Main window
The timekeeper's window. At the top, the header chooses the module and opens the menus; below it, the strip of timing commands (decoder, numeric keypad, passings) and the competition name; in the center, the chosen module; at the bottom, the status bar.
Now!12 Laps → DB
- The four modules: Timing, Broadcast, Configuration, History.
- Search for a setting, a tab or a command (Ctrl+K).
- The File, Session and Tools menus.
- Settings: all the options of the computer.
- The Help menu (shared data, license, language…).
- Show / hide the command strip.
- The finish loop switch, its Auto box and its delay.
- The numeric keypad: manual passings from the keyboard.
- The processing of passings.
- The name of the loaded competition.
- The tabs of the Timing module (see Timing).
- The bottom bar of timing: Manual start and the gauge of laps waiting to be written to the database.
- The status bar.
The header
On the left, the brand and the four modules, like tabs: only one module is displayed at a time and FINISH reopens on the last one chosen. In the center, the search field. On the right, the menus and buttons.
Timing
Where: header, first module
Race management: the races in progress (one per tab or all on screen), the list of races of the session, the configuration of the race flow, the starts, the athletes, the annotations; depending on the setup, the photocells, the training schedule and lapping. See Timing.
Broadcast
Where: header, second module
What FINISH sends to the TABLEAU displays and to VOICE: announcement on the network, TCP, UDP, database, Redis, and the list of connected clients. See Broadcast.
Configuration
Where: header, third module
The timing equipment: how it works, its status, its settings, the track and its loops, the log and the latest passings. Under the word “Configuration”, a second line gives the mode: Decoder configuration, Manual timing, Hybrid timing or Timer (photocells). See Configuration (equipment).
History
Where: header, fourth module
What the database contains: races, athletes, transponders, laps, overall standings. See History and Athletes.
Search for a setting, a command…
Where: header, in the center (Ctrl+K or Ctrl+F)
Type a few letters: “lif”, “bell”, “clock”, “transponder”. The list offers ten items at most, with their path (“Settings › EVT export”). ↑ ↓ to choose, Enter to go there, Esc to clear. FINISH displays the module, chooses the tab, expands the pane or opens the settings window, then highlights the item in yellow for a few seconds. A menu command is shown, never run. An item hidden in the current mode (the Photocells tab without photocells, the collapsed strip…) is reported in the message bar. A typo is forgiven.
Each item found has the same key as its section in this help: see Context help (F1).
Show / hide the timing controls
Where: header, last button on the right (an arrow)
Collapses or expands the command strip (decoder, numeric keypad, passings, leader position, competition name). The choice is kept from one launch to the next. When collapsed, the strip still works: the equipment keeps delivering its passings.
The timing command strip
Three pill switches, red at OFF, green at ON, then the orange Leader position box and the competition name.
Finish loop
Where: command strip, first switch (RACE RESULT, USB Timing Box, Ubidium or Chronelec decoder only)
Sets the power of the decoder's finish loop. ON: the loop is at its power, the one it had before being cut (read from the decoder, or set in Equipment settings; 30% by default, not necessarily 100%). OFF: the loop is at 0%; transponders resting on it are no longer woken up and their batteries do not drain. The switch shows the real state: it also moves when Auto mode acts and when the decoder answers another power. Each change is written to the log (“Finish loop OFF (0%) — Auto: waiting for the start”).
The link with the equipment (start, stop, reconnection) is set in the Configuration module: equipment switch. With equipment that has no power command (MyLaps, FDS, Microgate, manual timing), the switch, the Auto box and the delay are hidden.
With a Chronelec / TAG Heuer decoder, no command turns off a single loop: OFF, the decoder keeps detecting and FINISH acknowledges each passing, but ignores the passings of the finish line (STA box), noted in the log; nothing is sent to the decoder. ON: FINISH takes them again. The Auto mode and the delay work the same way.
Auto
Where: command strip, below the Finish loop switch
For a start line at the same place as the finish line: athletes wait for the start on the antenna. Box checked:
- race loaded or armed, no start yet: loop at 0%;
- start (start signal, manual start…): the loop goes back to its power after the delay;
- race finished or closed: loop at 0% for the next race;
- free training (“Free sequence”, trackside free session): there is no start, the loop is not cut.
A change made by hand stays until the next moment (start, delay elapsed, race loaded, finished or closed). Unchecking the box turns the loop back on. The box is unchecked at first.
Delay between the start and the finish loop coming back on
Where: command strip, to the right of the Auto box
Time between the start and the finish loop coming back on in Auto mode: 3 s by default (“3 s”, “5 s”). It gives athletes time to leave the antenna.
Numeric keypad
Where: command strip, second switch
Manual passings from the keyboard, by the athlete's start position. Available in all modes, decoder only included (an athlete without a chip is timed by hand). The keypad is captured even when FINISH is not the active window; no key makes a passing while you are typing text in FINISH.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| A keypad key, 1 to 9 | The athlete in that position crosses the line, at the moment of the key press. |
| Keypad 0 | Position 10. |
| Shift held + digits, then Shift released | The digits make up the position (2 then 3 = 23, from 1 to 99). The passing is recorded when Shift is released: type the number in advance, release when the athlete passes. The status bar shows the entry in progress; abandoned after 10 s without a digit. |
| Num Lock off, a keypad key | The “second series”: the 2nd race that has this position, or the 2nd chip of the position (quartets). |
| Ctrl+keypad 0 | Manual start. |
| Shift without a digit, 0 alone after Shift, three digits, any other key | Nothing. |
The athlete is the one holding that position in a race that has started. If they have a transponder, the passing is made with that transponder; otherwise the passing is given to them directly. It is always counted at the race's finish line and recorded in the database as a “Manual” passing.
Next to the switch, outside “Decoder” mode: the choice Lap time / Final time only (the same as Settings › Keypad and signals). With a decoder only, the keypad always records a lap time.
Passings
Where: command strip, third switch
“Processing received passings”. At OFF, passings no longer go to the races (nor to lapping): they are only written to the database, with “ignored (Passings OFF)” in the log. Useful for a break, or to let warming-up athletes pass. They can be replayed later (Recorded passings).
The gauge under the switch shows the passings waiting to be processed; they are processed as soon as they arrive, so it stays empty.
ON/OFF phase Training
Where: command ribbon, after “Passings” (starting gun set to ON/OFF only)
The session's phase, in large type: ON on a green background (active phase: laps count) or OFF on a red background (rest: laps are kept but do not count). Each gun shot switches it; a click switches it too, at the time of the click (missed shot, gun not connected). The same phase is broadcast to the scoreboards. See Starting gun.
Leader position
Where: timing command strip, the orange box to the right of Passings ON (in the header, to the left of the menus, in 2.0.23)
The “leader” shown by the TABLEAU boards — the Overall leader next lap fields and the ghost of the Live track — is the athlete at this position in the event's overall standings. 1 (default): the real first. Type another value or use − and + (1 to 10); the change goes to the boards right away, even during a race, and the value is kept from one launch to the next.
With youth and children, the real leader is sometimes in a class of their own: showing them as a ghost gives the others no benchmark. Then set 2 or 3: the leader shown is the athlete at that position, a challenge within reach of the athletes on the track. As long as fewer athletes than that position have finished the event, the boards show none.
A snapshot at the start (2.0.26). When a race starts, FINISH takes a “snapshot” of the reference: the athlete holding this position in the overall standings at that moment, with their cumulative times at each lap in their own race. The whole race is compared with this snapshot: an athlete's gap at lap N (“Overall, difference” on the boards) is their cumulative time at lap N minus the reference's at the same lap, and the Live track ghost is the same reference. An athlete who takes the lead, or beats the reference at the finish (negative gap, in green), does not replace it: they only become the reference in the next race of the group. The first race has no snapshot (no one has finished yet): its gap keeps the usual calculation. If the reference has no time at a lap (missed passing), the gap for that lap stays empty.
Changing the position during a race retakes the snapshot at the new position, in the standings from before the race: the reference is the athlete who held that rank at the start.
Name of the loaded competition
Where: command strip, in large type, to the right of the switches
The competition of the open session (the name written in the file, or that of the competition loaded from the database). Without a session: “No competition loaded”, in gray italics; the tooltip then says under which name the races created by hand are filed (“Session YYYY-MM-DD”).
The status bar
On the left, the last message (if Show the message bar is checked). On the right, clickable boxes: the connected SIM (orange), the management mode, the start offset, the equipment status (a click opens the Configuration module), automatic loading, the beep, the database.
Race management mode
Where: status bar (“One race”, “Multiple races”, “Time trial” or “Automatic”)
A click opens the Configuration › Mode tab of timing.
Start offset
Where: status bar (“Offset +0.000 s”)
Added to the time of every start signal, to align this computer's times with those of the photo finish. A click asks for the value in milliseconds. Positive: times get shorter; negative: they get longer. Applies to the next starts. The Starts tab shows, for each signal, the offset applied.
Automatic loading
Where: status bar (“Auto-load ON · 2”)
A click checks or unchecks automatic loading. The number after the dot is the number of races to load (in multiple races and automatic mode); a right-click changes it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8.
Beep
Where: status bar (“Beep ON” / “Beep OFF”)
A click turns it on or off. When on, FINISH beeps at each manual start.
Database
Where: status bar, far right (“Local database” or “Database: server 192.168.1.10”)
The database of this launch. A click opens Settings › Database: the local database, or a network server shared by several computers (and by EVENT).
SIM connected
Where: status bar, on an orange background (only when a simulator is connected)
A SIM is connected to this FINISH (Accept ChronoFEED-SIM box). A click opens Broadcast. Remember to uncheck the option before a competition.