You might want to use a Speedlight gate to emulate a SpeedStart, especially if you have a system with say 3 gates , and a Speedstart, and want to run two zones with the same test.
A Speedstart triggers when the beam is UNBLOCKED, i.e. when the athlete leaves.So we need to make the gate do just this, with a single beam operating only.
Now, I here you ask ‘ but a Speedstart sits on the ground, and a gate is on a tripod?’. It so happens that to emulate a SpeedStart, all you need to do is
- tap on the starting gate check the ‘reaction’
- tap on ‘bottom beam only’
- Dont use a tripod
- Either stand the gate directly on the ground or
- Lay it flat
- !!! make sure the antenna points up!!!
Tip: Start modes.
You will find that ‘Steady Start Mode’ makes using a Speedstart or gate in the mode described above much easier to run.
Steady Start, holds the athlete until they have been stationary for 3 seconds, then signals ‘GO’ with a green light and buzzer.
Reaction mode in a device will add a random period of time , up to a second to the 3 second period. Being random, the athlete cannot predict when the start will occur.