Whats that thing they hold behind you at competitions?

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Smiley

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What is that thing they hold behind a shooter during a competition. I assume it gives a noise to let you know to begin but does it countdown? Does it give another sound to let you know to stop? I have seen some videos where someone follows the shooter holding a little black box thing near the shooter's head. Why do they continue to hold it near the shooter?
 
It's a timer.

It provides an audible beep for a start signal and records the time every time the gun is fired. It does not provide a stop signal...you just stop when you're done shooting the targets. The last time you fired the gun is the total time for that stage.

Typically, even the most basic timers provide a wealth of data...especially for practice. They show your time to the first shot, split times, total times, reload times, etc.

It is held by the head because you're wearing hearing protection and hearing the start signal is sometimes difficult.

Ed

An example....

club.jpg


mkiv.jpg
 
It is a magical 'black box'

that is guaranteed to get the adrenalin pumpin,and make you shoot faster and miss more than you ever thought you could.:)
 
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Pssst...You can't tell anyone but it is an NSA evesdropping device. And don't call me anymore becuase your line is bugged. :neener:


Seriously, esheato told you what it is and how it is used. SSAS told you what it causes. :D
 
You forgot to mention that it is a brain washing device. When I shoot IDPA I always run the Course of Fire through my brain several times to get it straight, however when the tone sounds my mind goes blank. This is quite common with shooters of all ages.
And now you know the truth.
 
They put it up close to the head so the shooter will be sure to hear it.....with ear protection on it can be tough to hear at times. They can be set to give an "end" beep as well as a "start" beep. It depends on the course of fire to be shot. There are three types of scoring, comstock, Virginia count, and fixed time.

I found this as far as explaining them:


"Types of Stage - Virginia, Comstock, Fixed Time

There are three types of stage scoring method:
Comstock Count -- the most common
Virginia Count -- often used in classifier stages
Fixed Time -- the least common
Comstock Count courses of fire have no restrictions on the maximum number of shots that may be fired, no restrictions on the maximum number of times each target must be hit and no restriction on the amount of time required to complete the course. Each competitor may shoot at the targets until the competitor is satisfied with the hits on the target. Each target will require at least one hit on the target (usually two) and if there are more hits on the target than required, then the highest scoring hits are recorded on the score sheet.

Virginia Count courses of fire have restrictions on the number of shots that may be fired at the targets and on the number of hits allowed on the targets. The competitor can take as much time as is needed to obtain the proper number of shots fired and hits on the target. Shooting extra shots will cause a penalty of ten points for each extra shot fired. If those extra shots resulted in more than the specified number of hits on a target, each extra hit on a target is also penalized ten points.

Fixed Time courses of fire have restrictions on the amount of time the competitor has to complete the course of fire. There are also restrictions placed upon the number of shots fired and the number of hits allowed on each target. In most instances, not all competitors are expected to be able to complete the course of fire in the time allotted, so misses are not penalized. However, extra shots and extra hits are penalized as are no-shoot hits and procedural errors. Also, if a competitor fires after the amount of time to shoot the course has expired, each shot fired that is overtime earns a five point penalty. There is a 0.3 second grace period before shots are considered over the fixed time."
 
An additional reason the timer is held close to the shooter is to make sure it picks up the sounds of all shots fired; however, the mics in those timers are pretty sensitive, and I've seen people be given reshoots on a stage because the timer picked up shots from a different stage.

FWIW, when I did my RO training, I decided to keep the timer on my belt. That leaves both hands free for safety purposes, mainly keeping a competitor from turning around with the gun. If you stay on the shooter's gun side and he starts to turn around for some reason, you can just put both your arms up against his shoulder to prevent the turn, thus preserving the 180 rule. Also, while running any shooter, I tried to always keep my eyes glued to the gun exclusively.
 
I shoot the Carolina Cup this weekend so I can attest to the brainwashing effect of that little beep. Beep, what was I supposed to do again? What was that sequence, strong hand? What....Anyway I say something neat one of the RO's have the timer on a neck band leaving both hands free.
 
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