Philpott
Cal 2-27 Dura Mater
All trackers work much the same way:
Boats —-> Communications Network (e.g. Iridium) —-> Tracker server (e.g. Garmin) <—— Jibeset (Jibeset polls the server for new data every 3 to 15 minutes)
Summary of trackers registered in the 2019 LongPac:
There were 12 Garmin/Delorme, one boat was DNS.
There were 4 Iridium/Go units. One boat was DNS and one boat provided no data because it was sent to the wrong email address.
One Spot was used.
Tracker performance:
Garmin / Delorme (11 units), all worked as expected - provided data throughout the race without any drop-outs.
Iridium GO – (2 units) One worked as expected, that is, provided data throughout the race, the other mostly worked but twice provided an incorrect position on one ping and then no position data for a time - 07/03 23:47 through 07/04 06:59 and 07/09 03:59 -through 07/06 10:14
A review of the Jibeset log showed that the Iridium/GO device provided no data (good or bad) during the outage periods. This was most likely caused by the unit not getting an acceptable GPS location for some reason. Maybe it did not have a clear view of the sky? In both instances, once the positions were again reported, they were reported correctly.
The one SPOT device was used when the Garmin device on the boat was found not to be working during the starting sequence. As with all SPOT devices, they work a good deal of the time but drop out from time to time - most likely because they do not have a clear view of the sky.
Obviously, the earlier trackers are set up, registered with Jibeset, and a path is established between the tracker to the Jibeset tracking display, the better were results. In other words, [smile here] testing on the way to the starting line may be just a little late in the process.
Reporting period: Each Skipper sets his/her own reporting period. In this race, the setting was between 10 minutes and 60 minutes.
Here are the trade-offs: setting a shorter reporting time (e.g. once every ten minutes), results in a more timely representation of the race but the communication costs to the Racer are higher, the battery life is shorter and the battery must be re-charged more often. Shorter reporting periods (10 minutes vs 60 minutes) result in a better representation of the “current” position of a boat and the relative position of boats vis a vis each other.
Tracking display: Jibeset always displays the tracks up to the last position received for each boat. Each boat was at a particular position at the time shown in the “pop-up” for the last point for which the viewer can click the last position marker.
There is a delay from the time the data leaves the boat until it arrives at Jibeset. The delay varies from 0 to 15 minutes, with an average of 7 minutes.
Because of the variation in the reporting period across boats, the time of the “current” position varies between boats. In the LongPac reporting periods varied from ten to 60 minutes.
When the position time on Jibeset is older than 30 minutes, the detailed “pop-up” shows up as the color red.
Other stuff:
In Ocean races, the best results are obtained from the Garmin InReach using a 10 minute reporting period.
The tracks can be viewed and the race replayed here:
www.jibeset.net/gpsshare.php?A0=JAC...4ZmI4Mg==&A3=77d7f055ba78343df30f76ebd1de597b
Jibeset welcomes your comments and suggestions - they can be sent to [email protected]
Take care, Ray Irvine
Boats —-> Communications Network (e.g. Iridium) —-> Tracker server (e.g. Garmin) <—— Jibeset (Jibeset polls the server for new data every 3 to 15 minutes)
Summary of trackers registered in the 2019 LongPac:
There were 12 Garmin/Delorme, one boat was DNS.
There were 4 Iridium/Go units. One boat was DNS and one boat provided no data because it was sent to the wrong email address.
One Spot was used.
Tracker performance:
Garmin / Delorme (11 units), all worked as expected - provided data throughout the race without any drop-outs.
Iridium GO – (2 units) One worked as expected, that is, provided data throughout the race, the other mostly worked but twice provided an incorrect position on one ping and then no position data for a time - 07/03 23:47 through 07/04 06:59 and 07/09 03:59 -through 07/06 10:14
A review of the Jibeset log showed that the Iridium/GO device provided no data (good or bad) during the outage periods. This was most likely caused by the unit not getting an acceptable GPS location for some reason. Maybe it did not have a clear view of the sky? In both instances, once the positions were again reported, they were reported correctly.
The one SPOT device was used when the Garmin device on the boat was found not to be working during the starting sequence. As with all SPOT devices, they work a good deal of the time but drop out from time to time - most likely because they do not have a clear view of the sky.
Obviously, the earlier trackers are set up, registered with Jibeset, and a path is established between the tracker to the Jibeset tracking display, the better were results. In other words, [smile here] testing on the way to the starting line may be just a little late in the process.
Reporting period: Each Skipper sets his/her own reporting period. In this race, the setting was between 10 minutes and 60 minutes.
Here are the trade-offs: setting a shorter reporting time (e.g. once every ten minutes), results in a more timely representation of the race but the communication costs to the Racer are higher, the battery life is shorter and the battery must be re-charged more often. Shorter reporting periods (10 minutes vs 60 minutes) result in a better representation of the “current” position of a boat and the relative position of boats vis a vis each other.
Tracking display: Jibeset always displays the tracks up to the last position received for each boat. Each boat was at a particular position at the time shown in the “pop-up” for the last point for which the viewer can click the last position marker.
There is a delay from the time the data leaves the boat until it arrives at Jibeset. The delay varies from 0 to 15 minutes, with an average of 7 minutes.
Because of the variation in the reporting period across boats, the time of the “current” position varies between boats. In the LongPac reporting periods varied from ten to 60 minutes.
When the position time on Jibeset is older than 30 minutes, the detailed “pop-up” shows up as the color red.
Other stuff:
In Ocean races, the best results are obtained from the Garmin InReach using a 10 minute reporting period.
The tracks can be viewed and the race replayed here:
www.jibeset.net/gpsshare.php?A0=JAC...4ZmI4Mg==&A3=77d7f055ba78343df30f76ebd1de597b
Jibeset welcomes your comments and suggestions - they can be sent to [email protected]
Take care, Ray Irvine
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