Gliderscore Transmitter

Gliderscore is a program developed by Gerry Carter that not only scores a model plane flying competition, but provides timing for the various flying tasks

One feature of Gliderscore Timer is that it outputs a Serial ASCII string that contains the countdown time, the group , the round and whether it is working time or preparation time.

The above description really is only for the benefit of those who use this program

The Transmitter described in this Instructable is used to interface between a computer USB port running Gliderscore and Timing or Information Boards described in other Instructables.

I hope people can use my ideas for other projects.

The transmitter is an HC12 transceiver module working in the 433Mhz ISM band. It requires no programming in order to work in this application.

HC-12 transceiver module. Available from online suppliers

USB to serial converter. This can be either a printed circuit board or a dedicated interface cable (PL2303HX or FTDI are suitable)

Small plastic enclosure

170mm 0.5mm diameter insulated wire (stiff)
Perforated copper strip board. 25mm x 25mm

Red LED (3mm or 5mm)

Green LED (3mm or 5mm)

Resistor 1/2 watt 220ohm

Resistor 1/2 watt 470ohm

4 way 0.1 inch pitch header

Soldering Iron

Solder

Drill

Use the schematic to wire the components

It is easier to use an USB to serial converter cable as it provides a more compact transmitter and is less complicated to connect.

I'll leave it up to the constructor as to how to assemble this

The real hard part is to somehow package the electronics into the available plastic enclosure and show the LEDs

Otherwise the schematic is trivial

Just remember the transmitter (TX) pin of the converter goes to the RX pin of the HC-12, and the receiver (RX) pin of the converter goes to the TX pin of the HC-12.

This transmitter just sends serial data that is generated by a program and sent out the USB (serial) port.

The Gliderscore Timer program needs be configured corretly so that the right format of the serial string is sent.

Plug in the Gliderscore transmsitter (described in this Instructable). Make sure that it appears as a device in Windows and note its Com port number.

Open up Gliderscore. navigate the program and the "Open Timer"

The top left hand left hand view of the Digital Timer screen will have settings for Port1

Set as follows

Name - Select Com port that Gliderscore transmitter is connected to.

Baud Rate - 9600

Data Bits - 8

Stop Bits - 1

Parity - none

Output Format - Extended protocol

Press start and the (Green) transmit LED on the Gliderscore transmitter will blink every send as data is sent.

One can view the send string where is says Output String. This will correspond the the applicable fields on the Gliderscore Timing Board.