On Tuesday, 19 June 2012 06:07:12 UTC-6, kirk.stant wrote:
I'm learning how to setup Winscore for a local club fun contest. So far it makes sense, but setting up the Finish Cylinder is a bit confusing. How do I set it up for a 500' agl min finish height? The finish settings have settings for the Top and Base of the Finish Gate Cylinder, both in ft MSL.

Kirk
66

I have always ignored the Top of the Finish Gate Cylinder parameter and just filled in 10000. There is nothing in the rules governing limiting the height of a valid finish, except of course the 17,500 MSL contest maximum.

For the minimum finish height simply enter the altitude level, ground level plus 500 for your example, you desire. If your finish point is 1000 MSL then you would enter 1500 in the finish height.

As a rule of thumb for a minimum altitude of 500 AGL the cylinder would be no more than a 1 mile radius, allowing for a valid finish, a potential pull up and the ability to enter a normal landing pattern.

If you want a larger cylinder, say 2 miles, you should adjust the minimum altitude by 200.

While there is no explanation of these parameters within the WINSCORE users manual there is a good write up in Appendix A, Section A 10.9.2 of the rules book. The illustrations are also excellent

They state

- It is strongly recommended that the cylinder be centered on the home field, so that all pilots are an equal distance from home when they
finish.
- The radius should be one or two miles. Even the smaller of these give a lot of separation between gliders finishing from different directions.
- The minimum finish height should be chosen so that finishers have no trouble flying a reasonably normal landing pattern. 500' should be the
minimum for a one-mile-radius cylinder; 800' would work for a 2-mile cylinder. (These might have to be higher for a contest with lowperformance
gliders, or with the possibility of very strong winds.)
- Pilots missing the bottom of the cylinder recieve a graduated penalty Rule 12.1.4.5. The size of this penalty is calibrated to make an "honest
mistake" of 50-100 feet low cost (i.e the same 10-20 points that a rolling finish previously cost).

Good luck with your local club fun contest

Ron Gleason