NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

By Nora Courtney - Customer Service Co-ordinator

I was happy to be a part of the Lynx teams that attended both the USATF Convention in Orlando, FL and the National High School Athletic Directors Show in Las Vegas, NV this past December. It was great to get a chance to speak with some of our current and, hopefully, future customers who were in attendance.

As in the past, we created a lot of excitement showcasing the capabilities of our current products as well as with the introduction of new Lynx products. (See page three of this newsletter for more information.)

Nora.

FAST SOFTWARE ENGINEERS

Not tracking the Millrose Games on CyberScoreboard? What was your excuse?

One person who was not following the results of the Millrose Games using the java applet feature of CyberScoreboard was the FinishLynx software engineer who wrote the applet - James Njoroge. He did have a good excuse though: he was running at the meet.

Unfortunately, Njoroge failed to finish the Wanamaker Mile, dropping out in the closing laps despite looking comfortable in fourth place when he stepped off the track. A bout with the flu negated the level of fitness Njoroge had shown two weeks earlier, when he had run a sub-four minute mile at the Armory in New York (see our story on the Armory).

FLANIK'S FINISHLINE FINDER

Five steps to easier camera alignment.

GUNFIRE AT THE ARMORY

No cause for alarm - it’s the VERY BUSY starters at this newly revamped state-of-the-art indoor track.

Lynx sales supremo, Kevin McGill had this to say about the new facility: "For those of us old enough to have run in the 168th Street Armory in New York, the rebirth of this site is a pure miracle.

"Dr. Norbert Sander, who used to run on the old wooden floor himself, has spearheaded the fund-raising to first put the Armory back in business as a center for NYC athletics. Now, he has taken it one further step: permanent world class track facility.

"The "new" Armory has a banked Mondo track, and an extensive Lynx System driving the Armory's scoreboard. Since January, 1999, the Armory has been posting some incredible times proving that when one New Yorker named Sander has a dream, watch out, it will come true."

SPLITS ON THE RACECOURSE

Fiber optic technology helps get split times on a thoroughbred racecourse.

William Randazzo of Pacific Rim Racing sent us details of one of his recent FinishLynx installations at a horse racing venue. The track timing system uses optical fibers to link the sectional photobeams to a command center, from where the information is passed to the FinishLynx system.

Randazzo notes that the system has the following capabilities:

1) Synchronizes and displays Lynx sectional times.

2) Synchronizes and displays EtherLynx generated winner’s final time at the finish line.

3) Fiber optics deliver total protection of control circuits from devastating lightning strikes. Each branch circuit has individual circuit protection for additional sensor protection.

4) Practically no limit on the number of sectional timing positions.

5) Field circuits are self diagnostic, greatly reducing system maintenance.

ASK NEXUS

Auto Capture For The Imac or G3?

A long-time Mac FinishLynx customer wrote and asked us if the Auto Capture feature described on page three of this newsletter would be available any time soon for the Mac platform.

The head of our product development team replied as follows: "Unfortunately, the EtherNet camera and auto-capture are intimately connected. Auto-Capture depends on the camera's ability to process image data in real-time; only the EtherNet cameras are powerful enough for that. So, until we have an EtherNet version for the Mac, your wishes will not be fulfilled. Pray for a revival of the platform when MacOS-X hits."

FEEDBACK

Notes from our customers.

Glendon "Buck" Rand sent us this report of his first indoor season’s experiences with FinishLynx for Windows:

"...We did 10 regular season meets, Easterns, and the State A meet at Bates. At some of the regular season meets where all 16 teams competed, we averaged 130+ races a night. We had a great clerking and starting crew and started most races 10-15 seconds after the previous race ended. WE DID NOT MISS A SINGLE RACE ALL SEASON! Not bad considering we probably did over 1000 races. The Windows software is awesome, quite a change from the Mac version. Having a laptop was great and the display clock was greatly appreciated by the spectators, coaches, and athletes. It just seemed like every meet we had things under control and it was almost too easy...

Lynx previewed their ReacTime false start detection and sprint-training system at the USATF convention this year in Orlando. Track star Dennis Mitchell, the "Green Machine," was one of the convention attendees who was wowed by ReacTime’s capabilities.

The personal training module of ReacTime is a small, battery powered unit that clips to practically all makes of starting block. Through a speaker the unit gives the "Start" and "Set" commands and then simulates the firing of the starter's gun. The athlete's reaction time is displayed on the unit, and can be downloaded to a computer for later evaluation by coaches etc..

When six, eight, or more of the units are linked together, they form a state-of-the-art false start detection system - at a price that compares VERY favorably with other systems on the market.

We sent Dennis a copy of the picture above and he had this to say:

RECHARGE, REUSE, RECYCLE

by Doug DeAngelis

OK, so you have taken the plunge and gotten a bunch of those wonderful FieldLynx units. How do you feed their need for power?

I am here to suggest rechargeables. But not the "normal" rechargeable NiCd batteries you may have heard of - rechargeable Alkaline. From what we can tell, rechargeable Alkalines are a good compromise between the wastefulness of a regular old copper-top and the problems of rechargeable NiCd. Rechargeable Alkaline batteries have the following nice features:

They have no "memory" - they do not have to be fully discharged in order to be recharged to retain maximum lifetime.

They last almost as long as "regular" alkalines

They don't lose their power while in storage

They operate at a full 1.5 volts (compared to typical 1.2V for NiCd)

They are not so hard on the environment - less waste than a copper-top and no nasty cadmium like a NiCd

You can still get them at Radio Shack

The primary disadvantage of a rechargeable Alkaline is that they do have a "lifetime" of about 25 charges. Like I said, not a bad compromise considering the advantages.

Since it is not a good idea to take batteries out of a FieldLynx unit for very long, the sensible thing to do is buy at least one more set of batteries than you have FieldLynx units so that you can keep one set in the charger at all times

Editor’s Note:

FINISHLYNX 32 VERSION 2.0 OFFICIALLY RELEASED

Windows 95/98/NT compatible software is now available.

Hot on the heels of the Version 1.2 release comes another opportunity to upgrade your FinishLynx software - FOR FREE.

Version 2.0 incorporates all the advantages of 1.2 - multi-language support and on-line help for example, but it also includes the ability to use FinishLynx Plugins. It also fixes a bug in Windows 98 which could have caused problems with USB support.

There are currently two plugins available ACM (Virtual Photobeam and Automatic Capture Mode) and MRE (Multiple Region Enhancement). Keep checking our website for more plugins as they become available.

These plugins, which are offered for sale, continue the modular concept of FinishLynx technology - you are only ever buying the additional features that you need.

ACM (VIRTUAL PHOTOBEAM AND AUTOMATIC CAPTURE MODULE)

Software so smart it takes your pictures for you.

With this plugin, the camera can be configured to take pictures AUTOMATICALLY - without the need for the capture button. The plugin also has the built-in ability to use the camera as a surrogate photobeam to drive running-time clocks, and to pre-crop the image IN THE CAMERA before any data is sent to the Lynx computer.

Unbelievable as this may sound, the camera now KNOWS when there is activity at the finish line - without the use of chunky photo beams or other optical/ mechanical triggering devices - and takes the picture of the finishers.

All in all, it is possibly the most revolutionary advance in digital photo-finish technology since the first FinishLynx system.

MRE (MULTIPLE REGION ENHANCEMENT)

With this plugin, the operator can select different horizontal bands of image on the screen to enhance. The principal advantage of this feature is when areas of the finish line are in strong sunlight and/ or shadow.

Instead of juggling with exposure settings, the operator exposes the bright areas of image and sets up an enhancement region to cope with the darker areas. This feature can be a real time saver in application after application.

INFIELD DISPLAYS

Unbelievable performance, quality, and versatility at a truly unbelievable price.

With the Scoreboard plugin for your FieldLynx unit, you can now drive a scoreboard display of the type used at the Nagano Olympic Games.

These portable, one, two, or three, line alpha-numeric boards are available to Lynx customers at a price unmatched in the industry.

They can been driven directly by FinishLynx or FieldLynx. No dedicated computer needed.

Visible at more than 400 feet.

Each line has TEN 10" digits. Total line length is more than 8 feet.

Comes with a simple bolt-together stand with pneumatic wheels for increased mobility.

Generic Serial Data Interface.

Can be used for field event performances, results, or running times.

Customizable indicator boards.

As used on the 1999 Golden Spike Tour - Chase Millrose Games, L.A. Invitational, adidas D.C. Invitational, and USATF Championships.

GETTING YOUR NEW SOFTWARE

Its FREE from our website.

Customers and users can upgrade their software, obtain the on-line help files, and a printable version of the manual all from our website.

There is no charge if you download the files from our website.

For those of you who want to have the software on floppy disk, the program files, the help files and a printed manual can be ordered through our office. There is a $50 shipping and handling charge for those of you who choose this option.

Over 2700 athletes competed in the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships on Saturday, December 12th in Lisle, IL. 

The Lynx Timing Team from Lisle High School was on hand to capture the event. In a break from tradition, the two camera FinishLynx system was used to sanity check the results being produced by the officials in the chute.

While video cameras were still used at the event, Ken Jakalski chose to not use voice recorders to supplement the results recorded at the chute finish. He argued to the officials that, "We have two Lynx systems here, let’s let Lynx do what it can do."

What Lynx and its operators did do was capture image of every runner in the ten races. When questions came in from coaches about the results produced from the chutes, the FinishLynx images were consulted.