I think I was the one who started the wireless timing thing a few years ago
after seeing the manhours involved with laying down and picking up and
maintaining 23 miles of wire 3 times a year . My friend Bill came up with an
excelent wireless design that measured the GPS synchronized times of day the
beam is broken and sends it to the timing tower where it is tallied and fed to
the clocks . We didn't go with a design where the photocell just radiod "now"
to the timers because I'd been told there is enough static in the air that too
many times would be lost . Bill's clock based design would hold the time and
resend a missed signal . The trouble is , as I understand it , the Rice
brothers timers would be incompatable with Bills design . We have the willing
hands to handle the wire method but not enough year in year out technical
people to maintain a wireless system . The way salt interferes with radio
reception is another question . Tag Heuer has made wireless timing for down
hill skiing for a few years but the distances and reception on the salt are
unknowns . Somebody could investigate the price .
John Burk
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