Timing a Chip/Tag Race

Once the hardware is set up and tested, data flows into RunScore as runners cross the mats. Device cabling and ports are on the individual pages under Chip/Bib Timing.

Gun time and net time

Time	Meaning
Gun time	Finish time minus the race start signal. Every runner in that wave uses the same clock.
Net time	Finish time minus that runner's own start-mat time. This is the time on course.

Most races publish both. Overall place and overall awards usually use gun time. Age-group results and personal records often use net time. Listing syntax is under Listing file setup.

Before the race

1. Load chip IDs into the database

Each runner needs a chip or bib ID in the database so RunScore can match incoming reads to a person. There are two approaches:

• Bib-based systems (ChronoTrack, Macsha, MyLaps BibTag with Bib ID enabled): the tag number matches the bib number. No extra mapping is needed — just make sure bib numbers are entered.
• Chip-based systems (ChampionChip, iPico, AMB with Chip ID): each runner has a chip code that differs from their bib number. You need a chip-to-bib mapping. Set this up in entries.ini with the Look Up command, or use a bibchip.dta file.

Which ID each device sends is in Supported systems.

Working example

The 5K sample race shows a complete chip-to-bib setup: its Entries.INI loads bib→chip pairs from data/bibchip.txt using a [control]/[data] block, and sets bib or chip chip and Not found added yes.

2. Set chip options

Open Tools → Chip Options and verify:

• To results is checked (the default — sends chip reads into Enter/Edit Results).
• Bib ID / Chip ID matches your setup — but only for RFID, AMB, MyLaps BibTag, RunScore Open, race|result, Active Timing, or MYLAPS Cloud. Protocol-fixed systems (ChronoTrack, Macsha, ChampionChip) ignore it. See Chip Options.

3. Connect the hardware

Open the Initialize External Timers dialog and configure a slot for your device.

TCP/IP

Most chip systems use middleware software (for example, MYLAPS Timing & Scoring, ChronoTrack SimpleClient) that connects to RunScore over TCP/IP:

1. Start the middleware and configure it with a TCP port.
2. In RunScore's Initialize External Timers dialog, select your device, enter the same port number, and check TCP.
3. Click OK.

Whether RunScore is the TCP server or client depends on the device — see How the main systems connect.

Legacy serial connections

A few older chip systems connect the decoder directly via a serial cable instead of TCP/IP. In the Initialize External Timers dialog, set the COM port and baud rate, and leave TCP unchecked.

File

If the middleware saves chip data to a file instead of streaming it over TCP:

1. Enable Tools → Chip Options → Auto Load.
2. Open Enter/Edit Results for the target event.
3. Press Ctrl+F9 and browse to the file.
4. RunScore reads the file, imports the data, and deletes it. When the middleware writes a new file, RunScore reads it automatically.

RSServer vs. RSClient

RSServer deletes any chip file after auto-loading. RSClient only deletes (and auto-loads) files whose name contains _LOG.TXT. See Chip Options → Auto-load for the polling cycle and naming requirements.

Listing file setup

How you set up your listing file depends on whether the chip system sends elapsed times (time into the race) or time-of-day (TOD) times. Gun time and net time are defined above.

Elapsed times

If the chip times are already time-into-race, score as usual:

Event              TIME

Time-of-day times

If the chip times are time-of-day, subtract the gun time (the time of day the race started) to get elapsed time. Add a Minus line after the event:

Event              TIME
Minus              13:01:14.01

Replace 13:01:14.01 with the actual start time of day.

Use a custom variable

Set a custom variable in entries.ini for the gun time so you only enter it once:

Custom Variable     gun=13:01:14.01

Event              TIME
Minus              %gun%

Net times

To calculate net times (using each runner's individual start time from the chip system), add:

Event              TIME
Minus              START

This subtracts each runner's individual start time from their finish time.

Make sure the START event has been populated. If you are using chip scratch times, pre-fill the event with 0:00:00 using the Assign Times command. This ensures runners not recorded by the start-mat system still have a time.

During the race

Saving

Save periodically

Press F10 from the Enter/Edit Results screen to save results to disk. This protects against data loss if the computer crashes.

Monitoring

• Check incoming data. The results screen updates as chip reads arrive. If no data appears, check the connection status and use Alt+D (debug mode) to see raw incoming data.
• Handle unknown chips. Enable Options → Not Found Added (or Alt+N) so that unrecognized chip/bib IDs are added to the database automatically. See Resolving missing chips for details. With it off, RunScore records the time against the unregistered runner number.

After the race

• Track non-returned chips — see Chip fields and miscellaneous → Non-returned chips.