Grid Calls / Announcer

[Dennis King]

Scanners, scanners, scanners are your best bet for getting the calls to the grid. The track PA systems vary from ok to nonexistent. A scanner is the only way to go.

We had three of them between us and still had trouble hearing calls

[Brandon Orr]

We had three of them between us and still had trouble hearing calls

I have a scanner and have issues hearing, mainly cause of all the other noise. Bikes coming and going, generators, people talking.
A tone or Air horn would be good prior to a call so everyone knows what's coming and to get in a position to hear the call.

[David Proler]

I think everyone pretty much agrees on this. I don't think it would hurt to give it a try.

[Chris Palacios]

also the announcer mumbles allot

[Cody Stewart]

I'm copying/pasting this from another thread where I posted:
I'm not sure about how effective this would actually be, but a strategically placed air horn might help as well. 1 blow for the first call, followed by the call on the scanner. 2 blows for the second call, followed by the call, and 3 blows...well, you get it. Of course, this wouldn't include what race number it is, but generally, people know that anyway.

The air horn before the call would hopefully help people to quiet down for the call that will be coming, and the number of blows will help knowing which call is being made if you happen to not hear it. I think this paired with repeating of calls, however funny it might make the announcer feel (I've track marshaled before, I've been there), would help out tremendously for basically no cost since air horns are so cheap. I'm just referring to the hand held variety.

Example: **AIR HORN BLOWS ONCE** "First call race XX, first call race xx, first call for race xx"
**AIR HORN BLOWS TWICE** "Second call race XX, second call race xx, second call for race xx"

All the track day organizations do this (minus the air horn) because they know that at any given time, there could be noises and such going on where the two seconds worth of calls is missed. I also like the other idea of having a special beep for these types of announcements. If we could get an air horn, a special beep, and repeating of the calls, that would be awesome.

Really, listening for the calls is the most frustrating part of the weekend for me (well, and blowing an engine last year). Having missed a couple of final calls to the grid at two different race weekends and missing the warm up lap is super frustrating. At TWS last year, it got to where I had to watch people in the paddocks to start leaving so I'd know when to leave since I was on the infield. That was with my radio going, but sometimes still missed the calls.

The grids are continuing to get larger it seems, and with more people, means more bikes, generators, and other noise. Things that worked well in the past might need to addressed again to be modified for the changing needs of the club.

Thanks,
-Cody

[Harold Lambert]

I would sure like to know when we split races which race comes first as I don't usually watch races when I'm far from the track. Example 14 or 14 A because the call was 14 A Superbike. Yeah confusing to say the least. Maybe just renumber the races or call it Novice A Superbike.

[Will Boldt]

Missed warmup lap in 1st race, hurried to the formula 1 race just to go back to pit. I think this had a lot to do with MSRH lay out but really like the idea of something specific for us racers to que on.
Thanks Peter for bringing it up.

[Marian Orchard]

We are all at the mercy of the PA system of the respective tracks. The PA systems run from working well to hardly at all, and that range can happen within the span of an hour. Knowing that, having a scanner is a great tool to use as Bob makes the calls on the radio as well as the PA system. Of course having a scanner isn't foolproof either. Between the Tomlinson's scanner, Brandon's dads scanner and ours, you never hear the full 'conversation', but enough to piece things together. Bob DOES announce each call at least twice, and he makes note of when he announces which call. Do mistakes happen? Sure, that's human nature.

I like Peter's idea of announcing that a call to the grid is coming with some sort of chime/sound, I would think that idea could be incorporated without too much effort.

So listen to the radio [fm channel], pit closer to a speaker for the PA, get a scanner or pit next to someone who has one, put a runner in place to watch others in your race, or just pit closer to pit out so you can see. It's your race, it's YOUR responsibility to pay attention to the radio/PA/scanner, just like it's your responsibility the check your grid position prior to the race and verify the results are correct after the race. (:

[Jesse Davis]

the scanners were pretty terrible at MSRH. Even the officials radios were spotty, mainly because it seemed like the entire day someone was sitting on the button somewhere....

[Scott Finning]

Would something like this paging system be a possible remedy?