A good day in Florida

[Joshua]

We had a great day timing the Loopapalooza 2025 14k, 3hr, 6hr and 12hr here in north Florida. the event went well and we learned a lot. We are very happy with how our bibs worked. Before this race we were using reusable laminated tags. We haven't been happy with the deployment and retrieval of these tags and kept looking for an affordable solution that is more in line with what runners experience at most races in our area.

We used athleteracenumbers.com for the bibs and atlasrfid for the VUL-BOLT-M730 chips. We were able to put them together for under 1.30 each. they performed great and had no missed reads using 2 side antennas and an R1000 reader. 

webscorer app operated flawlessly. I reached out to support email for a question about fixing a bib mix up issue and as always Vesa responded quickly and assured me the way our team was going to fix it was correct. 

THANK YOU Vesa and the webscorer team for working on a great product and for always being available and prompt with answers to our questions!!!!

[Larry Wilkinson]

I can second that.  Timed a 24Hr Ultra (https://www.webscorer.com/race?raceid=389582) in Upstate NY Winona forest this weekend, with 33 participants.  Weather was miserable, rain(hard at times), wind, and cold for most of the event.  The course took a beating,  got quite muddy in spots.  The VUL-BOLT-M730 chips however worked flawlessly.  This is my first time using RFID with Webscorer.  After reading Joshua's post and contacting him directly to ask how many chips per bib, orientation, foam backed or not, I decided to order up a batch, for my first go.  Yes, I used 2 per bib, vertical about 2.5 - 3 inches apart, and no foam backing.  505 total laps completed in those conditions, with participants changing several times, bib were wrinkled, folded, placed in various locations, front, back, side under jackets, ponchos, etc..  Never missed a read.  The equipment: 2 impinj R420 readers each connected to one section of Times 7 mat, Travelfy JourneyXTR router, 2 iPad Air's in master helper setup.   I think this was a pretty good test of the chips capabilities.  Thank you Joshua for this post and Vesa  for the detailed setup guides on Webscorer.

[Joshua]

Great feedback!

[Martin Jennings]

Hi Larry,
Just checking that you know the orientation of the chips is dependent on the polarization of the mats and / or antennas?

[Larry Wilkinson]

I’m aware, but can’t say I understand it.  I know there is linear, rh and Lh polarization,  and that if your going to have side antennas they should be the same.  In the testing I did with the listed system these chips seemed to work no matter the orientation but a different chip I tried worked best vertical.  I’d love to learn more about how the tags and antennas talk to each other