RACE RESULT Side Antennas or High Gain UHF Antennas can be an alternative to our ground antenna when conditions may not be suitable to use a ground antenna but there are some additional precautions which should be made when using these setups. In most setups the High Gain UHF Antennas offer better performance that the Side Antennas. 

 

Setup

A side antenna set includes 2 tripods each with 2 antennas, 2 x 2m cables and 2 x 10m cables, they are intended to be setup with one tripod on each side of the detection area, connected to a single decoder. 

High Gain UHF Antennas and cables are sold separately allowing for more flexible setups. The antenna includes the unique clamping device for securing the antenna to posts or tripods.

You must NOT connect antennas to multiple decoders when facing each other, this will result in extreme reduction of read rates as transponders cannot communicate with 2 different decoders simultaneously. 

To achieve maximum detection rates then you should ensure that the detection range is minimised as much as possible, we advise a maximum 4m timing point width when using side antennas. 

Detections

UHF RFID relies on clear line of sight between the antenna and transponder, for this reason when used at dense timing points detection rates may be reduced since there may be no clear line of sight from antennas to participants in the middle of a pack. 

As the width of the UHF field is much wider with side antennas the accuracy of times will also be reduced, therefore side antennas are not suitable where precise timing is required such as finish lines.

With free space it can be possible to record detections distances up to 20m however the side antennas are greatly influenced by the environment around them. Depending on the transponder, side antennas can read everywhere around the antenna (even behind them). Important is the gain of the antenna.

Recommended Uses

Side antennas / High Gain Antennas can used for the following applications:

• Mass participation cycling events using Helmet Tags, Seat Post Tags or Bike Plates
• Running event split at low density point
• Running event announcer point (This may produce additional data from other participants standing nearby)

Other Uses

Due to the design of side antennas on their tripod we do not advise using them in the following scenrios.

• Running event dense timing points such as Start / Finish lines 
• Running events using Shoe Transponders
• Events using HuTags