We recently returned from the first stop on the Zurich World Cup of rowing regatta in Princeton, NJ. We received a call at 8pm the night before to come down and use our photofinish equipment. The contractor on site, WIGE-Mic from Germany had had their OMEGA Scanovision Pro system damaged by voltage spikes. The Aggrekko generator apparently stopped due to low oil, (I wonder if they ever check these things out as this is the 4th time I have been at an event where these generators have failed)and the operator turned it back on without warning anybody. The WIGE-Mic crew did not have any backup equipement. We used a EtherLynx 2000 with 135mm lense on the tall tower, for the primary at a capture rate of 100-125. The ALGE OPTi was set on the stage in front of the judges as backup with 50mm lense and a capture rate of 1/400. The organizers took note of the fact that we had a backup system and were using UPS' on the power lines. There are 3 more stops on this tour in Europe for 2001.
Originally posted 1 May 2001 by Fred Patton
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