ShotMarker set up for multiple targets

[Bindi2]

FPS ES should be single digit. Single digit SD is double digits ES. A good print at 600 with wide ES is a lousy print at 1,000. Muzzle velocity is the only accurate means. Target velocity has too many variables to be accurate day to day. One thing ETs have shown me is that there is not one tune from 100 to 1,000 and the starting point is as close to bullet diameter hole as possible not 1/2" or clover leaf.

 

[memilanuk]

Pair-firing.

This is how we shoot in Canada, and also Australia, New Zealand, Bisley, South Africa... basically everywhere except the US, to my knowledge. The majority of ShotMarker users are from the US, but it's not an overwhelming majority, and I need to support both types of shooting equally.

The way pair firing works in SMT is not in ShotMarker for a reason. For clarity, what the method does is assume the next shot belongs in the next shooter's scorecard, and automatically maintains a scorecard for each shooter (left, middle, right), assuming shots arrive in correct sequence. If you convert sighters properly, then it is able to assign the last few shots, where for example someone who didn't convert sighters needs to fire a couple of shots in a row, and they need to be assigned correctly.

It requires knowing how many shots are on score for that relay, and how many shooters there are (2 or 3). This is something that needs to be managed on every target as some targets would have 2 and some would have 3, switching every relay.

In the US with single string shooting, you have it easy. There is a person at every target who's sole job it is to pay attention to the screen and make sure it's right. It's a completely different world with pair-firing where shooters need to juggle their attention between wind flags and the tablet (and those who can multi-task have quite an advantage).

When used in a match with multiple targets, there is confusion any time a crossfire, miss, or shot out of turn happens. Shooters do not notice when the shot they see displayed is actually the previous shooter's last shot, not theirs, and they will accept a V or X even though they missed the target. They will not notice when two shots appear so they will not call out that a crossfire happened so that everyone else can stop wondering why their target seemed to miss a shot. When someone shoots out of turn, they will not fix anything, they will simply move on and then wonder why the score is all messed up 12 shots later.

In my opinion, in my experience, based on 3 years creating and iterating on this process and trying to make this work at my club, it hurts the match, causes people to be frustrated, not pay attention to shooting well, and dislike e-targets as a result. Anything that has the effect of turning people off e-targets needs to not be part of ShotMarker.

Instead I decided to try "recent" mode, and also "delayed". This displays one shot at a time, but shows the last couple if they arrived within 20 seconds (ie. for a crossfire). In a pair-firing situation, the system does not know who fired which shot, and it doesn't keep score. It just displays the shot. With a delay, it means the target will clear and wait 7 seconds, so there is a clear indication that a new shot is incoming. In this mode, anyone who has shot on pulled targets can lay down and shoot with ShotMarker and not be frustrated by having to score a different way, and does not require a 15 minute training session about what to do when converting sighters or correcting shots out of turn.

And it eliminates the drain on the match staff associated to correct scoring (in other words, me, at my club). It help me shoot in peace and not have to get up and run down the line to explain what just happened because I see something weird in their scorecards. And no one needs to set the number of shooters on each target, and number of shots, every relay (sometimes the course of fire is 2+7 then 2+10 and then back to 2+7, then 2+15...). Those options are gone because they are not needed except to support automatic pair-fire scoring.

At the time, this mode was new. I'm not sure if it's been implemented into SMT since, but I built this into pre-release ShotMarker from the start, and started using at my club. Immediately it solved the problems and everyone agreed it was the way to go. No one is asking for the old way now.

This means there are two use cases which are not really supported by ShotMarker:

a) a very small group / club who is already used to pair-firing with SMT, does not have issues with new shooters being confused because they don't run large events, and is comfortable with managing the left/right columns, reassigning shots, etc. They are now not able to score digitally and have to use a paper scorecard with ShotMarker. For those who accept the challenge, they lose this feature if they use ShotMarker.

b) two people who are practicing together, on one target, by themselves. They have to score on paper, even though managing the columns would be pretty easy for just two people.

I realize this is not ideal, but to implement this feature as an option, I felt that most clubs who pair-fire would see this as "the way to pair-fire" and not appreciate the challenges involved. The challenges are not obvious and it took me a long time to realize that it was not fair to ask the shooters to learn how to recognize and fix each type of issue. It would end up with more people disliking e-targets. So there was no question, I could not simply leave it in, even as an option.

I am asked quite frequently "how to pair-fire with ShotMarker" and I have to explain this. It's not easy to explain why it doesn't do everything automatically.

Instead, my plan is to come up with another method for pair-firing, where instead of automatically assigning the shots and asking the shooters to pay attention and fix errors, the system is opt-in, and requires the shooters to "claim" each shot. Crossfires, misses, etc. can be ignored with no action required. On-score shots must be claimed, which is the way to "mark the score" for the other shooter. Anyone who wishes to use this feature can start claiming shots and they will be displayed on their scorecard, but there's no hard requirement to, and if no shots are claimed then shooters can keep on scoring shots individually as they do now.

I see this as the correct way to do it, but I haven't implemented it yet. It will be new, it will involve more UI elements to deal with, and it will create confusion to learn a new process. But it will allow the paper card to go away.

I'm still not convinced whether there is anything wrong with the "recent" mode of scoring on paper one shot at time. Having the e-target mirror a pulled target shot by shot makes sense to everyone of any experience level. With this new mode I would be asking people to tap on the screen for every shot they fire. I'm not sure it will be well received in the long run, which is why I have been hesitant to build it in. I'm not sure the benefits outweigh the risk and added complexity.

What do you think? I'm asking anyone who pair-fires on a regular basis. What do you envision the e-target should do when there is a crossfire / miss / etc? Is there a better solution?

Adam,

We haven't shot 'pair-fire' for a while here, but have been getting some interest in it again as it was something we did on the SMT G2s.

I 'assumed' that things would work similarly... only to find that they didn't. Luckily it was a squadded practice so we just left the scoring on like we would for string fire, and then went back and counted every other shot for individual scores. That was pretty messy... but again, just a practice, and honestly my fault for not researching in advance even if it was a very ad-hoc event.

I generally liked the way pair firing was implemented in the SMT G2 interface... and that's saying something, because there isn't much else about that UI that I have anything good to say about!

That aside... I can see how it would be somewhat of a challenge to setup - both for you as the programmer, trying to make everyone happy, and for the match director(s), trying to wrangle different numbers of shooters per target and/or relay.

Going forward, we'll just turn off displaying the score history and have people score manually / on paper for each shot, as that'll probably be less confusing than the way we did it.

But if you *do* want to float a beta version with pair-fire scoring... you know how to get ahold of me

Thanks,

Monte

 

[6BRinNZ]

Apologies for reviving this thread but it seems relevant to my questions...
my club has switched from SMT to shotmaker. So learning curve is steep right now.

I do load dev at 100 and then take it to club comps and without adjusting elevation once going for record (10 shots strings here) shoot a string at various ranges depending on the comps of the day. This would give me a very good idea if the load held vert and I would combine it with height and width moa that SMT provided as part of the shoot and keep the screen shot for ongoing tracking. Provides good data clean vs dirty barrel as well as any load changes etc. Plus its a realistic test of the load/barrel/cleaning in that I haven't had to click to hold the waterline.

Shotmaker: Is it possible to get at load evaluation data if in comp mode (forgive if I don't have exact settings as I don't have access to the units). I have been told that you can have either score or load dev modes.
Shotmaker: Am I correct in understanding that height and width are no longer available settings? My comp range (not initial load dev range) is really windy and fishtails, so groups are always wide, so being able to track actual group height vs visually guessing within the MOA grid is useful.

TIA

 

[Captrayj]

Yes but it only went out to his know Customers on an email blast.

Anyone that wants to be on the email Distribution simply contacts Adam and you are added.

I would imagine Hexta and Silver Mountain is somehow on the email list or gets it forwarded to them.

As I would try to be if I were either of them to keep an eye on my competition.

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On February 25, 2020 at 3:07 PM Adam MacDonald < http://theshotmarker.com/) for instructions to update your Access Point. You will need to download a file and then upload it to your Access Point.

The changes in this version include:

Improved contrast. It is now much easier to read text and see buttons in sunlight. Before and after:

Shot display options:

Shot delay can be selected between 7 and 10 seconds. NRA high power rules require a 7 second delay option and 10 seconds is also an option as it is more representative of typical fast pit service.

There is also a "disabled" option which will hide all shots/scores on all targets. You can use this during a blow-off / fouler period to prevent shooters from seeing where their shots landed. Make sure to save/clear the targets before switching back to a normal shot display mode, as incoming shots are still recorded and will appear when the display mode is changed. A message will be displayed on the main screen while this mode is selected.

Grouped targets / frame profiles:

When targets are grouped, changing the target face will now cause a prompt to ask whether the entire group should be changed, or only the current target. This should be helpful in situations where you typically use the same target face on all targets, but currently need to change only one.

When you switch to a different physical target frame profile, the software will check to see if any other targets also have target frame profiles in this group. If so, you will be presented the option to switch all targets to this group's profile. This is useful in situations where you have multiple sets of target frames and need to move many targets from one set to another.

Security:


"Admin Lock" has been renamed to "Security" with options None, Low, Medium, and High.

- None: Previous "open" mode where everyone has full access.

- Low: Previous "basic" mode where a password limits access to system configuration but anyone can manage shots on targets. Useful for casual events where shooters come on and off the firing point frequently and need the ability to manage targets without entering a password, or to ensure your personal system is not reconfigured by anyone else on the range.

- Medium: this is a new security mode intended to fall between Low and High, intended to better support typical club matches. Spectator devices can only view. Tap the lock icon on the notebook, and enter the password, to be able to manage all targets as a shooter / scorekeeper / RO. Tap the globe and enter the same password separately in order to access the system configuration panel. This is intended for groups where shooters can be trusted with the password, but there is a need to avoid accidental inputs by spectators. Shooters / scorekeepers coming onto the firing point should enter the password (tap the lock icon on the notebook) when moving into a shooting/scorekeeping role, and switch back to spectator mode afterwards (tap the lock icon on the globe).


- High: Previous "lockdown" mode where a password is used to lock a tablet to managing a specific target, and only that target. Useful for large events with supplied tablets dedicated to specific targets.

Signal strength display:

RF signal strength (between AP and sensor hubs down range) is now displayed as a percentage with description, with 100% being "Excellent" and 0% being "Low". The green/yellow/red bars have not changed. You may use the sensor monitor to measure the true RSSI value, which will update once every 5 seconds. Find a position for your AP and sensor hub antenna which keeps your signal strength above 30% or so, and you should not have any problems. Make sure to refresh multiple times as the measurement is variable. Low signal strength will have no effect on anything unless the sensor hub is disconnected, in which case any shots that arrive while disconnected will be transmitted as soon as a connection is made. The connection is very strong and reliable so if you have problems, let me know and I'll try to help.

Favorite target faces:
Target face, distance, and caliber combinations can now be marked as "favorite" and will appear at the top of the list, sorted by distance. This will allow you to define a set of common target configurations and switch between them very quickly.

All approved target face requests have been added to the system. If you requested a target face and do not see it in the list, please let me know.

Switch channel:

The switch channel screen has been saturated with detailed instructions and information about how to switch channels. Now this process should be 110% less confusing. However, if you find yourself needing to manage channels in order to avoid sharing an AP with other individual shooters, this next feature should interest you:

Import / export individual strings:

Now you can select a number of saved strings, export them to file, and then import them into another Access Point later. Reasons you might do this include:
- While shooting a match on a club system, you can export your own strings, take the file home, and import them into your personal ShotMarker AP.
- When shooting at a range with multiple individuals who all have a personal ShotMarker, you can now share a single AP, and then be able to export your data, and import into your personal AP later. Now you can share someone else's AP instead of managing channels, and still have access to your data later and keep it organized on your personal AP.


When shooting with someone else's AP, your sensor hub will automatically connect but you will need to enter the width, height, and calibration values for the target frame you are using. It's a good idea to write these four numbers directly on the physical frame, as they will be the same no matter which sensor hub or AP you are using.

When using someone else's AP, you can select your target face, distance, and caliber independently on your target, however, all of the system display options (grid unit, group size unit, sighters, etc.) found in the system configuration panel are global, and apply to all targets in use. Please note that these global options are not attached to your saved string. Meaning, if you fire shots without the grid, export and import that string to another AP later, you can still open that string later and turn on the grid. You can also manage record shots and sighters manually, so there's no need to have the correct sighter option selected when you practice. You can also hide / change shots, apply group measurement boxes, and change the target face / caliber / distance, afterwards.

When importing saved strings, if you select a full "backup" file to import, all of the saved strings contained within that backup file will be imported, without overwriting any configuration. This is useful when you have two AP's, each with half of your saved data, and wish to merge all of the saved strings onto a single AP, or restore all saved strings from a backup without replacing target frame configurations.

Warnings:
There are several new warnings and some improved descriptions in order to cover additional scenarios that can cause problems. Please make sure not to ignore warnings. The most common cause of disruptive problems are due to minor problems escalating over an extended period of time. Use the sensor monitor to diagnose specific cables / sensors and ensure consistently high shot quality each time you shoot, so problems can be identified and resolved quickly.

New warnings to keep an eye out for:
- If the target frame profile has default values (1800x1800 with 0,0 calibration offset) there will be a warning on screen. This happens when you connect a sensor hub to an AP that has no configuration for that hub, or accidentally create a new profile and do not enter any frame dimensions.
- Shots arriving at over a 15 degree angle from the target face will be displayed with a warning. Shots over 20 degrees will not be measured at all. There is no need to ensure the bullet arrives perfectly straight on to the target, but it must arrive within a 20 degree angle.

I should also point out that a somewhat common issue that does not have an on-screen warning is what happens when you accidentally connect the wires for the sensors into the incorrect ports. When sensors are connected in the incorrect order, the result will be that shots are all displayed within a flat horizontal or vertical line on target, or in a mirror image. This is not something the software can easily detect, as mathematically the shots individually seem correct, so if you ever see shots all constrained within a flat line, check the sensor cabling is installed correctly.



And that's pretty much it! I hope these user interface changes are welcome and improve the overall experience of shooting with ShotMarker. If you find any issues please let me know as soon as possible. Thanks for your continued support.

This email is being sent to my active email list of ShotMarker owners. If you wish to be removed from the list, or you know someone who should be added, please let me know.

Thanks,

Adam


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Adam MacDonald

Adam please add me to your email list. Ray axley. Captrayj@gmail.com. Thanks