The British Championships has been at the forefront of live tracking since its introduction into our sport. However, technology has moved on quickly since we first introduced it into our competitions. As more instruments are now offering live tracking features we believe a more generic tracking solution, integrated to Livetrack24, is the future. The British Championships 2014 will provide multiple options for tracking. The primary solution will be use of the Flymaster F1 device, which will be provided by the British Championships organisation to each competitor at each competition. However, after the success seen at the Paragliding World Cup using the Flymaster LIVE instrument, we would also like to encourage pilots to invest in their own tracking device, and so at the British Championships 2014 we will actively support the use of the Flymaster LIVE and C-Pilot Evo instruments. We will also be offering a discount to pilots wishing to purchase the Flymaster LIVE.
In more detail the three tracking devices, which will be supported at the British Championships 2014 are:
1) Flymaster F1 (provided by the British Championships organisation)
The units will be provided to all pilots that do not have an alternative option, at no cost and as part of the entry fee. This will include the SIM’s and data to operate the units.
2) Flymaster LIVE
For those pilots that own a Flymaster LIVE, we will make the same firmware available that the PWCA currently uses. This instrument has been used at PWCA competitions this year with excellent results, both from a safety perspective, online viewing perspective and indeed for easier task programming on launch, as the task is now transmitted to the instrument automatically. No more trying to program it from the task board!
The latest firmware has the following functions:
• Allows Live tracking;
• Alarm sounds on landing giving the pilot the option to select “Need retrieve”, “Need assistance”, or “Do not need retrieve”;
• Conditions can be given while flying, reporting level 1, 2, or 3;
• Task are automatically downloaded to the instrument on task briefing;
• Own fields can be defined.
The Flymaster LIVE is now the primary means of tracking by the PWCA and so we believe it will receive excellent support for a number of years and would like to encourage pilots to consider investing in one of these devices. The price, only available to competitors of the British Championships, is still being finalised, but is expected to be heavily discounted and subsidised from the retail price. Please contact brett-janaway(at)bhpa.co.uk if you would like to purchase a Flymaster LIVE at a reduced price.
3) We will also support tracking through the C-Pilot Evo (with GPRS module). This system has however not been trialled, or tested, but as it is already integrated to the Livetrack 24 website, it should be able to offer live tracking.
All SIMS will be provided and data costs included in the competition.
The tracking devices supported by the British Paragliding Championships will be reviewed in the future as more devices become available.
Note we also encourage pilots to get either a SPOT or InReach device that works with satellite communications, as all the tracking devices discussed above are highly dependent on mobile networks and are thus are not always reliable.
Please record the personal website address of your SPOT device when registering for competitions on this website, or provide us with the address when you register at the start of a competition.