On the Volunteers theme, while having our 1st go at track marking sat. We had great diffulcity lining up the 1st mile (actually, we had to do it twice, having lined up with the 1 mile flag 1st time, which was about 2 mtrs out from the actual mile marker)
The main problem was trying to see one mile (yeah,,fridays booze didn't help)
Would it be possible for the surveyors to peg the 1st mile in 1/4 mile stages next year ?
Once the 1st mile is marked, you can sight back along the markers already installed (provided their in the right spot ) while advancing .
Just an idea to speed things up.
Track marking
Moderator: DLRA
- gennyshovel
- Posts: 866
- Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:10 am
- Location: Broken Hill
Track marking
Tiny DLRA# 484
Postiebike Racing , created & funded by TwoBob Engineering
Postiebike Racing , created & funded by TwoBob Engineering
Guys,
What has been done in the past is for someone to go to the next mile marker and stand there whilst a second takes a cone to approximately mid way and the person standing at each mile marker can direct (by 2 way radio) when the mid way guy is in the correct position.
Normally the surveyors drive a wooden peg in and we can find these pretty easily, however this year because of the overlap with the film crew they did not want anything on their screen shots.
When we went to put out the mile marker cones and start to set up the timing system this time we had to find a roofing nail driven fully into the salt with about 150mm of florescent ribbon pinned to it.
Hand held GPS units are scrambled to a degree and will not be accurate enough to give a good line.
As the race timer this year, I probably did more runs up and down the course early each morning and I got the distinct impression that over the full 8 or nine miles that were laid out that the track curved slightly to the western side but it wouldn't have been more than 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.
However I have been known to be wrong now and again I think so
What has been done in the past is for someone to go to the next mile marker and stand there whilst a second takes a cone to approximately mid way and the person standing at each mile marker can direct (by 2 way radio) when the mid way guy is in the correct position.
Normally the surveyors drive a wooden peg in and we can find these pretty easily, however this year because of the overlap with the film crew they did not want anything on their screen shots.
When we went to put out the mile marker cones and start to set up the timing system this time we had to find a roofing nail driven fully into the salt with about 150mm of florescent ribbon pinned to it.
Hand held GPS units are scrambled to a degree and will not be accurate enough to give a good line.
As the race timer this year, I probably did more runs up and down the course early each morning and I got the distinct impression that over the full 8 or nine miles that were laid out that the track curved slightly to the western side but it wouldn't have been more than 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.
However I have been known to be wrong now and again I think so
Cheers,
Tony Cooke
DLRA # 363
Tony Cooke
DLRA # 363
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- Posts: 1315
- Joined: Tue Jul 05, 2005 11:23 pm
- Location: Right behind you Chief !
only a newbie
....all I can say is that as a yippah( first timer, pre-pubescent,etc) the track looked pretty straight ....until I got to the first bollard on the right hand side.....as it went past I thought..."fruit, that was pretty close"...and it was , I'd been hanging against the hard right hand side of the track and I dunno that it wasn't inside the markers?????
With all due respect Cookey Dave's probably got a point....you sure you don't mean chains?
With all due respect Cookey Dave's probably got a point....you sure you don't mean chains?
...few understand what I'm trying to do , but they vastly outnumber those who understand why..
Cookey wrote:Hand held GPS units are scrambled to a degree and will not be accurate enough to give a good line.
GPS hasn't been scrambled since 2001 but is still only accurate to +/- 3 metres (if you want to know ask a geocacher) which can be improved upon by the use of a ground based differential GPS transmitter at a known surveyed point. This will get you accuracy in +/- 5 centimetres.
You can buy gear and as it becomes more entrenched in farming it's getting cheaper. You can hire it and maybe that would be an option given that we could possibly lay out our own course without needing the surveyer as all you need to know is one known point on ground. I dare say there's a trig point handy as the surveyors need a reference point too. They may even be using the same sort of system.
Mobs like Ultimate Positioning or CR Kennedy hire gear and could certainly tell us whether what we do is feasible and how much.
Dave
- Greg Watters
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