.

Now, both antennas are low to the ground, which we think could have been one issue, but we also had a lot of people on the field using their cell phones for live results. We are hoping the signal had trouble crossing the field but are open to suggestions.

Any thoughts, we are clueless.

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Radio signals will take the path of least resistance. If the transmitter antenna is too close to the ground or if the radio is strapped to a metal pole with the antenna paralleling the pole and not above the pole then you will likely find that your signal will not travel very far.

Keep the radio at least 6 feet above the ground and ensure that the antenna is up in clear air above what ever it is you are mounting it on and you should not have any issue. 

I have had the start radio signal, on a clear day, trigger a start on a system that was on the same frequency at another venue 4 kilometers away. 

If you believe you are getting interference, just change the dip switches on the transmitter and receiver to a different setting and it will typically clear up the problem.

I hope this helps.

Last edited by wrcc

I've had similar issues when the transmitter was clipped to their belt, it happened a few times too many. I've since been using a microphone stand that raises the antenna up to 6ft, They go for around $20. I require starters to hold the sensor in their gun hand. I did mount the sensor to the microphone boom extension, but occasionally they forgot to stand near it or hold the gun too far from it. So having them hold it guarantees the sensor is only 2 inches away and will almost most likely pick up the weakest gun shot. I have the Receiver clamped to the Tripod Gearhead or the corner of the EZ-Up. With this setup, I haven't had any misfires due to line of sight issues.

Greetings,

I had this problem with two finish lynx radios, in an area with power lines over a ravine, and  cell towers close to the finish, I changed frequency on devices on the dip switches and use longer leads on the the trigger devices raised the radio  up on cheap camera stands by 1.8 mm and my problems where solved. i have the extended range and standard range transmitter and both performed over the 2km course with out a problem. I did have a problem in another location where antennas were close to the surface and  yes i had many a missed start.

 

Hope this sheds some light

Clive

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