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ChronoFEED SIM Help

Training a timekeeper without a track or athletes

A room, two computers and a screen: the trainee runs FINISH, the trainer runs SIM, and TABLEAU shows what the public would see. Races start, the athletes go round, errors happen when the trainer decides.

Example: the HOLLYWOOD SPEEDSKATING federation is training two volunteers before the Coupe Hollywood. The club's meeting room has a network; the CHRONO-1 computer (192.168.1.20) runs FINISH, the trainer's laptop PORTABLE-SIM (192.168.1.35) runs SIM, and the room's TV is connected to ECRAN-PUBLIC, which runs TABLEAU. The real venue times with a RACE RESULT decoder: we keep the same device.

1. Prepare FINISH (trainee's computer)

  1. The athletes and the races

    Import the example athletes (athletes.csv, see Managing athletes) and load the competition as on the day: from EVENT, a file or the database (see Long track competition). Races created by hand are fine too, as long as each athlete has a transponder or FINISH assigns transponders by start position.

  2. The same mode as on the day

    Keep the Competition activity and the Decoder → RACE RESULT timing mode: the trainee learns on the screens they will have. SIM imposes no particular mode.

  3. Accept SIM

    Broadcast module: Accept ChronoFEED-SIM, and a meaningful Name displayed by clients: “FINISH-Formation”. See the Accept ChronoFEED-SIM option.

2. Connect SIM (trainer's computer)

  1. Launch SIM

    It finds FINISH-Formation on the network and emulates its RACE RESULT.

    FINISH and Simulated equipment lights green; the guide says: “In FINISH → Timing mode → RACE RESULT: address 192.168.1.35, port 3601.”

  2. The trainee connects FINISH

    A useful exercise in itself: in FINISH, Timing mode, they enter the address 192.168.1.35 and port 3601, confirm, then switch Decoder to ON.

    Third light green. In FINISH: “Decoder: Connected” and, in orange, “SIM connected (PORTABLE-SIM)”.

  3. The starting settings

    In SIM: Mode Race, Starts Manual (the trainer stays in control), Realistic race No errors.

3. Turn on the display

On ECRAN-PUBLIC, launch TABLEAU: it finds FINISH-Formation through its announcement, like SIM (see the TABLEAU help and, on the FINISH side, Broadcasting to TABLEAU and VOICE). The room sees each loaded race, then the clock, the laps and the ranking. VOICE can be added the same way.

4. A first race without errors

  1. The trainee loads the race

    In FINISH, they load the first pair.

    It appears in SIM (“waiting for start”) and on the display.

  2. The trainer gives the start

    In SIM, Start on the race: that is the gun.

    FINISH starts; SIM runs the two athletes at the pace FINISH expects for the distance. The trainee follows the laps, the tiles, the ranking.

  3. The end of the race

    The last passing arrives: SIM writes “simulation finished”; in FINISH, the race ends (all laps completed) and the trainee moves on to the next one, as on the day.

5. Raising the difficulty: errors

The trainer sets Realistic race to Few errors, then to Many errors (the setting applies to races that start afterwards). Each error is written to the SIM log when it happens: the trainer knows what has been falsified, the trainee has to discover it in FINISH.

What SIM falsifies (log ⚠)What the trainee must spot and do in FINISH
“finish STA missed (lap 2)”A missing lap for an athlete. Recover it as on the day: numeric keypad, Recorded passings or photo finish (see incidents).
“line … missed”A missing split time: the lap still counts.
“… sent 3.2 s late”The passing arrives late with its true time: watch how the ranking sorts itself out.
“… sent twice”A duplicate: check that it does not count one lap too many.
“ghost signal at …”An intermediate line reads the athlete too early: wrong split time, to be judged.
“weak transponder, many of its passings will be missed”An athlete missing many lines and a few finishes: keep an eye on them throughout the race.

At the end of the race, compare the SIM log and the FINISH screen together: was every ⚠ spotted?

6. The pace of a competition

Set Starts to Automatic: SIM gives the starts on its own, at the pace of a real track (60 s pause once the track is free, 15 s between two heats; see the pace). The trainee has to keep up: load in time, finish, correct while the next pair is racing. The SIM line Next start in 0:42 — … helps the trainer announce what comes next.

7. At the end of the training

  • In FINISH, uncheck Accept ChronoFEED-SIM: the orange banner disappears.
  • Put the address of the real decoder back in the timing mode.
  • The races timed during the training are in the FINISH database like real ones: use a separate database or competition for training.