Contest Equipment

Here we talk about the equipment required for the sailplanes, such as altimeters, as well as equipment that helps contest directors run sailplane contests.

F5J

For F5J competitions, pilots need to install a device between their receiver and ESC that will record their launch height after they’ve run their motor for a continuous run of a maximum of 30 seconds. Strict FAI F5J devices do not allow emergency motor restart, while some allow this feature to be enabled or not. Such devices are:

• Aerobtec Altis (available in our eStore)
• Soaring Circuit CAMF5J
• and a few others (the official list of all AMRT is on the FAI web site)

Software for contest directors

There are numerous scoring spreadsheets that can generate a flight matrix, allow score entry and provide contest results. But there is nothing like quite like the Gliderscore software. It is highly recommended.

GliderScore simply takes the hard work out of running RC sailplane competitions.

• Creates an excellent draw
• Produces draw reports, scoring sheets and score cards
• Allows easy entry of flight data and instantly calculate scores
• Produces up to date competition results at any time
• Allows emailing of draw reports and final results to all competition pilots
• Creates an audio playlist to run the competition
• Integrates audio, timing and digital clock display to run the competition
• Multiple competitions can be selected into a Competition Series
• Supports all competition formats, including ALES, F5J, F3J, F3K, Thermal, F3Q, or any other
• 0$ or donation

Audio

Arpents v’air RC Club have been using Gliderscore and an amplified audio system to run its ALES and F5J competitions with great success since 2016. It releaves a lot of stress on the contest director because the Gliderscore can then run the contests almost by itself, calling rounds, pilot names, countdown, etc. Here are the components that they’ve selected :

All of the above = 265 $ CAD including shipping

LED Display

Wish you could display the count down in- and between rounds? The Embedded-Ability makes a low-cost GliderScore Display Interface board for DIY building your own display with giant LED. Giant 9″ ultrabright and 10″ ultrabright LED modules are available from the Ontario-based company QKits. This is not an essential piece of equipment, but it is surely nice.