Times-7 RTAS mat antennas?

[Gordie Aldrich, ATRM]

Do any of you use the Times-7 RTAS mat antennas? Recommend?

[Lamont Hayes]

I have 2 of them that I use for cross country with bib tags(1 vertical dogbone).
They work great. They are a little more difficult to handle and store rhan you may think. They do not fold or roll so you have to store them stacked and flat.

[MarkE]

After renting one a couple of times I just bought a 15' Race Result mat and absolutely love it.  Folds up to a small package with a carry handle and deploys in no time.  Their stock connector is a BNC though so you either need to order it with custom connectors (~$100) or use adapters.  

[Run Roanoke]

Do you have a link to the race results mat?

[MarkE]

I bought it through Race Result.  The link to their page is https://www.raceresult.com/en-us/shop/PassiveSystem.php.  A video that helped sell me is https://youtu.be/VENnqyzlRUs.  It's not cheap, but it does work.  I've run ~500-600 runners across it so far with vertical dogbones on bibs, no foam spacers, powered by an 8 port 9500 with no missed reads.  I'll be putting another 2000 runners over it in the next couple weeks so should have a better idea of total read rate by then.  So far, so good.

[Tim Irvine]

Mark, I too am considering the race result mats. What rates to you get? Any missed tags? I have a fried that uses those mats with her Race Result system and she gets great reads.

[rtspt.usa]

the race result mats are awesome. they get superb read rates BUT one of the reasons for that is because in that 15 foot span they use 8 ports where as the typical ground mats covering the same distance use 4 ports.

also, if you order them you want to have them put on the correct ends for your readers as they come stock with bnc.. most of us here use rp-tnc..

you do NOT want to use adapters.. there will be significant signal loss.

[MarkE]

As I noted above, I haven't missed a read yet out of a little over 500 runners.  To be fair, conditions at the events I've done so far have been ideal with the worst case being a hot day where people were starting to sweat pretty heavily.  I know it won't stay perfect, but it is looking good so far.  Like rtspt said, having 8 antennas spread across 15' gives pretty solid coverage.  This also forces you to a 9500 or other 8 port reader which helps on the power side as well.

I know it's not ideal, but I did go with the stock BNC cables and adapters for a variety of reasons unique to my situation.  I wouldn't recommend it, but even with the added loss the performance is still solid.

[SportMadeSimple]

I have 4 Times 7 Mats (2' x 4') that I would be willing to sell.  I find that I prefer the portability of the side antenna.

I've had them a couple of years but only used them maybe 10 times.  

If anyone is interested, I can look at a price (haven't really thought about it yet).  

[Geff Purcell]

I might be interested.  What price do you want for them?

-Geff

[SNRyan]

MarkE-

You using one or two dogbones?

[MarkE]

Yes, 2 vertical dogbones on the back of the bib with no foam.  500 runners again on Thursday with no misses.

[Muddy Dog Sports]

Hi Mark,

I'm using a similiar setup as you with a single Race Result mat and two vertical tags on bibs with foam spacers for races using disposable tags. I'm aware of three finish line misses all summer out of several thousand reads. I'm curious if you are chip timing starts, and if yes,are you getting reads on everybody at the start? I did a race with 300 people packed wall to wall and had 8 misses on the chip start and wondering how that compares to others experience. 

FYI, I use the same setup with one Agee shoe tag on each shoe and get good results. I do get occasional misses when people do weird things with the tags, but no problems when they follow instructions. 

[MarkE]

All but two of my events since getting the RR mat has been with Cross Country events that do not use chip starts.  The two events where I did do chip starts I had 100% reads but both were smaller (<100 runners) events with a good number of walkers.

For finish line performance, I had my first true miss at event on Friday.  Didn't notice anything on the runner that was notable, but this puts me at 99.9x% read rate which I'm OK with. :)  

[Muddy Dog Sports]

Mark, how has your experience been with getting the finish order correct using chips on bibs at a cross country meet? One "downside" I've found with my system is that it is so powerful it tends to give early reads when the chips are on the bibs as runners approach. Shoe tags are nice in that it grabs that right on the line.

[MarkE]

Yeah, it does tend to read a bit early so I try to cheat the mat behind the line a bit when possible.  Regarding finish order, you do need to keep an eye on close finishes especially if the finish position may have changed in that last ~5 feet before the line.  I always have someone writing down finish sequence in the chute and also have video going to double check when needed.

Mark

[Rivalry Timing]

I have two Times 7 mats and I like them. No problems with missed reads. I'm looking for a third Times 7.  My biggest issue is storing them and transporting them, definitely a hassle. And I use them in conjunction with two more side panel antennas just because I like the back up angles.

So race|result is a European company, but does anybody know anyone who has ordered antennas or timing equipment directly from a Chinese company? Specifically from the website www.alibaba.com? For example, I found this mat antenna among dozens: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/10dbi-EU-865-868-MHz-UHF_60421454495.html

There are literally dozens if not hundreds of manufacturing companies that make timing equipment for a fraction of the cost. It leaves me thinking, "what's the catch?" I know shipping would probably be astronomical.

[Jon Beverley]

I have a set of these mats and they do the job quite nicely. http://www.chafon.com/productdetails.aspx?pid=531

I also have bought 2 readers from them too, however they are not compatible with Agee (I use my own software)

[JK Race Timing Systems]

Hi Jon

How much are those babies each

JK

[Jon Beverley]

Cost worked out to be about £280 each after delivery, tax and bank fees.

I have 4 spare still if you want them for cost?

[Hronometar]

Rivalry,

I remember this post from you, and I am wondering how robust those mat antennas are. Can a car overdrive them with 60 kph during road cycling when they are in front of leading group in a fast finishing?

[Jon Beverley]

I seriously doubt any mats would take that! The wind from it would most likely move them unless they were tied down somehow.

[Hronometar]

Adam Hall Defender series cable cross can handle it, but they are a bit taller. I am talking about Nano model. RaceResult was using them before they developed their own mats. I am about to create my mats with Nano cable cross, Impinj Threshold antennas and LMR-240-UF cables. I know a guy who has those mats created like that. He told me that in a race big truck for Fire company overdrive them with 50 kph and weight of 30 tons. :) They are really robust.

Here you can see I using them as protection for my LMR-400-UF cables.

[Zoli]

RR mat test. Still working :)
https://youtu.be/jpWgcNjrfwc?t=1h1m59s

[Brian Agee]

Wow, that would have caused my heart to skip a few beats! Glad to hear they held up!  The cables would been just fine, but the antennas, joints between sections, and structure of the mat itself are what I would have been worried about. Thanks for sharing!

[MarkE]

Gulp!  I know they're supposed to handle that, but that's a lot of money to risk just in case.  Glad it's still working for you and nice to know what they can handle!

[Hronometar]

Here is their official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAMySzZ_QMM

[Muddy Dog Sports]

I had a similiar situation come up with a school bus that needed to come through after I had set my RR mat. I opted to fold the mat rather than put it to the test! The whole process was easily less than a minute.

[Zoli]

I worried little bit but I seen the RR test video before I bought them (I thought it is true :)), and the bus was not the first, I 'tested' 8-10 times earlier with smaller cars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHElUubQY60&feature=youtu.be&t=13m9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHElUubQY60&feature=youtu.be&t=21m27s

[Tom]

I have the race result mats. They have been awesome. No miss reads. I also use two side antennas just to make sure. I just used them by themselves in a chip start of 1000 runners that was 13.1 miles from the finish with no miss reads. They have been awesome on all kids of surfaces (cross country, road and trail races).

They are quick to put out and pick up. The price is worth it.

Tom

[Tom]

A truck rolled mine right before a half. Was worried..No damage and no misses. I only used one chip vertical on th front of the off to the side.

[Muddy Dog Sports]

Hi Tom,

Do you mind giving a little more info on your setup where you got 100% of 1000 runners at the start? Sounds like you used a single chip with no side antennas. Was that a single mat or two? What kind of chip? 

I typically get a few misses at the start when the start line is packed using my single RR mat with two chips on a bib and am looking to improve that to consistantly getting 100%. 

Thanks!

[Tom]

Nothing special..Chip is a dog bone 6 placed vertical on the front right or left side of the bib, one mat with the eight antennas connected to a Motorola 9500. I check every chip for programing and correct assignment.Takes a lot of time but I'm kind of Type A about it. I too had a packed start line but a very narrow chute coming to the chip start (Hills on both sides) the narrow area I think helped in getting all of the reads or we were lucky.  We have a large Cross Country meet on Friday and while checking the chips I found one dead one and two not programed. This one I just used the one chip. I have also used two chips as well but not on the last race. I'm also using only one chip on Fridays meet.

Tom