ShotMarker

[dcali]

Question
Have you replaced your cables? As I said at Borden (Southern Indiana Club) Lou Casale says they replace their cables annually and have no issues with them.

I haven’t. My problem is that you shoudlnt have to. The cables are a problem because the connectors aren’t the right kind for the application in my view. I don’t want to be swapping out cables trying to debug whether or not it’s the connector, the cable, neither or both. Every now and then a mic becomes finicky. I can tell that the connections aren’t as tight as they should be. It’s a minor gripe. Overall the shotmarker is incredible. The lousy cables are just a pet peeve of mine.

 

[Heman]

I haven’t. My problem is that you shoudlnt have to. The cables are a problem because the connectors aren’t the right kind for the application in my view. I don’t want to be swapping out cables trying to debug whether or not it’s the connector, the cable, neither or both. Every now and then a mic becomes finicky. I can tell that the connections aren’t as tight as they should be. It’s a minor gripe. Overall the shotmarker is incredible. The lousy cables are just a pet peeve of mine.

Well I agree with you in theory but stuff does wear out. Even our old G2 8mic carbon fiber system that out of box is incredibly robust the connections and stuff eventually wears out and stuff needs to be replaced. The way we approached it is audio cables are cheap and starting each year with new ones is not that hard to do.

 

[Mudeat]

I haven’t. My problem is that you shoudlnt have to. The cables are a problem because the connectors aren’t the right kind for the application in my view. I don’t want to be swapping out cables trying to debug whether or not it’s the connector, the cable, neither or both. Every now and then a mic becomes finicky. I can tell that the connections aren’t as tight as they should be. It’s a minor gripe. Overall the shotmarker is incredible. The lousy cables are just a pet peeve of mine.

Cables aren’t a problem if you get the right cable. The SM is 3.5m TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) plug and Jack - metric. There are 1/8“ audio cables that are around, look the same but are slightly smaller in diameter. They will plugin and sort of work but are lose, resulting in an intermittent connection. The plug has to be gold plated, not the cheap chrome ones or the connection will be intermittent. The wire should be a nylon braid over a wire braided shield surrounding two center conductors. The plug should be molded on so it doesn’t pull off from rough handling. Users should only grip the cable by the plug cover when inserting or removing - don’t pull on the wire. Now, these connectors are on about every airline seat in the world, not to mention nearly every smart phone and audio player. Good cables are commonly available on Amazon for about $6.

 

[memilanuk]

Cables aren’t a problem if you get the right cable. The SM is 3.5m TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) plug and Jack - metric. There are 1/8“ audio cables that are around, look the same but are slightly smaller in diameter. They will plugin and sort of work but are lose, resulting in an intermittent connection. The plug has to be gold plated, not the cheap chrome ones or the connection will be intermittent. The wire should be a nylon braid over a wire braided shield surrounding two center conductors. The plug should be molded on so it doesn’t pull off from rough handling. Users should only grip the cable by the plug cover when inserting or removing - don’t pull on the wire. Now, these connectors are on about every airline seat in the world, not to mention nearly every smart phone and audio player. Good cables are commonly available on Amazon for about $6.

Huh. We have a couple targets at the club that have problems like that... though I'm reasonably certain that the offending cables are the originals provided with the system.

 

[dcali]

Cables aren’t a problem if you get the right cable. The SM is 3.5m TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) plug and Jack - metric. There are 1/8“ audio cables that are around, look the same but are slightly smaller in diameter. They will plugin and sort of work but are loose, resulting in an intermittent connection. The plug has to be gold plated, not the cheap chrome ones or the connection will be intermittent. The wire should be a nylon braid over a wire braided shield surrounding two center conductors. The plug should be molded on so it doesn’t pull off from rough handling. Users should only grip the cable by the plug cover when inserting or removing - don’t pull on the wire. Now, these connectors are on about every airline seat in the world, not to mention nearly every smart phone and audio player. Good cables are commonly available on Amazon for about $6.

I disagree. The connectors just aren’t right for the job. You don’t need shielding or gold. You just need a solid contact. Something like a plain old Ethernet cable would be better, as well as easy to fix in the field if there’s an ever an issue.

 

[Monte F]

I disagree. The connectors just aren’t right for the job. You don’t need shielding or gold. You just need a solid contact. Something like a plain old Ethernet cable would be better, as well as easy to fix in the field if there’s an ever an issue.

The old RJ-11 phone cables would work well, have a clip that holds it in place.

 

[jlow]

Anybody have a ShotMarker which does not give you an option for sighers?

We have quite a few Shotmarkers in our club, but our newest one is not giving us an option to shoot sighters.

I know that if you tap the blue globe on the top left, it will show the access point screen. I know that under display parameters there are sighter options, I have clicked one, two, two convertible, or unlimited as an option and I click the green tick on bottom right.

But regardless of which sighter option I choose, I don’t get the options for sighters and start record, only showing “0 shots 0-0X”

Any suggestion as to what is wrong?

 

[Rank Amateur]

Anybody have a ShotMarker which does not give you an option for sighers?

We have quite a few Shotmarkers in our club, but our newest one is not giving us an option to shoot sighters.

I know that if you tap the blue globe on the top left, it will show the access point screen. I know that under display parameters there are sighter options, I have clicked one, two, two convertible, or unlimited as an option and I click the green tick on bottom right.

But regardless of which sighter option I choose, I don’t get the options for sighters and start record, only showing “0 shots 0-0X”

Any suggestion as to what is wrong?

Check with Adam for proper suggestions. In the meantime, we periodically see this on one hub or another during a match. The solution we've found is to send a single round through that target, then touch the score pad icon and clear the screen. Once we do that, the new refreshed target records sighters and we get the "begin record" button showing up.

 

[jlow]

Check with Adam for proper suggestions. In the meantime, we periodically see this on one hub or another during a match. The solution we've found is to send a single round through that target, then touch the score pad icon and clear the screen. Once we do that, the new refreshed target records sighters and we get the "begin record" button showing up.

Thanks! Will do!

 

[sfinn1]

You might try "refresh" on your screen. that sometimes corrects problems.

 

[jlow]

Check with Adam for proper suggestions. In the meantime, we periodically see this on one hub or another during a match. The solution we've found is to send a single round through that target, then touch the score pad icon and clear the screen. Once we do that, the new refreshed target records sighters and we get the "begin record" button showing up.

I just heard back from Laura, and she said:

"Thanks for reaching out. The latest version of the software won't show the Begin Record button until there is at least one shot on the target.

Also if you are using the Event Management mode (ignore this if you aren't!), shooters have to be logged in to see the Begin Record and Covert buttons."

As such, I imagine what you stated is what we will see, so thanks again!

 

[jlow]

A few more questions for you guys with a lot more experience than me.

One is we frequently see this message "The top left sensor appears to be disconnected". Now apart from the obvious reason which did not happen, what else can cause this? FWIW, the target appears to continue to work detecting the shots, maybe because 3 sensor is all it takes to do triangulation, but....

Another one is you are shooting at the target and everything is going fine, it's detected all 15 of your last 15 rounds, all a sudden there is no detection for the next five rounds. Again, apart from the obvious since you have been staying in the "10" and "X" ring, what else can cause this?

 

[sfinn1]

A few more questions for you guys with a lot more experience than me.

One is we frequently see this message "The top left sensor appears to be disconnected". Now apart from the obvious reason which did not happen, what else can cause this? FWIW, the target appears to continue to work detecting the shots, maybe because 3 sensor is all it takes to do triangulation, but....

Another one is you are shooting at the target and everything is going fine, it's detected all 15 of your last 15 rounds, all a sudden there is no detection for the next five rounds. Again, apart from the obvious since you have been staying in the "10" and "X" ring, what else can cause this?

This is not totally unusual. Firstly check if other shooters are receiving shots. If so, you can rule out the access point as a problem. If the ShotMarker screen does not have any warning, good chance it may be the tablet or phone being used. As I have mentioned before, do a refresh.
Other items to check are channel selected (probably not the problem) and shot quality. Shot quality will show or not show those missing shots.
For individual shots not scoring, the usual problem, check for crossfires and there may be also bullet blow up on way to target. Blow up is hard to prove in that moment. I find that there is deficiency of communication on the line between firing points, with extra or no shots on target.
I would hope others will chime in on this discussion.
By the way, ShotMarker can still triangulate using three microphones.

 

[jlow]

This is not totally unusual. Firstly check if other shooters are receiving shots. If so, you can rule out the access point as a problem. If the ShotMarker screen does not have any warning, good chance it may be the tablet or phone being used. As I have mentioned before, do a refresh.
Other items to check are channel selected (probably not the problem) and shot quality. Shot quality will show or not show those missing shots.
For individual shots not scoring, the usual problem, check for crossfires and there may be also bullet blow up on way to target. Blow up is hard to prove in that moment. I find that there is deficiency of communication on the line between firing points, with extra or no shots on target.
I would hope others will chime in on this discussion.
By the way, ShotMarker can still triangulate using three microphones.

First, thanks for writing in. It is much appreciated!!!

I don't think it is the access point as other shooters working of the same access point was receiving shots. Prettys sure it is also not the wrong channel/shot quality/crossfire/bullet blowing up.

However, in terms of the table/phone being the cause, I think you might have something there. What I mean specifically is we have the access point up at the line hung from a nail close by, but the fact is we are seeing only one bar on some of our devices frequently, sometimes no access, sometimes dropped access. So if we lose access in the middle of a string, that would of course result in no report of hits.

That really should not be because we are all no further than 15 yards from the access point which is always fully charged up. One time as I was running the line and got close to the access point, I all a sudden got all 4 bars from 1 bar - that really makes me wonder and suspicious.

So the question to you guys is considering our distance to the access point i.e. <15 yards, is it unusual to have only 1 bar and if not, what can cause this? FWIW, using Apple iPhone and IPad.

So the access point as mentioned earlier is normally mounted at the front of a 4x4 post which holds up our shed that we shoot under. It is located about 5' high and faces towards the targets. Shooters are located to the side and behind the access point i.e. behind the firing line and so could be as far away as <15 yards, but mostly much closer. The time I did not receive shots in the middle of a string I was only 3 yards away.

 

[dthomas]

My tablet always looses connection with the access point. I have to refresh it to start seeing my shots again.

 

[jlow]

So the question is why?

My iPad at home logged on to my home router shows full 4 bars. The access point is also a router and if I am only 3 yards from it, why am I seeing only 1 bar and then sometimes 4 bars.

A few of my shooters on Saturday was also losing connection with various devices when they were also less than 5 yards from the access point so my conclusion is it is the access point.

It has to be either a fault with the access point in terms of how strong a signal it sends out or there is an optimal location/direction the access point has to be relative to the shooter to get a good connection....

 

[jlow]

So this from the manual may be the problem. Specifically "Facing back" at the tablets. Our club puts the access point in a bag and hug it, so it is difficult to know if the access point is facing back at the tablets....

Of course since it sits with a 4x4 between it and the shooters, this could be considered "behind large objects"....

 

[sfinn1]

So the question is why?

My iPad at home logged on to my home router shows full 4 bars. The access point is also a router and if I am only 3 yards from it, why am I seeing only 1 bar and then sometimes 4 bars.

A few of my shooters on Saturday was also losing connection with various devices when they were also less than 5 yards from the access point so my conclusion is it is the access point.

It has to be either a fault with the access point in terms of how strong a signal it sends out or there is an optimal location/direction the access point has to be relative to the shooter to get a good connection....

Yes, you are correct about the Access Point location. Being a wifi it should not make a difference as to location, but very well can. Line of sight is good.
At our local State and Regional matches the Access Point is located in front and middle of the firing line. Mounted on a tall tripod, it works very well since being located there.

 

[jlow]

Yes, you are correct about the Access Point location. Being a wifi it should not make a difference as to location, but very well can. Line of sight is good.
At our local State and Regional matches the Access Point is located in front and middle of the firing line. Mounted on a tall tripod, it works very well since being located there.

Excellent suggestion! I will ask them to change the setup.

 

[jlow]

I think the answers I have received thus far will likely help us avoid problems with connection and shots not being counted - Thanks again everyone!

So this leaves the question about sensors which appears to be not connected sometimes. If one can be sure that it is connected and the cord is good, then does that leave the possibility of sensor failure?