Timing systems on an open loft

mark11 · February 9, 2022

After racing up until the age of 18, and now into my late 30's, I'm now going to start back up again and Im hoping to get the loft built over the course of this year ready for some youngsters early next year 🤞

I've not got the room for a big loft and I was more inclined towards channel racing back in the day anyway, so the plan is to have a small team on the natural and I'm thinking about having an open loft depending on the sparrow hawk situation.

Anyway, what are the options for timing in these days is it all ETS or can you still use the old style clocks? I'm wondering if it would be too much of a nightmare to try and get the birds to trap to a sputnik on race day if they've been using an open hole day-to-day. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

andy Burgess · February 9, 2022

most organisations will be happy to see a new member , dont have to have an ETS system. you can still clock manually . my own birds trap into a sputnik , when excercising i remove the front of it so they can come and go as they please . just close the front when i am ready to call them in , not had a problem with it .

mark11 · February 9, 2022

Cheers Andy. Just read a few horror stories on the interweb of BOP and cats getting into the loft through some traps so I was toying with the idea of some kind of hybrid trapping system to be able to fly on an open hole. Probably overthinking things at this stage though. Nice to know you can still use the old clocks though.

andy Burgess · February 9, 2022

yes predators can be a problem , ive certainly dealt with more than my fair share . "frame of mind" Mark, all problems have a solution :smiling-scarecrow-329: .